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I have no interest in the the Compostela or the rules related to who gets one and who doesn't. My walk was my walk for my reasons. Nobody else's opinion about it, including that reflected by an awarding of a Compostela or not, matters to me at all.
It was easy in the beginning for me to push myself further than was good for me. I was a slower walker, and frequently had the sensation of the pack of people behind me surging over me like a wave. I got anxious and started thinking I needed to go faster and further. Nothing was further from the...
On training walks walk a little behind her and comment occasionally about how you're having trouble keeping up. Pretty soon both of you will start believing it, and your roles will be reversed! I tried this with my wife, and the results were amazing. Of course I then had to live with being the...
If you are in decent shape, I think the Camino can be walked without training, but there are pitfalls to that approach. The biggest threat to completing the Camino, in my opinion, is anxiety about whether one can do it or not, which leads to pushing and injury. Somebody that has not trained is...
We took extra days in Burgos, Logronos, and Leon to see these wonderful cities, and we took one more rest day in Puente de Orbigo, due to a stomach flu.
I like the convenience of a bladder, but there are two drawbacks for me. First, I'm never really sure how much I've drunk, and I'm often surprised at how much water is still in the bladder at the end of the day. The opposite, thinking there is plenty of water in there and suddenly I'm sucking...
We had one stamp a day from Sarria on, just as there was one stamp a day from SJPP. Nobody in the pilgrims' office in Santiago questioned that. They did ask me about my request for a secular Compostela. The very kind lady asked me what my motivations were for walking the Camino, and I said they...
Our first night in Spain was in Pamplona, and we stayed in a hotel. Don't miss out on the bar/tapas/pinxchos evening scene in the Pamplona old section. That was an incredible introduction to Spain. What a wonderful experience -- great ambience, friendly atmosphere, families with their kids out...
I think the world would be a better place if we could get the leaders of the world to walk the Camino together. The Camino experience draws people together. We're all in this together.
As a walker on the Camino I was not bothered by the occasional biker passing me. Sure, occasionally one of them seemed a bit wild-eyed, but none was any kind of threat to my health or safety. I don't see why we can't all share the path. The diversity of those doing the Camino is part of its...
My hat is off to anybody who undertakes biking from Saint Jean Pied du Port to Santiago. It might go faster than walking, but a day in the mountains on a bike is immeasurably harder than a day in the mountains on foot. I bicycled across the United States a few years ago, and any one day of that...
The people walking the Camino are a very diverse community, including people of all faiths and those with none at all. Everybody is walking for his own reason, whatever that might be, and you will feel welcomed, Mahmud!
I found the secondary characters in The Way to be rather two dimensional, and there were none I could closely identify with. At least three secondary characters had oral fixations, which seems too heavily weighted on that side -- the Dutch glutton, the female chain smoker, and the Irish wannabe...
My experience of the socialization aspect of the Camino is that I had a nice mix of being alone with my thoughts and opportunities to talk with others. The individual pilgrim has control of that, unless there are problems with setting boundaries, in which case a person might end up having...
I never walked a step, whether up, down, or flat, without using trekking poles, and I'm pleased to be out on the tail of the bell shaped curve on that issue. I too saw many with poles tucked in their packs. I also saw many using poles, but doing so ineffectively. I saw people with wooden staffs...
I would like to make a small plea for shorts and short sleeved shirts never being preferable, unless you are indoors. Skin cancers are epidemic, and walking a camino means days of exposure to the sun. It is of utmost importance to be protected, top and bottom. That sunburn, or even that tan, has...
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