St Mary's Church, Fishguard, has an exhibition of wedding and christening gowns dating from the early 19th century and I went to see it this afternoon. Run by the 'Saints and Stones' group, donations go towards the education of young people in the Congo.

Fifteen hundred years ago pilgrims arrived here from Europe andfounded religious communities. The 'Saints and Stones' group was formed in Pembrokeshire in 1995toretrace their footsteps.

'Pilgrims from the Sea' and 'In the Shadows of the Preselis' are two of the routes taken. There are Pilgrimage days and an annual supper and Pilgrim Evensong in St David's Cathedral. (Two pilgrimages to St. David's equals one to Rome).

Pilgrimages were meant to be spiritual journeys but Chaucers Pilgrims, on their way to Canterbury,were a very mixed bunch. In the 'Age of Saints' pilgrimages were akin to package holidays, though more dangerous but, if you did not feel up to the trip, it was possible to send someone instead of you. In1352 a London merchant paid a man twenty pounds to go on pilgrimageto Mount Sinai for him.

Pilgrimsoften wrote theirwills as a safety precaution before setting out, because they were likely to be away for months, if not years. St Mary's Church, Haverfordwest, has an effigy of a pilgrim witha scallop shell on his bag. This shows that he journeyed to Sant Iago de Compostella, in Spain.

In his 'Description of Wales', Geraldus Cambrensis described miracles said to have happened in St Almedha's Church, in 1195, where people appeared to becured of St Vitus's Dance, an uncontrollable twitching of the limbs.

Whereas 'All roads lead to Rome', many pilgrimages lead to St David's Cathedral and I was interested to know that 'The American Friends of St David's Cathedral' are highly supportive of the work of the Cathedral.