Precis of a talk given by Mrs Susie Gray
June 21st 2010
On 8 June 2010, Mrs Susie Gray came to speak to The Keys about her pilgrimage, on horseback, from Canterbury to Santiago de Compostela.
MK gave a brief introduction, thus: Susie was born and brought up in the Romney Marsh area of Kent. Her father farmed and her mother was an accomplished horsewoman, and wrote some books about the Queen’s horses. Susie attended Westheath, Princess Diana’s school, and soon after leaving school worked her way around the world, spending some time in Australia as a “Jilleroo” (female “jackaroo”), where she looked after 2000 sheep. Subsequently, when she went to do an interview with BOAC, she was told that sheep-minding in Australia was quite a useful preparation for life as a flight attendant! She worked for BOAC for five years – this was in the 1960s – and retired to get married and raise three children, in the Ashford area of Kent. She became a skilled calligrapher and teaches calligraphy at Ashford: she also produces special manuscripts for formal presentations.
Susie then began her talk, accompanied by her own slides.
Susie didn’t quite remember when she first heard of Compostela. She had been brought up as an Anglican, but developed a strong desire to go there as a pilgrim, and so she set off, with her sister Mefo (pet name for Frances) on 8 April 2002. Susie was on her beloved horse Apollo, an Appaloosa by breed, known for their sanguine temperament, while her sister was mounted on her horse, Leo, also of the same breed. Susie’s brother-in-law drove luggage including hay and some feed for the horses, etc., by van. But they would go all the way travelling on horseback, as people would have done in the Middle Ages.
They left from Canterbury and crossed the Channel at Dover to Calais, and made their way, first, to Amiens. We saw pictures of the pair crossing at the river Oise. The next stop was to be Chantilly, famed spot for horses, including the aristocratic Arab breed.
They made no lodging arrangements in advance: they would just arrive in a town, contact the local Mayor, and find hospitality that way. There was no problem with lodgings – for themselves and the horses – and everywhere, people were notably kind. The pilgrimage could have been sub-titled “The kindness of strangers”.
They reached Blennes in the Seine et Marne for French memorial day, May 8.
Then on to Sens, in the Yvonne department of Burgundy, where the Cathedral there was, in part, built by the same architect as Canterbury’s.
Next stop was Cudot, Burgundy, associated St Alpaix or Alpais (died 1211): this is a beautiful area awash with orchids, swallows and nightingales.
Then to Vezelay, also in Burgundy: St Thomas a Becket preached at the Basilica here.
Then to Clermond-Ferrand in the Auvergne, a terrain associated with volcanoes. They stay a wonderful Romanesque church at Orchival, and made their way to Puy de Dome, also in Auvergne. At the basilica at Puy, a remarkable statue of Our Lady which had been hidden away during the French revolution. It shows Mary protecting Christ – her hands about him, but no onl him.
This was a stormy passage, and they made their way on to a high lake pass at Guery.
In Lot, they were greeted with the bucolic sight of haymaking, and it was here, at Cahors, that they joined the recognised Chemin – that is the road to Compostella, known since the 9th century.
At Moissac, in the Tarn et Garonne department, they saw a partly destroyed Romanesque church, associated with King Clovis, as well as the Moors and the Romans – sacked by many invaders, too.
From here, St James himself becomes a leitmotif on the journey.
There were some very steep positions, including high bridges, which were an ordeal for her, as she suffers from vertigo. But she got through.
Then they cross the Pyrenees, and immediately, the landscape changes. The pass at the Pyrenees is called Ibaneta, associated with the French saga of Roland.
On the Spanish side they are greeted by a Basque farmer and the sight of vineyards. And a very fine monastery.
Then it is on to Pamplona in the Basque province: some Don Quixote-like pictures of a Biblical landscape and wind-turbines that look like windmills.
They see a funerary church at Eunate, by Puenta la Reina (a well-established hub for pilgrims taking the Camino)
At Torres del Rio, in Navarre, they see another such church and go to a refuge for the pilgrims.
It is around here that Susie’s horse Apollo becomes dangerously ill – he has eaten food that ferments in his stomach and swells up alarmingly. A Spanish vet, Dr Fernandez, shows immense kindness, and visits Apollo eight times – several times over in one night.
And so it is on to Nahara – there are storks on every chimney here and all around here and to Burgos, in the province of Castille and Leon, associated with El Cid.
They are at Burgos for St James’s feast – 25 July.
Here, too, is the house of Christopher Colombus.
It is high table land with some oases. There is a Romanesque church with the icon of St Isador.
Then they come to Leon and see the beautiful basilica there, adorned with many paintings.
They pass into Galicia, and suddenly the landscape is green.
And soon they are at Compostelo for the Feast of the Assumption, pictured outside the Cathedral on their faithful steeds.
Susie became a Catholic after this pilgrimage – she was a Protestant on the French side of the Pyrenees, she said smilingly, but a Catholic when she had crossed over to the Spanish side.
There were some interesting questions, and it was established that they covered about 38 kilometres a day. Donkeys, by the way, would have been easier to feed than horses – but notoriously more stubborn. With rider and horse, a strong bond develops on these journeys and Apollo became a kind of pilgrim himself….
Finis