Antony Hamilton is a life member as well as an ex-president of the Isle of Man Photographic Society, and with his wife Sandra, much travelled.

His travelogues - an occasional but fairly regular feature of our programme - are always carefully prepared and meticulously presented with lots of top quality images and an excellent commentary.

This week was no exception - a presentation on the Camino De Santiago De Compostela in northern Spain, otherwise known as The Way of St James.

The pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela is the third most important in the Christian calendar after Jerusalem and Rome, more than 300,000 taking the route in 2018.

There are several different routes to the destination but Antony and his wife chose the route from San Sebastian, known as the French route, being close to the Pyrenees and the French border - and a total of more than 650 kilometres.

There are also several different methods of travel - a ’passport’ stamped at various waypoints to prove the pilgrimage requires a walker to have walked at least 100 kilometres of the route, a cyclist at least 200 kilometres.

There is also a luxury version of the pilgrimage involving only modest exercise, a coach and a week or so staying in top class hotels (known in Spain as paradors), which was Antony’s very sensible choiceâ?¦â?¦

Starting in the Basque city of San Sebastian the trip included Pamplona (famous for the author Hemingway and its bull run), Logrono, Burgos, and Leon, each with its own richly decorated cathedral with spires and high altar - all beautifully depicted and their history carefully explained.

Local food from tapas bars varied from city to city, each having its own specialities, while any visit to the region has to include a winery, in this case, one in the Rioja area.

The Peninsular War and the 1809 Battle of La Corunna also got a mention, an image being shown of the memorial to Sir John Moore (the defeated British Commander) which interestingly was ordered by his French adversary, Marshall Soult.

The effort made by the pilgrims was also clear - their tired arrival in Santiago proving that earning a passport certificate is indeed hard work!

Ruth Nicholls, vice president, gave the vote of thanks for an excellent presentation.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, February 12, when Eddie Fryer will be judging an open competition for both prints and digitally projected images.

Eddie, a member at the Western, is a popular visitor to the Isle of Man Society as a judge, and his commentary is always interesting and carefully considered.

The society meets at the Arts Society Building (Thie Ellyn) in Withington Road, Douglas, on Wednesday evenings, all meetings starting at 7.30pm, and all open to the public (with a modest fee for non-members).

More details of the Society and its programme can be found on our website at www.iomps.com.

Chris Blyth