The second week in October is approaching and Fairway is preparing the forum’s contents. Contributions from speakers, experiences lived by pilgrims along the routes and the history that has been shaped in the past and present in the countries and towns through which the routes leading to Santiago to Compostela pass. Fairway is also a forum where we will be updated on more earthly matters affecting the Way of St. James: such as the work of preserving and promoting the immense cultural heritage scattered throughout different localities, who takes care of maintaining the signposts along the kilometres of routs, which criteria come into play to combine respect for the natural surroundings, maintenance of the routes and information. Many of these subjects and their practical application will be dealt with in Fairway Insight: a look at the material management of the Ways of St. James.

This panel will begin on October 15 with a presentation by Juan Antonio Naveira, sub-director-general for Cultural Heritage Protection with the Directorate General for Cultural Heritage, which depends on the Xunta de Galicia’s Department of Culture, Education and University Regulation. Under the title “The heritage perspective,” he will highlight the actions undertaken by Galicia’s regional government as regards the heritage protection, conservation and restoration of movable and immovable assets in the Galician stages of the Way of St. James. The actions undertaken by this organism have been applied in the different routes: the French Way, the Coastal Way, the different routes on arriving in Compostela, the English Way and the Original Way. The architectural legacy and the plastic arts accumulated during a millennium are one of the Camino’s biggest attractions and testify to the importance of this route in European history. Becoming familiar with heritage is the first step towards taking care of it and preserving it.

The next presentation of the Camino Insight panel will be delivered by Rafafel Sánchez Bargiela, manager of Sociedade de Xestión do Xacobeo. The theme of his presentation will focus attention on the relationship between Xacobeo, an initiative that combines institutional action with business initiative to carry out a consistent tourist promotion of the Way of St. James, with the Camino itself and its spiritual dimension. The management of hostels, the correct signposting of routes and tourist sights in Galicia is the responsibility of Sociedade de Xestión do Xacobeo. Bargiela will also discuss key aspects of the Camino master plan.

The second day of the Camino Insight panel will be devoted to the Northern Ways, recently declared World Heritage by UNESCO. The first presentation on October 16 will be delivered by Pablo León Gasalla, a member of the Cultural Heritage Board of Asturias, who will discuss Way of St. James initiatives in the Principality: legal protection of heritage, looking after the natural surroundings and the tourist promotion of the Asturian stage.

The day’s second presentation will be devoted to the Cantabrian stage. Pilgar G. Bahamonde, director of the Lebaniego Study Centre, will be in charge of explaining the reality of the Camino in Cantabria, one of the Jacobean regions par excellence as the crossroads of many of the Ways of St. James. Furthermore, Cantabria also features the Lebaniego de Santo Toribio Route, a jubilee site on a par with Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela; it has its own credential and a document certifying completion of its pilgrimage called the Lebaniega.

Bahamonde will explain the actions to be undertaken by Cantabria with a view to the next Lebaniego Holy Year, which will begin in April 2017, involving the management of both routes in order to improve their knowledge, promotion, signposting and tourist marketing.

The last day of the Camino Insight panel will feature the Atlantic, the final destination of the Milky Way. The case of Muxía and Fisterra as the epilogue of the Way of St. James will be the focus of the first presentation. The anthropologist and writer Manuel Vilar will explain how the pilgrimage to Muxía and Fisterra changed from being forgotten to being so successful that measures will have to be taken. Vilar will analyse this revival process that started at the beginning of the 21st century, and identify the possible risks of its success and the danger of delinking the Way from the territory through which it passes.

The panel will conclude with an analysis of one of the least-known routes: the English Way. One of the most unknown and attractive because it includes a sea crossing and links Santiago with Great Britain, the setting of long disputes against Catholic authority.