Stillorgan girls win Camino challenge trip

THE GIRLS of a well-known Stillorgan school will be hitting the famed Camino de Santiago after winning a national competition.

The class trip of 20 students and two teachers from St Raphaela’s School will take in one full week on the famous pilgrimage trail after the students entered a competition on the Follow the Camino Facebook page.

The girls had been campaigning tirelessly to get their whole community behind them to share their class photo on the social media website.

This propelled them into the winning position and onward to the Camino in Galicia in north-western Spain.  

They came up trumps on the first part of the challenge to win the competition. The next challenge is to walk over 100kms to Santiago de Compostela to gain their coveted pilgrim certificate as a souvenir of their achievement.

Teacher Laois O’Boyle expressed pride in her girls.

 “They worked so hard on this campaign and are deserved winners,” she said.

“They have managed to impress me with their team work and leadership skills. It’s clear they will grow up to be strong ladies.”

Both leadership and team work is what they’ll need out on the Camino de Santiago as they attempt to walk over 20kms per day.

Students will have to pull together once again to help each other through the tough times and on to gain their prize of the Compostela (pilgrim certificate) in the city of Santiago de Compostela.  

The Camino de Santiago is an ancient pilgrimage that runs from the Pyrenees in Southern France, and across the north of Spain to the tomb of St James in the city of Santiago de Compostela.

In medieval times pilgrims usually walked this as a form of penance or for Christian reasons.

Today it is undertaken for many different reasons but all equally important to the individual pilgrim.  

Walking holidays in general are on the rise all over Europe, helping to combat obesity, depression and low self-esteem.

Follow the Camino.com (FTC) has been organising walking holidays on the Camino for over 10 years now.

They have seen a surge in the number of Irish pilgrims choosing to challenge themselves by walking the route.

The founder of FTC, Umberto di Venosa, has stated that, “no one has ever regretted walking the Camino”.

Many charities use the Camino as their annual fund-raising efforts as they organise a group to take on the challenge.

In the last couple of years  many Irish celebrities including Frances Black, Maria Walsh and Geraldine O’Callaghan have opted for this type of holiday instead of the usual glamorous resorts.  

The Camino has been popular since around the year 800AD.

The most popular route is the Camino Francés which stretches 780km from near Biarritz in France to Santiago.