It's all getting a bit real!

Today, I received my Pilgrim's Record from the Confraternity of St James, which is a UK-based charity established to promote the pilgrimage to the shrine of St James in Santiago de Compostela.  

The credencial or Pilgrim Record is carried to evidence the bona fide pilgrim status of the bearer.  It has two important purposes; it gives access to the pilgrim albergues and it has to presented at the Pilgrim Office of Santiago Cathedral on completion of the pilgrimage in order to obtain a compostela certificate

The credencial or Pilgrim Record is stamped at the beginning of the pilgrimage, and daily at albergues, churches, town halls, tourist offices etc along the way. 

On arrival at the Cathedral in Santiago, pilgrims take their credencial or Pilgrim Record, duly stamped along the way, to the nearby Pilgrim Office and a Compostela certificate (still written in Latin, and confirming the completion of the pilgrimage) is generally issued to those who declare a spiritual motive for their journey. Non-spiritual pilgrims may ask for a certificado instead.