Camino de Santiago (780km) 4th Sept 2014 to 10th Oct 2014.
The Camino is ostensibly the same route followed by pilgrims walking to Santiago to pay homage to St James (brother of Simon called Peter - fisherman of Galilee) the Apostle, since medieval times. The faithful believe the (headless) remains of St James are interred there and have been making this pilgrimage ever since the originally more popular pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Rome became too dangerous to those from western Europe late in the first millenia.
I say ostensibly as the original walking route has obviously been replaced by highways over the centuries and the current route is being increasingly "improved" to make it safer and more scenic. One of the key differences between the Camino and a trail such as the Appalachian Trail is that the Camino seeks the easiest travel route and passes over mountains at their low points and tends to follow valleys while the AT follows a ridgeline and crosses roads etc at its low points.
One is designed to be the easiest way to travel and the other is meant to keep you in the wilderness.
Annie and I decided to walk the Camino Frances which is the most popular of the options. Because the goal is to walk to Santiago there is no "one and only true" camino. In medieval times people simply walked from their front door (and had to walk back). Annie and I met a couple of ladies who had done that from their homes in Belgium. When we met them they had about 2500km behind them and only about 200km to go! They weren't going to walk back however.
To qualify for the Compestela at the end pilgrims only have to have walked the last 100km (from anywhere) and along with the many valid "alternate" routes along the way, this means that a purist "follow every blaze" attitude doesn't really fit with Camino realities. "Purists" abound on the Camino however, but their mantra is more along the lines of carrying your pack all the way, or visiting every church, or staying only in albergue accomodation etc.
We flew from Oz into Madrid arriving late and stayed in a nearby hotel. The following morning we took a bus to Pamplona and were picked up there by a hostel owner who took us back to their hostel which was halfway between Pamplona and the start in St Jean Pied de Port in France. The following morning he drove us to the start and we began the walk back (we actually passed by his hostel again 3 days later and stopped for a chat).
Our first day we only walked 8km and stayed at the Refuge Orisson almost halfway up the climb over the Pyrenees from St Jean. This is strongly recommended, especially for those starting less than trail fit, but requires good planning as the beds there are pretty much booked out 2 to 3 months in advance. Everything up to this point we had planned and prebooked long before leaving home.
From here we continued on over the Pyrenees into Spain and to Santiago. For a day by day description of our Camino please
refer to Annie's trail journal at trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=470001 . I am not going to duplicate the daily info in this report.
For the record we took 37 days and carried our full packs every day except for two occasions (Burgos and Leon) where we stayed two nights and walked sans pack part of the next section and then taxied back, with a bus or taxi ride out to restart the next morning. Our longest day was about 37km and our shortest I think was the 8km first day. We had ZERO zeroes.
The albergues require you to present a "Credencial" or Pilgrim Passport which you generally get at the start in St Jean or whatever city you start in. We had ours already from an online forum. The Credencial is stamped (a "sello") by your albergue (and many churches, bars etc along the way when you ask for it) and it is the document required in Santiago to show evidence of your walk so that you can receive a "Compostela" which is an "indulgence" for your past sins. For an extra couple of euros you can also get a certificate of distance at the end. The Compostela is not issued unless you state you did the walk for religious or "spiritual" reasons. I was very spiritual.
The Camino is ostensibly the same route followed by pilgrims walking to Santiago to pay homage to St James (brother of Simon called Peter - fisherman of Galilee) the Apostle, since medieval times. The faithful believe the (headless) remains of St James are interred there and have been making this pilgrimage ever since the originally more popular pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Rome became too dangerous to those from western Europe late in the first millenia.
I say ostensibly as the original walking route has obviously been replaced by highways over the centuries and the current route is being increasingly "improved" to make it safer and more scenic. One of the key differences between the Camino and a trail such as the Appalachian Trail is that the Camino seeks the easiest travel route and passes over mountains at their low points and tends to follow valleys while the AT follows a ridgeline and crosses roads etc at its low points.
One is designed to be the easiest way to travel and the other is meant to keep you in the wilderness.
Annie and I decided to walk the Camino Frances which is the most popular of the options. Because the goal is to walk to Santiago there is no "one and only true" camino. In medieval times people simply walked from their front door (and had to walk back). Annie and I met a couple of ladies who had done that from their homes in Belgium. When we met them they had about 2500km behind them and only about 200km to go! They weren't going to walk back however.
To qualify for the Compestela at the end pilgrims only have to have walked the last 100km (from anywhere) and along with the many valid "alternate" routes along the way, this means that a purist "follow every blaze" attitude doesn't really fit with Camino realities. "Purists" abound on the Camino however, but their mantra is more along the lines of carrying your pack all the way, or visiting every church, or staying only in albergue accomodation etc.
We flew from Oz into Madrid arriving late and stayed in a nearby hotel. The following morning we took a bus to Pamplona and were picked up there by a hostel owner who took us back to their hostel which was halfway between Pamplona and the start in St Jean Pied de Port in France. The following morning he drove us to the start and we began the walk back (we actually passed by his hostel again 3 days later and stopped for a chat).
Our first day we only walked 8km and stayed at the Refuge Orisson almost halfway up the climb over the Pyrenees from St Jean. This is strongly recommended, especially for those starting less than trail fit, but requires good planning as the beds there are pretty much booked out 2 to 3 months in advance. Everything up to this point we had planned and prebooked long before leaving home.
From here we continued on over the Pyrenees into Spain and to Santiago. For a day by day description of our Camino please
refer to Annie's trail journal at trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=470001 . I am not going to duplicate the daily info in this report.
For the record we took 37 days and carried our full packs every day except for two occasions (Burgos and Leon) where we stayed two nights and walked sans pack part of the next section and then taxied back, with a bus or taxi ride out to restart the next morning. Our longest day was about 37km and our shortest I think was the 8km first day. We had ZERO zeroes.
The albergues require you to present a "Credencial" or Pilgrim Passport which you generally get at the start in St Jean or whatever city you start in. We had ours already from an online forum. The Credencial is stamped (a "sello") by your albergue (and many churches, bars etc along the way when you ask for it) and it is the document required in Santiago to show evidence of your walk so that you can receive a "Compostela" which is an "indulgence" for your past sins. For an extra couple of euros you can also get a certificate of distance at the end. The Compostela is not issued unless you state you did the walk for religious or "spiritual" reasons. I was very spiritual.
Resident Australian, proving being a grumpy old man is not just an American trait.
and at that point I was still standing on my blisters.... 
