Angela Merkel to walk the Camino de Santiago

German chancellor Angela Merkel is set to meet the Spanish PM for talks

In a pretty subdued but interesting publicity stunt, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to walk a 5km section of the famous Camino de Santiago trail alongside her Spanish counterpart, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The two leaders are due to meet on Monday, August 25 for talks concerning Spanish-German relations. But a day earlier the pair will put on their walking shoes and walk the final section of the pilgrim trail, with Merkel taking in the Romanesque cathedral at Santiago de Compostela that marks the end of the trail.

Merkel, 60, is thought to be a keen hiker who loves nothing more than spending her summer vacation traversing the Italian and Bavarian Alps. Rajoy, meanwhile, regularly jogs to stay in shape, so the procession could develop into an interesting race to the finish line – particularly since news emerged earlier this month that Spain’s manufacturing sector outperformed Germany’s in the second quarter of the year for the first time in more than a decade.

Rajoy, who was born in Santiago, is eager to show Merkel around his place of birth while also demonstrating to the all-powerful Chancellor that Spain’s economy is also coming to the end of a difficult, but transformative and eventually uplifting path.

Figures released last week show that Spain’s economy grew 0.6 per cent in the second quarter – its fastest growth for six years – while Germany could only post growth of 0.2 per cent.