Walking and Pilgrimage Resources

Here are resource links we have followed from time to time in our search for information on various walking and pilgrimage routes and for support items. I have included extended annotations to help you as you search for maps, housing lists, route guides, and other items. Use this as an addition to the materials on this site.

This page will always be under construction. I have just updated it (22 Feb 2012) removing obsolete links and beefing up existing annotations. I intend to return soon to make several additions and expansions. I cleaned out old, no-longer-working resource links from the 2008 version and added annotations and links to the German Alpine Club and Kompass maps today. I will also be adding links to things useful to us as we walked from California to Jerusalem somewhere down the line.

I have grouped the resources by topic. Where a site offers you information on more than one topic, sometimes I have been industrious and put it under more than one heading and other times I have only one entry under the main content of the site. So do not assume that entries under one topic necessarily only refer to that specific topic.

When a site is in a language other than English or it is available in two or more languages, I have tried to identify it by placing the language(s) in brackets ([...]) after the site title.

If you find a particularly interesting or useful site you think others would find helpful and we do not have it listed here, contact us. We'd be happy to include interesting new links at our next update.

Our resources

In addition to this page we have other writings and a workshop that can help you. After you have read this page, check out some of the following references for more information:

• Our pilgrimage walk from Germany to Rome. We have written a book about this walk: Germany to Rome in 64 days.
• Our pilgrimage walk from California to Jerusalem. We have also written a book our pilgrimage walk across America and Eorope to Jerusalem: Encounters on the Road to Jerusalem.
• Also, on request, we offer the slide shows Hear the Call Follow your Heart on the Camino de Santiago and Pilgrimage from Germany to Rome on that walk.

Santiago routes

• The Confraternity of Saint James - The Confraternity of Saint James is a British society established to support any and all who want information on or to walk the Way of St. James. The site has a lot of information and books for sale in addition to a huge links page with all manner of information.
• American Pilgrims on the Camino - The "American Pilgrims on the Camino is a non-profit organization whose objective is to facilitate communication within the community of North American pilgrims, particularly those in the United States. American Pilgrims continually seeks meaningful ways to support the Camino de Santiago de Compostela." They also provide guidance for Caminos outside the Camino Francais. They have annual gatherings and support the Camino with both money and volunteer hospitaleros. You can also get your pilgrim credential (passport) from them.
• American Pilgrims on the Camino (APOC) Facebook - Facebook page of American Pilgrims on the Camino (APOC).
• Pilgerstatistik [Pilgrim Statistics] [German]- This German site has a number of statistics on the pilgrims that come into Santiago each year, like, how many came on foot and how many on bicycle. Even without knowing German, you can garner a lot of information here. Just remember that Pferd is horse and Fahrrad is bicycle and you should have it. Use the arrows on the bottom to go from list to list.
• Deutschen St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft [German] - The German Jakobsweg [Camino de Santiago] Society.
• Jakobusweg in Bayerisch Schwaben [German] - this site describes Jakobsweg routes in Bavaria, Germany.
• Routes of St. James in Switzerland [English, French, German] - This site gives a lot of details about the Way of St. James in Switzerland. True to Swiss tradition it is well designed and chuck full on good information about other walking routes also. Click EN in the upper right to read the site in English.

Rome routes

• The Association Internationale Via Francigena (AIVF) - this society supports and promotes the Via Francigena that leads from Canterbury, England to Rome. We used their books, maps, lists of places to stay, and pilgrim’s credentials on our 2006-7 walk from Fidenza to Rome. They are worth checking out if you are going to walk the VF. [Click on a flag on the opening page to select your language.]
• Via Francigena EUROVIA - EUROVIA is "an association that is revitalizing the pilgrimage culture in Europe." We saw it's markers all along the Via Francigena in 2007. The association issues pilgrim identity cards for the via Francigena , publishes descriptions of way, maps, books, DVD's, picture volumes and other publications about health effects (more than sport...).
• Pilgrimage Publications says, "We are two very ordinary people who have elected to quit the world of business and begin to live out our dreams as pilgrim riders. We hope that this site will: keep and extend the contacts we have made help others to undertake similar adventures encourage maintenance of the pathways that make our journeys possible. We have no formal religious beliefs, but we share a wanderlust and a need to know about and contribute to the world we occupy." Among these publications, their Lightfoot Guide series to the Via Francigena was published in 2008 and has been updated yearly. The online sample pages read very well. It is be a good English guide to the VF. We visited Paul and Babette as we walked through Arles, France, their home. Check our my review of their first version of their book on our Reviews page.

Jerusalem routes

• Confraternity of Pilgrims to Jerusalem - A Facebook page of people interested in walking to Jerusalem.

Miscellaneous links

• Peace Walker Society - The Peace Walker Society is a group of concerned, committed citizens who recognize that Peace is a process, an exquisite journey of enriching our lives and giving back to the planet we live on.
• Deutscher Alpenverein (DAV) (German Alpine Club) [German] - Wikipidia says the "DAV is the largest climbing association in the world and the eighth largest sports union in Germany. It is organised into 354 legally independent branches with a total of around 815,000 members. It is a member of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, the responsible body for sport and competition climbing, hiking, mountaineering, hill walking, ice climbing and mountain expeditions as well as ski mountaineering." But you do not have to climb to those snowy heights to stay in their many huts that have good food and a comfortable place to sleep. You only have to pay their small membership fee. Many huts are supplied only by cable car. You have to walk there to enjoy them. Nothing like them in the states. (See Kompass maps below for the map to get you there. But don't overlook the DAV maps--I am not familiar with them but I suspect they are good too.)
• Ian Bambury's Camino de Santiago page from his 2003 walk.
• Pilgrimage - The Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on Pilgrimage.

Maps

• Via Appia - nice aerial pictures with route overlay.
• Kompass Maps [German] makes wonderful 1:50,000 maps of walking paths all over Europe including a fine two (North and South) we used for the walking E5 over the Alps from Oberstdorf, Germany to Verona, Italy. If you want to walk somewhere in Europe, check them to see whether they have a map of your path. They are usually in German and the local language. They often include a booklet with many things of local interest. You may be able to get some more popular ones in the larger North American bookstores. But you can almost always get Kompass maps for the immediate area wherever you are in Europe. (The Kompass site is in German, but I have no trouble when I use Google's translator.)
• Map of the Camino Francais on our site

Mainly links

The sites in this list are mainly links or they have a significant part of their site devoted to links.

• Links to Camino de Santiago sites.
• Links - a comprehensive list of sources of all manner of information from the Confraternity of Saint James.