Cork - St James's Gate (07/09/14)

Some commentators say that the Camino doesn't start when you arrive on the actual path, but at your own front door, so that's where my own blog starts too! After months of planning for and reading about the Camino I was excited but also a little nervous, to finally be setting off! My thoughts included- what will it be like? Will I survive the Pyrenees? Will I sleep in the Albergues? 

The original plan, way back at the beginning of the year, had been to walk the first 114km of the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied De Port in the French part of the Basque Country to Estella in Navarre. I planned to walk with three good friends - Ben Jonas, who first inspired me to start walking the Camino, Matt McCullagh and my Albanian buddy, who I have known for 20 years, Ben Delija. Unfortunately, for personal reasons, Ben Jonas had to drop out of the trip which was disappointing. It was agreed that I would be staying overnight in Dublin and flying to Biarritz from Dublin, while Matt would fly Cork to London Stansted, meet up with Ben D and they would then fly together to Biarritz, where the three of us would meet.



In Ireland it is traditional for Camino pilgrims to start their journey at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin and there receive the first sello on their Credencial! This may seem strange and hilarious and confirming every stereotype about the Irish to outsiders, but there is in fact a solid historical reason for this; the Guinness Brewery is sited at St James's Gate which is where one of the medieval gates into the walled city of Dublin was once sited. This gate became known as St James's Gate because medieval pilgrims journeying to Northern Spain to walk the Camino would gather at the gate and then walk down the port together to embark on their ship. And so it remained that even after the gate was demolished, a sello could be obtained free of charge from Guinness instead.

In medieval Ireland Dublin and Dingle Town in Co.Kerry were the two main places for embarking ship for the Camino. I, by contrast would be taking the less arduous route of a Ryanair flight to Biarritz and as it was leaving early the next morning I decided to travel up to Dublin the day before and get my sello from Guinness. Ben J kindly agreed to accompany me as far as Dublin for a day out, so after Ben had joined me in MacCurtin Street in Cork, and spilt ginger beer and chocolate pastry crumbs over my car seat, we set off!



At the Guinness Storehouse

The Guinness Storehouse visitor centre at St James's Gate is one of Ireland's most popular tourist attractions - after all, both Prince Philip (under the watchful eye of the Queen!) and Barack Obama have had pints of Guinness there! We arrived to find a large number of tourists who seemed to be mainly American or Spanish. The ubiquitous horse drawn carriages for tourists, with accompanying horse muck adding ambience to the streets around the impressive 18th and 19th Century complex of industrial buildings which make up the old part of the Guinness Brewery.


I was excited to receive my first sello in my credencial at the information desk and then we decided to go into the visitor centre which cost a very steep €18 with the only redeeming feature being a Guinness tasting session and a free pint of Guinness!!

Receiving my first sello

Overall I found the Guinness Storehouse an exercise in Guinness propaganda and pretty light on detail with the description of how Guinness was made very basic, but I did take a way a few factoids. Apparently Arthur Guinness chose the St James's Gate site because it had (and still does) a very good water supply to make his porter. He signed a 9,000 year (yes, nine thousand - that's not a typo!) lease for the site with Dublin Corporation which really is forward planning!! When 30 or so years later the Corporation decided they would like the water supply back for their own needs, Arthur Guinness went to Court to defend his rights and won. I also discovered that Guinness has been using the same yeast culture for at least 150 years and it may in fact date back to when the brewery first started!

The St. James's Gate sello in my credencial

Ben in the Gravity Bar

Mentally refreshed by these facts Ben and I made our way up to the Gravity Bar which has fantastic panoramic views all over Dublin City. We availed ourselves of our free pint and were encouraged to shout slainte en masse repeatedly by the barman, presumably for the added experience of non-Irish tourists present!

The Mongolian Barbeque

Later, Ben and I enjoyed a Mongolian Barbeque and after further drinks I said goodbye to him as he was getting the bus back to Cork and I returned to my hotel, where Genghis Khan got me running to the bathroom at 3, 6 and 7:30 am - not perhaps the best way to start the Camino!!

Looking towards the Customs House from O'Connell Bridge