I am feeling rather proud that I chose the name Catalan Way for my blog all those years ago.
If you really want to go somewhere else – this may help!
I don’t know how many Scottish women or border collies were taking part in the human chain from one end of Catalunya to the other today, but we were there!
We went to a section of the N2 near Sant Pol beach.
This road is normally extremely busy and you cross over with great care. Today it was empty of traffic for about 4 hours and it was wonderful to be able to stroll along the colourful line of people who had come to join hands at 14 minutes past 5
It had been a rainy morning and a cloudy afternoon but right on cue the sun came out and the sky was blue. When we all joined hands we weren’t sure if this was ‘it’. There was no way to know if almost two million people were holding hands at the same moment. I wondered if the chain had begun at one end and was passed along but I think we all just got the message from our neighbours. When they began making waves, a ripple of running forward and back would pass along the chain and then, it did feel real.
It followed much of the path of the Via Augusta, a roman road.
The route was about 500 km and it extended another 2km into France/Catalunya Nord
Somewhere between 1.6 and 2 million took part…….and probably many more
Did it feel nationalistic? Yes and no. Of course it involved flags and songs but there was no sense of the day belonging to only Catalan people. I felt welcome and part of it as someone who lives here and cares about what happens next. The atmosphere was positive and celebratory.
Oh and the barriers were up on the paying part of the motorway – this itself made the day feel different.
