Gathering Place

Gabi's Review 

Mary Colwell’s The Gathering Place is a walking meditation that offers us picturesque views, as well as the fascinating history and myth that have accreted around the Camino as she travels the route in 2020. Her environmental consciousness is ever present, making nature a living breathing companion to her journey: one she observes with reverence and an awareness of its fragility as a planet in crisis. The route etched by centuries of pilgrims comes alive step by blistered step through forests, rivers, and mountains, and in the enchanting villages in which Colwell spends her nights.

The author and traveller has done her homework. The myth embedded in shrines and sacred objects is wonderfully observed, as are the historical backgrounds of each site. The story of St Francis and the wolf is evoked in the woods before her entry to the village that houses the church where the wolf’s remains were finally interred. Walking with her through the witches’ wood, a site of medieval genocide where hundreds of women were gruesomely murdered, is seriously creepy. My favourite chapter, ‘to the stars’ blends poetic language and science to describe the mountains and the view that perfectly frames the stars. Here’s just one example: “The planet under our feet is a fiery dynamic and restless ball of energy. Stardust coalesced into planet Earth over 4 billion years ago and formed a sphere of mobile viscous layers. Ever since these dramatic beginnings the Earth has been cooling down and the thermal activity has caused the fractured fragmented crust to shuffle around the surface.” Although Colwell’s solitary walk takes place during the 2020s upheavals of the pandemic, she offsets the eerie chaos with the idea that paths like the Camino, trodden for millennia, endure as symbols of continuity and potential renewal.

Colwell’s descriptions of the Spanish countryside - its grand oak woodlands, windswept plains, and wildlife - are more than scenic interludes; they’re a call to recognise how human actions ripple through the natural order. The restorative power of nature is a welcome counterpoint to her observations of degradation. Colwell uses the journey to probe humanity’s relationship with the Earth: its beauty, its wounds, and the urgent need to take stock of our own values while engaging in nature. For readers attuned to ecological concerns, the book offers a compelling blend of observation and activism, urging a deeper connection to the landscapes we inhabit and our responsibility to safeguard them.

Publisher's Review

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024.

'Deeply poetic.' - CAROLINE LUCAS MP

'A masterpiece of storytelling.' - NICK MAYHEW-SMITH

'Mary Colwell is a candle of open-minded curiosity.' - PATRICK LAURIE

'An unforgettable story.' - MICHAEL MCCARTHY

Mary Colwell makes a solo pilgrimage along the Camino Frances winding through forests, mountains, farmland, industrial sprawls and places of worship.

Pilgrims have always walked in times of upheaval, pitching themselves against weather, hunger, thirst and sometimes pain as they tread the paths their ancestors once followed. In the winter of 2020, author, nature campaigner and veteran solo walker Mary Colwell walked a 500-mile pilgrimage along the Camino Frances in northern Spain.

In a typical year, many thousands of people walk this route, but Mary had it virtually to herself at a unique historical moment a time of profound political change, escalating climate and biodiversity emergencies and global pandemic.

The modern world weaves in and out of the Camino's worn trackway, providing a focus for contemplation and a place for memories and experiences to gather. In her delightful book, Mary weaves experiences from her solo winter pilgrimage with stories from a walk millions have undertaken over the centuries. Her thoughtful and, at times, humorous journey of body and soul includes moments of intense spirituality, meetings with a demon slayer, strange goings-on and magical tales, and Mary's exquisite descriptions of the constant backdrop of nature in all its complexity and wonder.