Author: Kate Wilson

The Catalan Way

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to all the people who have arrived here ‘by mistake’ when searching for Via Catalana or the Catalan Way!  I hope you are not too disappointed and perhaps even stay to read a little. 
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.

An amazing experience

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.





September 11th Catalunya

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

September 11th has many associations for people all around the world but here in Catalunya it is the National Day also known as The Diada. It commemorates a defeat in battle but has been given a new positive slant by the annual celebrations all around the region.

Like many people outside the country I had never heard about any of this before coming here but perhaps after last years huge demonstration in Barcelona where over one and a half million people marched in support of Independence, there may be a wider interest in what happens tomorrow.

My first year here was in 2009 and I spent September 11th up in the Pyranees. I had no idea then why there was a group of people carrying a flag up to the top of Costabonne, showing my ignorance at the time but isn’t it wonderful how much you can learn and change in 4 years?

Looking at these photos reminds me of those lovely days walking in the mountains when my main concerns were about relaxing into my newly budding relationship, trying to understand the Catalan conversations of my three friends, and wondering if my legs and lungs would make it across the mountains to the refuge where we slept for three nights.

It’s very beautiful up there and I want to go back.

Via Catalana

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

My blogs name in Catalan is Via Catalana.
Imagine my surprise when I went to look for information about the human chain which will stretch out across Catalunya tomorrow, September 11, and I found they have named the demonstration, in English, The Catalan Way!

Fame at last.

Tomorrow is the national day of Catalunya and a holiday. Last year there was a massive demonstration in Barcelona calling for independence. This year the Catalan Assembly have organised a human chain, holding hands all the way from the border with Valencia to the border with France.
The Catalan Way. Via Catalana.

We have registered and just need to decide where to join in. We looked to see where they need more people, thinking to even go up to the Costa Brava to fill in any gaps. But when I looked Here on the web site, the whole Catalan Way is coloured red which means it is already full.

So we can decide and go where we want to be. I’ll let you know.

And, by the way, sorry for the long gap. I have returned from a two month trip arund the UK and am now full of ideas for new posts.

Scottish – Catalan Independence

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Todays conversation was with the owner of a campsite on the Black Isle near Inverness. He was the first person to say without doubt that he would be voting NO in the referendum next year. He doesn’t want to be seen as a foreigner in England and he believed that the leading politicians in the Scottish Nationalist Party are more left wing than Fidel Castro. He was also worried about the selling off of Scottish utilities to countries like Spain and France and China.
Interesting that on the one hand he was for keeping control of Scottish resources in local hands but against ensuring that those hands were Scottish ones.
He had heard of Catalunya but knew nothing nor seemed very interested in the situation there

Do Scotland and Catalunya have a lot in common?

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Camping in the Scottish mountains and thinking about Scottish independence.
It is interesting hearing what people are thinking.
When I was in Granollers a waiter came and shook my hand when he heard I was Scottish – he felt there was a special relationship between the two countries and that the Scottish referendum was something that could help the Catalan struggle.
However, here in Scotland it seems that people either don’t know anything about the Catalan situation or they don’t want to get too closely associated with it.   In case it muddies the waters here.
That made me think how interesting to see this principle in action – when two minorites or less powerful groups want to get more power they do not necessarily want to join together. If they think it could hinder their own process they may well distance from the other rather than join together and give support.

So Catalans can see the Scottish referendum strengthening their case. But some Scots see the Catalans as pulling the tail of the Spanish tiger – which might be bad news for Scotland and their entry into Europe.

We are hoping to get clearer as our trip around Scotland continues.