He who would valiant be 'Gainst all disaster Let him in constancy Follow the Master. There's no discouragement Shall make him once relent His first avowed intent To be a pilgrim. JOHN BUNYAN 1628-88

Compostella, Galicia, Spain, became in the Xllc the most accessible and popular destination for 'European' pilgrims. For two hundred years 30- 50,000 people travelled there each year. In 1987 the Council of Europe officially declared the routes to Compostella - there are four main ones through France - of highest cultural importance. Pilgrims from Sicily, England, distant Russian principalities, Scandinavia and north-eastern Teutonic countries battled their way with perhaps the oldest tourist guide of all, which was written in Latin between 1130 and 1140 by a Poitevin monk called Aimery Picaud.

The second of these routes was, and is, La Via Lemovicensis or the Limousin route, known to be especially holy because it wended its way after Vezelay towards Crozant (Creuse), through the Limousin lands full of pagan mysteries, vestiges and relics, which the early Christian saints exploited and turned into places of Christian veneration and awe.

The tourist route of Saint Jacques in the Limousin takes in some of the most beautiful abbeys and churches, wonderful countryside and, unlike days gone by when the route to Compostella was beset with danger, disease and even death, there are now many good hotels and restaurants.

Early pilgrims decided to up sticks, re-make wills and sally forth, often with their whole family into the unknown, with a little leather bag for bread and a calebasse, a gourd, for water, a cape and the richer ones a horse. Often sheltered by monks, Templars or the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, the route was a rough one. Nowadays, you'll be advised to take, photos, social security book, note book, maps and guides, still a cape, a lantern and a kneeling mat (!), loo paper, soap, nail clippers, sun cream and underwear. A cafe owner in St Germain les Belles just south of Saint Leonard de Noblat says pilgrims rarely pass through on a horse but often on bikes with a trailer bringing up the rear. Another pilgrim from Holland passed through Saint Leonard on his donkey. He made it to the Spanish border but the donkey was put in quarantine and he had to carry on on foot! Progress doesn't necessarily make things any easier!