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Pity. Is that the same as charity?
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There is a quote you may want to consider: "It's your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you". I'm confident that what YOU experience will be much different than those pilgrims that ship their bags or take a taxi. The only person they are cheating is themselves. I know you understand what I am saying, and you will reflect upon your experience, as I do, with much love, respect, pain, endurance, understanding, and the feeling of peace that it gives to us. Do not judge them, rather pity them for not doing a true Pilgrimage and not embracing the reason for the Camino.
I'm confident that what YOU experience will be much different than those pilgrims that ship their bags or take a taxi. The only person they are cheating is themselves. Do not judge them, rather pity them for not doing a true Pilgrimage and not embracing the reason for the Camino.
Thank you, I will have a look for that one!I used Rother guide book by Rabe. No waffling and easy to use.
Thank you, I will check into this and the suggestion from Angelo. Much appreciated!All of the Anayas guides are pretty good, but I don't think they have English translations yet.
The Confraternity of St James's list of albuergues is a must have, and almost negates the need for a guidebook (other than for maps)....which would allow you to just carry the Brierly map guide (although we found inaccuracies in his maps too, so....).
What do you mean by a true Pilgrimage?There is a quote you may want to consider: "It's your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you". I'm confident that what YOU experience will be much different than those pilgrims that ship their bags or take a taxi. The only person they are cheating is themselves. I know you understand what I am saying, and you will reflect upon your experience, as I do, with much love, respect, pain, endurance, understanding, and the feeling of peace that it gives to us. Do not judge them, rather pity them for not doing a true Pilgrimage and not embracing the reason for the Camino.
We cannot change others, we can only change the way we react to them. A Camino is something that happens inside, the road is just a way to walk and center your thoughts. I was part of the Fun & Fit club when I was young & stupid, as were most of us. We are not all born to seek, sometimes it takes a slap upside the head from the Universe to stop, look and listen. I got several slaps upside the head. Have compassion for the Clubbers, because they may have a harsh awakening someday. I did.Colleen, if only this was why so many are walking it. But alas not the case. Nights being woken by drunken "pilgrims" as they try to find their bunk, only to see them at 8 am the next day starting their day with a beer, of people from the "NJ Fun & Fit Club" riding their bicycles for shorter distances than the slowest of us walks. And making shopping decisions based on the penny, instaead of being generous and undertstanding everyone needs to make a living on this route (hence why you buy something at a bar when using the loo). The picture you paint is beautiful, and for some true, and hopefully some of the those hoping for the most inexpensive holiday of their lives will encounter what you write about. Truth is, the Fun & Fit group may make the Camino impossible in the future for those you write about.
We chose to walk the CF late August to September 2013 for the following reasons:
1) College students are starting to go back to school.
2) Typical vacation season is ending.
3) Not as rainy in Galicia.
4) Hot, but not blistering hot.
5) No fighting for accommodations.
As it turned out we feel we made the right decision. The trails were not as busy as some pilgrims had reported who had gone May-July.
Buen Camino.
You put this very beautifully, Coleen. When I was on the Camino, I observed over a period of days someone getting that slap upside the head. It was discomforting for me to watch, and no doubt painful for the person forced to stop, look and listen.We cannot change others, we can only change the way we react to them. A Camino is something that happens inside, the road is just a way to walk and center your thoughts. I was part of the Fun & Fit club when I was young & stupid, as were most of us. We are not all born to seek, sometimes it takes a slap upside the head from the Universe to stop, look and listen. I got several slaps upside the head. Have compassion for the Clubbers, because they may have a harsh awakening someday. I did.
And if I paid myself for the hours it takes to set up such a trip for a group, I would be making less than $2 per hour. So though I get a 'trade out' for my time, I certainly do not 'make money.' In other words, if you want to do what I do, don't quit your day job.
I completed the Ebro two weeks ago. Am just writing up my diary. Send me an e-mail and I'll send you a copy. It was VERY remote. I met one other pilgrim in three weeks who was walking the same way as I was. I slept in four albergues - and was the ONLY pilgrim in three of them!!! Spooky!Does anyone know of a guide book from Barcelona in English please as I was looking at the Ruta de Elbro in 2016
You put this very beautifully, Coleen. When I was on the Camino, I observed over a period of days someone getting that slap upside the head. It was discomforting for me to watch, and no doubt painful for the person forced to stop, look and listen.
I completed the Ebro two weeks ago. Am just writing up my diary. Send me an e-mail and I'll send you a copy. It was VERY remote. I met one other pilgrim in three weeks who was walking the same way as I was. I slept in four albergues - and was the ONLY pilgrim in three of them!!! Spooky!
DittoWe chose to walk the CF late August to September 2013 for the following reasons:
1) College students are starting to go back to school.
2) Typical vacation season is ending.
3) Not as rainy in Galicia.
4) Hot, but not blistering hot.
5) No fighting for accommodations.
As it turned out we feel we made the right decision. The trails were not as busy as some pilgrims had reported who had gone May-July.
Buen Camino.
Is she a good aim? Did you get the message?That was probably me. And my wife was hitting me because I was stopping to look and listen!
If she paid a service fee or left a gratuity, this is an acceptable practice in some countries, including the United States. "Rudeness" is sometimes just cultural differences. You are probably right about her motives, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.I saw an example of this last week in Villamayor de Monjardin. A young girl bought a bottle of wine at the tiendra and carried it to the only bar in town and had the gall to ask the owner for a cork screw and 3 wine glasses so she could share it with her friends. He's a nice, generous guy and he was willing to accommodate her request. Her next move was high fiving her friends about her boldness. I'd chalk it up as being petty and rude.
That was probably me. And my wife was hitting me because I was stopping to look and listen!
I agree. Besides, as the poster said, this incident occurred in Villamayor de Monjardín - still early days on the Francés. If the peregrina was heading to Santiago, there were still many days left for her to get that slap upside the head.......... "Rudeness" is sometimes just cultural differences. You are probably right about her motives, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
There is a quote you may want to consider: "It's your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you". I'm confident that what YOU experience will be much different than those pilgrims that ship their bags or take a taxi. The only person they are cheating is themselves. I know you understand what I am saying, and you will reflect upon your experience, as I do, with much love, respect, pain, endurance, understanding, and the feeling of peace that it gives to us. Do not judge them, rather pity them for not doing a true Pilgrimage and not embracing the reason for the Camino.
Love your post as it reminds me of me. I got a tad annoyed by the touregrinos on the 'old 206', a bus transporting folk along the way with the niumber 206 on the front. A group came into Manjarin behind me and started making 'knowledgable sounds about the weight of my pack'. 15k they surmised, actually 9.75. I kind of started to fume. One guy walked with nothing hanging on his back but a pastel pink cardigan. At the top of the hill they had all the tables at the caravan stall taken but would not let me have a spare seat so I sat on the ground. The anger was growing. Then after Sarria, the FNGs. The noise, the laughter, the enthusiasm, the lack of backpacks was really getting to me. The less than polite Irish woman in the bar at Morgade. Being Irish and wearing an Irish patch, I felt obliged to apologise to the bar man and said loud enough for her to hear that there is always one to let down the nation. Then I met an Anglican priest from California. It was he who used the term FNG but not the usual meaning. He called them friendly new guys and reminded us that the noise and laughter and chatting and enthusiasm was us at St Jean. That everyone has their own reasons and its not for us to judge. He calmed my anger and annoyance and made me look at things in a kinder way. As I walked along the forest trail from O Pedrouza an Australian woman and her husband slowed down to talk to a tired weary old pilgrim carrying his own pack. She had a light day bag, started at Sarria and was almost apologising when I told her I had walked from St Jean.Maybe more albergue should be like Gaucelmo in Rabanal: schlept your stuff or else You get turned away from the Inn. Christian don't you think?
Actually, I struggled with this when I got to Melide after the Primitivo a week ago. It was a shock to see groups and groups of pilgrims. I ran to hide in the fist albergue I found only to come back out after being showered and having had a nap. But the nextday I started cringing again: 20 people in front of me practically all the time, and another 10 behind. Percentage of those schleping their backpack? 20% perhaps. Who wpuld have ever thought that one day I would look at bicygrinos as "the good guys"
I saw so many people being dropped out of taxis, wthout packs, at the top of hills, I was getting upset, thinking all sorts of bad thoughts about these tourigrinos. Then I started having visions of undercover Camino police who would cancel the credenciales of those getting put of taxis
Then I remembered some Bouddhist readings about observing feelings and not falling in that rriver, about the impermanence of things. And I realises that maybe this Camino might be about learning to dig deeper, to find solutions witjin me and not in my environment, in those around me. I don't like something, like these crowds of touriginos, then it is up to me to find a way not to let it affect me.
Perhaps spirituality on the CF is no longer going to be offered to any and all on a silver platter like it has been, at least for me, in the past. Now, because of the distractions, perhaps I will simply need to look deaper inside me to find what the Camino has had to offer, and still has to offer.
Of all the problems in our world, too many people seeking the Truth in a Peaceful loving environment while drinking wine and listening to each others stories is not a problem. Sure, we may have to share too much of our personal space at a buffet table, but I am willing to add more water to the soup and invite one more person to the meal. This phenomenon is exactly what we have been praying for, that all men and women take the time while they live to find that individual seed of goodness locked inside by years and years of mundane struggle in an environment full of misinformation and radical irrationality. Rather than Jihad or Crusades or country invading country, I support inviting as many people as possible to walk, eat pinchos, drink wine and LISTEN to each other. I would sleep on a floor if we could convince the powerful people to do what we few do. Actually, I'd rather share the bunk...(with a very skinny person, please). (who doesn't snore please).
There is a quote you may want to consider: "It's your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you". I'm confident that what YOU experience will be much different than those pilgrims that ship their bags or take a taxi. The only person they are cheating is themselves. I know you understand what I am saying, and you will reflect upon your experience, as I do, with much love, respect, pain, endurance, understanding, and the feeling of peace that it gives to us. Do not judge them, rather pity them for not doing a true Pilgrimage
Are you normally so dogmatic and intolerant? I would normally reserve my pity for people like you who believe that they hold some universal insight into what is a true pilgrimage. Certainly apply these standards to yourself, but don't think for even one moment that you can tell what is in the heart or mind of someone who ships their bags, or takes a taxi or bus from time to time before the last 100km.There is a quote you may want to consider: "It's your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you". I'm confident that what YOU experience will be much different than those pilgrims that ship their bags or take a taxi. The only person they are cheating is themselves. I know you understand what I am saying, and you will reflect upon your experience, as I do, with much love, respect, pain, endurance, understanding, and the feeling of peace that it gives to us. Do not judge them, rather pity them for not doing a true Pilgrimage and not embracing the reason for the Camino.
I will say that the Camino isn't the only place in Europe where you can walk an ancient route for religious, spiritual, or self renewal reasons.............If you want alone time, there are other routes and other caminos than Frances.
1949Trevor@gmail.com, thanks for the reply. This will be my third Camino previous two CF, and quiet will be great for the first few weeks. where did you start from.I completed the Ebro two weeks ago. Am just writing up my diary. Send me an e-mail and I'll send you a copy. It was VERY remote. I met one other pilgrim in three weeks who was walking the same way as I was. I slept in four albergues - and was the ONLY pilgrim in three of them!!! Spooky!
I am very impressed with your math, but what on earth is a Compestia?I know I know. I said no math.... but out of the 7 billion people on earth only .2% received a Compestia last year(237,886). It probably felt like more, maybe felt like .3% instead!
I hope the other 99.8% of the world was jealous.
You may have dropped a decimal place or two!!only .2%
Why it's how I spell "Compostela " after a glass of wine....or two....I am very impressed with your math, but what on earth is a Compestia?
Yes I did. Oops. But what is a dot between friends?You may have dropped a decimal place or two!!
And I am more than exceedingly impressed with your math!You may have dropped a decimal place or two!!
Thank you, I will have a look for that one!
Who has claim to the Pilgrim Roads to CompostelaLove your post as it reminds me of me. I got a tad annoyed by the touregrinos on the 'old 206', a bus transporting folk along the way with the niumber 206 on the front. A group came into Manjarin behind me and started making 'knowledgable sounds about the weight of my pack'. 15k they surmised, actually 9.75. I kind of started to fume. One guy walked with nothing hanging on his back but a pastel pink cardigan. At the top of the hill they had all the tables at the caravan stall taken but would not let me have a spare seat so I sat on the ground. The anger was growing. Then after Sarria, the FNGs. The noise, the laughter, the enthusiasm, the lack of backpacks was really getting to me. The less than polite Irish woman in the bar at Morgade. Being Irish and wearing an Irish patch, I felt obliged to apologise to the bar man and said loud enough for her to hear that there is always one to let down the nation. Then I met an Anglican priest from California. It was he who used the term FNG but not the usual meaning. He called them friendly new guys and reminded us that the noise and laughter and chatting and enthusiasm was us at St Jean. That everyone has their own reasons and its not for us to judge. He calmed my anger and annoyance and made me look at things in a kinder way. As I walked along the forest trail from O Pedrouza an Australian woman and her husband slowed down to talk to a tired weary old pilgrim carrying his own pack. She had a light day bag, started at Sarria and was almost apologising when I told her I had walked from St Jean.
This lady was the last of her mothers children still alive. The mother was 94 and this lady was her only carer and had had to put her mother in a care home while she was away. She had flown all the way from Oz to walk as quickly as she could from Sarria then fly back home. She had always wanted to walk the camino but this was the best she could manage. Who was the true pilgrim here, her or me. I am retired, a two hour cheap flight from Dublin, all the time in the world ad she is a carer, not a lot of time and flying from the other side of the world. Who had the most commitment. The FNGs are not rivals or cheap style pilgrims to be reviled, they are gifts to make us realise that we are all just part of an awesome community of millions stretching back over a millenium. So enjoy the crowds now walking and love them like we love our St Jean and Orisson families. We are all pilgrims to Santiago and on the road of life
Annie: A winter camino is wonderful and you don't need to worry - there are albergues open generally every 20-25 km. I think I only had to do 30 km 2 or 3 times and generally it was by choice. Only once did I have to walk 5 km further because of a closed albergue (wrong info in my guide). I walked in Jan-Feb and was surprised how many people were doing the same. It would be my choice if I walked the CF again. I loved it.Someday I'd like to try a winter Camino!
I will be sure to pick your brains when that happens - I think my biggest concern would be the limited distance I'm able to walk = probably never more than 25-30 k.
But I guess there are always buses and taxis!
I totally agree with you except she did not leave a tip or even take the trouble buy a bag of chips. She was much too busy gloating and textingIf she paid a service fee or left a gratuity, this is an acceptable practice in some countries, including the United States. "Rudeness" is sometimes just cultural differences. You are probably right about her motives, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
There are various options, Trevor.1949Trevor@gmail.com, thanks for the reply. This will be my third Camino previous two CF, and quiet will be great for the first few weeks. where did you start from. Trevor
I know I know. I said no math.... but out of the 7 billion people on earth only .2% received a Compestia last year(237,886). It probably felt like more, maybe felt like .3% instead!
I hope the other 99.8% of the world was jealous.
Which means 99.997% of the world is jealous and clueless.
It would be a HUGE affair at the Cathedral in Santiago! Like a Bollywood set, with colorful saris and dancing! Wait! Pilgrims and Indians? THANKSGIVING!Please don't enlighten them!
Imagine the crowds if only 1% gets a Compostella
Buen Camino,
Jacques-D.
Is she a good aim? Did you get the message?
But that would not have been discomforting for me to watch! I probably would have given your wife the thumbs up or, depending on the circumstances, I might even have joined in.
I will be waiting to read as it is my birthday I will take this as my Camino present, I will be meeting the path at Zaragoza coming from Monserrat, quiet paths are the ones that I enjoy as it allows me to set my own pace and I always catchup to folk at the stops for like you a vino tinto..There are various options, Trevor.
I actually started slightly further down the coast in Vinaros: that's just 25 kms from Sant Carles de la Rapita.
I started in Vinaros because I lived there for eight years!! And had free B&B and a few [many] vinos with friends!
Yellow arrows from SCdlR to Zaragoza are poor. From Zaragoza to Logrono they're good.
Draft diary now being checked and should be available on Monday [we're moving tomorrow!]
Of all my caminos I think the Portuguese was favourite ... but each has its beautiful stretches.
Here's just one of the lovely Ebro ... on the day when I met no-one and saw no-one for four hours!
View attachment 19334
Buen camino, amigo!
Just to let you know my Ebro Diary is now completed.I will be waiting to read as it is my birthday I will take this as my Camino present, I will be meeting the path at Zaragoza coming from Monserrat, quiet paths are the ones that I enjoy as it allows me to set my own pace and I always catchup to folk at the stops for like you a vino tinto..
A copy of both would be great thanks, do you have a link or just email it to me ta Trev.Just to let you know my Ebro Diary is now completed.
Let me know if you'd like a copy - but it is 11 MB!!! Probably due to the pictures. There's a photo album, too, but that's 11 MB as well.
I hope you have a super camino next year.
Blessings from England...
View attachment 19389
Storks on parade!
Trevor - a personal e-mail sent to you has come back saying you don't existA copy of both would be great thanks, do you have a link or just email it to me ta Trev.
I ain't just doing it for his bones, I am doing it for these old bones.
Love this.
Thanks Stephen I have woken to rain here in Wintry Melbourne so I have been able yo link in and I will grab a coffee or two finish the washing and then spend some time and look at your photos and read your blog, not a better way to spend a wet day. Thanks TrevorTrevor - a personal e-mail sent to you has come back saying you don't exist.
Both diary and Photo Album can now be downloaded from my web site - http://snicholl5.wix.com/home-site#!santiago/c165l
Any problems, let me know!
Patience. We learned our first lessons about it when we were four years old, but it gets lost in the cacophony of growing old. I think your point is well taken.So let people do what they do. Many of them will have gotten the point by the end of their walk.
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