The latest episode features one of the most prominent and influential English-language voices on the Camino de Santiago, a fore-runner of the pilgrimage’s resurgence:
Episode 35 – From Vézelay to Heaven: Edwin Mullins has spent the better part of his life associated with the Camino de Santiago, with his first book on the subject–The Pilgrimage to Santiago–appearing in 1974. In his more recent publication, The Four Roads to Heaven: France and the Santiago Pilgrimage, Mullins lays out the history and highlights of the four major Chemins de Saint-Jacques. This episode features a conversation with Mullins about his experiences with the Camino, spanning more than five decades, focusing in particular on those French routes. Given his particular love of Vézelay, the episode then explores that chemin in greater detail with John Newman, a pilgrim from New Zealand, who recently walked it in its entirety.
Check out the additional links below for more information:
Edwin Mullins: Mullins’s seminal work on the camino, The Pilgrimage to Santiago, is out of print at the moment, but plenty of used copies are available. The Four Roads to Heaven remains in print, as is his account of Cluny, along with many other publications. If anyone can track down a video of his BBC documentary from the ’70s, please, please let me know!
John Newman: You can find John’s account of his pilgrimage from Vézelay to Santiago, via the Norte and Primitivo, on his personal blog
More on Vézelay: There is a slowly-growing body of information available on this route, though much of it will still require you to employ Google Translate. Start with the Confraternity of St. James for a good introduction. They carry a few guidebooks on this route. Don’t be put off by the French-language Miam-Miam-Dodo guides if you don’t speak the language; they’re produced in a manner that makes them easily understood. Gronze doesn’t quite have its section finished yet, but the shell offers encouragement that it’s on the way.
