- Camino de Santiago walk in memory of Sam Pegram one of 157 passengers and crew who died in Ethiopian Airways Boeing 737 MAX 8 tragedy
A walk from France to Camino de Santiago Spain is underway in memory of Sam Pegram, 25, one of 157 passengers and crew who died when an Ethiopian Airways Boeing 737 MAX 8 came down shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa in March 2019.
Friend Jonny Stewart will carry a Preston North End shirt Peggy 25 on his rucksack in a tribute to the aid worker who supported Championship club Preston across the 500 mile pilgrimage walk.
“It’s almost like he will be there with me,” said Jonny, 28, who is accompanied on the Camino de Santiago route by his partner Rachel Casey and her dad John.
“Hopefully people will be asking me what Peggy 25 means.
“I’ll be able to tell them about what a great lad he was. We will be keeping his memory alive by talking about him,” said Jonny.
“Sam would have loved to have done this walk. It’s something we’d talked about doing and so it will be really special to do it for him and have the PNE shirt with me,” he said.
Sam was working for the Norwegian Refugee Council and was on a humanitarian mission to Nairobi, when the plane crashed.
It is hoped the walk will raise £1,000 on JustGiving, with half of what is raised going to Sam’s fund and the other half to Children In Need in memory of Rachel’s uncle Bob, also a devoted PNE fan, who died last year aged 65.
“We reckon it is going to take us between 30 and 34 days. I won’t pretend it isn’t a daunting task, but it is something we are looking forward to because it will honour two very special people,” said Jonny.
The trio set out from St Jean-Pied-du-Port near to Biarritz, France and follow one of many ancient pilgrimage routes heading for Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain.
The Camino is a network of routes from across Europe, dating back to the ninth century, which converge on Santiago at the tomb of St James, the evangelical apostle of the Iberian Peninsula. Hundreds of thousands of people from all backgrounds tackle the walks every year, staying in hostels along the way.
“Sam would have loved the social side of the Camino because it brings people together from all over the world and he would have really enjoyed talking to folk,” he said.
To donate can go to: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/camino-de-santiago
