A WORCESTER man is preparing to put his best foot forward in a 150 mile pilgrimage to a religious site for charity.
Stephen Buckley, along with friends Colin Black and John Clark, will travel to Portugal this Friday (September 9) to take part in the ‘Camino Portuguese’ to raise money for Embrace the Middle East, which supports vulnerable and marginalised people in achieving their potential.
Running from Porto, the country’s second largest city, to Santiago de Compostela, the capital of northwest Spain’s Galicia region, the route will take the ramblers across terraced fields, forests, vineyards and sleepy villages.
Mr Buckley said: “Santiago de Compostela has been a place of Christian pilgrimage since the 9th century as it’s said to be the burial site of St James the Apostle.
“Tradition states that following the death and resurrection of Jesus, the apostles divided the known world between them and St James went to Spain.
“He later returned to Jerusalem where he was martyred by King Herod, before his followers took his body back to Spain for burial.
“The site of the grave was forgotten for eight hundred years, but in the 9th century a hermit named Pelayo is said to have been led to the spot by a vision.
“The local Bishop then confirmed the body was that of St James and the pilgrimages began. Some 250,000 people took part in the Camino Portuguese last year. We plan to arrive in Santiago de Compostela on Friday, September 23.”
Visit www.caminocol.tumblr.com to track the team’s progress.
