Compostela, in Galicia, Spain, became the most accessible and popular destination for 'European' pilgrims in the 12^th Century. For two hundred years 30-50,000 people travelled there each year.

In 1987 the Council of Europe officially declared the routes to Compostela – 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 is La Via Lemovicensis or the Limousin route, known to be especially holy because it wound its way after Vezelay towards Crozant (Creuse), through the Limousin lands full of pagan mysteries, vestiges and relics. Early Christian saints turned these 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 Compostela 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, a note book, maps and guides, loo paper, soap, nail clippers, sun cream and underwear.