Davey Boyd
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Again, soon as possible!
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Good idea, Davey. Whether the PO would or could actually do this is another matter.Why not have some simple and easy way for us to register at the pilgrim office in Santiago which does not take us an hour or more to queue for or take up much of the very busy staff their precious time? Maybe a guy at the entrance with a simple clipboard, we walk up, they check our credential and write down our starting point? Or something simpler? After all, I don't want or need another compostela, would would like to help with the statistics.
@Davey Boyd , great idea! It still wouldn't capture the 'stealth' pilgrims but, if the PO and therefore the Cathedral were interested , it would be a great way of re-qualifying the published stats. My only concern is that that would just generate a second enormous queue at the PO. "Compostella? On the left", "Registration? On the right."
Maybe it's a job for the Tourist Board or their ilk.
@Davey Boyd , great idea! It still wouldn't capture the 'stealth' pilgrims but, if the PO and therefore the Cathedral were interested , it would be a great way of re-qualifying the published stats. My only concern is that that would just generate a second enormous queue at the PO. "Compostella? On the left", "Registration? On the right."
Maybe it's a job for the Tourist Board or their ilk.
How about the other way around, by collecting numbers from albergues and the likes on a daily basis?
I often do not get a Compostela.
There are other issues that greatly affect the statistics.
1. Those who don't bother with a Compostela for many reasons
2. Those who start somewhere and do not make it to Santiago but may walk for weeks. They are not counted but are out on the various caminos and in albergues, pensions and bars.
3. There is confusion by some who use the Pilgrim Office in SJPP stats to judge the numbers starting from there. Many (most?) do not go to the PO because they do not need anything from them or just don't know it exists.
I hear officially numbers have dropped this year on the Plata, but I doubt if this is the case. Same could be said for pilgrims starting on the Salvador or Primitivo for instance.
Due to the new regulations of monitoring who is where at any point in time, every albergue, anywhere in Spain, has a record (presumably!), of how many stayed in any particular albergue on any particular night. That would surely give the statistics of how many were walking the Via de la Plata or the Primitivo or the ….
…. obviously there is no point in including the tourists who stay in hostels or hoteles, as we all know that true pilgrims don’t stay in those.
Due to the new regulations of monitoring who is where at any point in time, every albergue, anywhere in Spain, has a record (presumably!), of how many stayed in any particular albergue on any particular night. That would surely give the statistics of how many were walking the Via de la Plata or the Primitivo or the ….
…. obviously there is no point in including the tourists who stay in hostels or hoteles, as we all know that true pilgrims don’t stay in those.
Those are the new rules? Whatever happened to the old ones?
Only an idea that I was wondering about.
Many of us that walk caminos again and again don't bother collecting the compostela any more after arriving in Santiago. I haven't collected the last four that I was eligible for. We all know that the pilgrim statistics are not so accurate because of this, and I feel that these numbers of repeat offenders are only going to increase. For instance, on caminos like the Via de la Plata, which is a camino where most pilgrims have walked before (not many first timers), many of us not collecting a compostela means nobody really knows how this camino is populated year by year. I hear officially numbers have dropped this year on the Plata, but I doubt if this is the case. Same could be said for pilgrims starting on the Salvador or Primitivo for instance.
Why not have some simple and easy way for us to register at the pilgrim office in Santiago which does not take us an hour or more to queue for or take up much of the very busy staff their precious time? Maybe a guy at the entrance with a simple clipboard, we walk up, they check our credential and write down our starting point? Or something simpler? After all, I don't want or need another compostela, but would like to help with the statistics.
Maybe I'm just being daft. Sorry for rambling on!
Davey
That's true but this info goes to Guardia Civil which obviously has no connection or passing over the info to PO in SdC.Due to the new regulations of monitoring who is where at any point in time, every albergue, anywhere in Spain, has a record (presumably!), of how many stayed in any particular albergue on any particular night. That would surely give the statistics of how many were walking the Via de la Plata or the Primitivo or the ….
…. obviously there is no point in including the tourists who stay in hostels or hoteles, as we all know that true pilgrims don’t stay in those.
I like statistics as well as the next person, and am curious about these ones. However, I really can't think of a good reason to collect this information, as long as the facilities are not overburdened. Maybe it is more fun to keep the mystery and stealth - nobody really knows how many pilgrims are out there!
In Spain, I've always had to show my passport each and every time I checked in to all lodgings. I was prepared to show it in France on the Le Puy route, but was very surprised I was never asked to show it even once.Ha ha! I didn't once have to show my passport on my first camino, now they won't check me in without it.
Strange. Because in EU it is expected to have ID on you at all times. Passports in hotel vaults won't doIn Spain, I've always had to show my passport each and every time I checked in to all lodgings. I was prepared to show it in France on the Le Puy route, but was very surprised I was never asked to show it even once.
So true!!!...
This is not rocket science. But getting the Church to make ANY change usually occurs similar to the flow of a glacier... I am on it, but am cautiously pessimistic...
My sole hope is that, as the next Holy Year approaches in 2021, cooler heads prevail and some modernization in the process occurs and is tested in the next couple of years. ...
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