A NORTH Yorkshire man has just returned from a charity pilgrimage of nearly 500 miles in Spain to continue fundraising in tribute to his late grandfather and uncle.

Liam Connelly, from Northallerton, has covered just under 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James, to raise money for a charity which supports a village in India.

The route is an ancient pilgrim’s route to what we believed to be the burial place of St James, which crosses through the Pyrenees and finishes at Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.

He began his walk in France and walked into Spain.

He said: “Crossing the Pyrenees was tough, but absolutely amazing.

“I took one full rest day and had a couple of short days when I only walked 10km and managed to finish it in about 30 days. I stopped in small villages and towns, depending on how many beds there were in the village. There were some days when I got to my destination and had to carry on because there weren’t any beds, but I always knew I would get somewhere to sleep in the end.”

Those on the walk usually stay at pilgrim’s hostels on the way, which are marked with a scallop shell and are usually run by the local council or parish. If these are full, then churches or chapels are sometimes opened to pilgrims.

Liam, a care and domestic support assistant at Malpas Court, an assisted retirement living development in Northallerton, completed the walk in memory of his grandfather, a Kirby Sigston farmer and his uncle, David Eldridge, who both recently died from cancer.

His uncle, a former headteacher at Askrigg and Hawes Primary Schools started up a charity, The Friends of Mettupalayam Trust in the 1980s and ran it for 30 years.

He set up the trust after volunteering for a major charity in India. When the charity pulled out, he continued its work which had been left unfinished. The charity invests in agriculture and schools, providing free education and paying for students who have done well academically to go to college or university. It has also built schools in the South-East region of India.

It is also supported by several schools in the Northallerton area.

Liam also raised money for Macmillan Cancer Support, which had helped the family.

He said: “When my uncle wasn’t over here teaching he was out there teaching and fundraising. He had friends all over the world. It’s a completely non-profit charity, nobody takes any wages and it relies entirely on donations.”

To donate to Liam’s causes, visit: https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/Liam-Connolly-Camino-de-Santiago?utm_id=108&utm_term=4wZA9Vm68