The old “one-stitch-at-a-time” adage is well embraced by Christine Clement, a Nashuan and member of a Merrimack crochet group founded a decade ago by Pat Heinrich of Merrimack High School Adult Ed.

But it was “one-step-at-a-time “ that recently took Clement and family friend Mireille Filaterault from Canada, on a 300-mile, 45-day walking pilgrimage in Spain known as the Way of St. James – Camino de Santiago.

Pilgrims since the year 815 have trekked the ancient network of seven European routes leading from distant regions to the crypt of St. James the Greater, an apostle of Jesus Christ who reputedly is buried beneath the medieval Santiago de Compostela Cathedral.

Filaterault, of Montreal, and Clement, also a Canadian relocated with husband Mark to Nashua, went by airplane to France. Other transport deposited them at a metal cattle grid on a dirt road, marking a border between France and Spain. They stepped across on May 11.

The journey began.

“I learned to appreciate what’s around me,” Clement said of the endless hills, the poppy fields and the various hostels where welcomes and food greeted them. “I realized you can let go – you don’t have to be in such a rush all the time.”

A scallop shell is the adopted icon of the pilgrimage. Images of shells are posted as road markers. Palm-sized shells attached to backpacks to distinguish fellow pilgrims from the general public.

“I’d never heard of the Camino,” Clement added. “I agreed to the trip, right away.”

Clement said her best memories include meeting travelers from Sweden, South Africa, Florida, and Vermont. Discomforts included hiking blisters and sunburns. She said her friend deemed the adventure a “dream fulfilled.”

Clement added that witnessing Mass said at a monastery hostel is another indelible recollection. The liturgy was offered in Spanish, French and other languages for the multi-national congregants.

“The ceremony gave me chills,” Clement said. “The Camino gets into your heart. We might go again.”

For more information, go to Camino de Santiasantiago-compostela.net.

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