Ariel Mallett
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino del Norte
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I'm not of the opinion that complete solitude is necessary for spirituality. Some of the deepest spiritual epiphanies that I've received from my Caminos have emerged from my interactions with other pilgrims. That said, there are things you can do to reduce the "crowding":Hello! I walked the Via de la Plata from Sevilla to Santiago in the spring of 2015 and am looking to go back for seconds - this time I'm considering walking the Camino Frances, but am concerned about the crowding. I am looking for a more spiritual experience and have heard that nothing compares to the Camino Frances but don't want to feel like one in a sea of a million. Any words of advice?
Hello! I walked the Via de la Plata from Sevilla to Santiago in the spring of 2015 and am looking to go back for seconds - this time I'm considering walking the Camino Frances, but am concerned about the crowding. I am looking for a more spiritual experience and have hear d that nothing compares to the Camino Frances but don't want to feel like one in a sea of a million. Any words of advice?
Hello! I walked the Via de la Plata from Sevilla to Santiago in the spring of 2015 and am looking to go back for seconds - this time I'm considering walking the Camino Frances, but am concerned about the crowding. I am looking for a more spiritual experience and have hear d that nothing compares to the Camino Frances but don't want to feel like one in a sea of a million. Any words of advice?
My first Camino was 1989 and I was happy with the Camino in 2016. It probably helped that it had been so long between the two and I was very aware of the increased numbers before I walked in 2016, so I had no expectations of repeating the experience. It also probably helped that some of the things I was really looking for in 1989 were to walk through the same places and towns that the medieval pilgrims had walked through and see the medieval churches etc. that had been built for them, to have something of their experience, rather than specifically setting out for a solitary walk. Those things I had been looking for in 1989 were still there in 2016. That essence was still there.For most of us who are repeat offenders and return for a second or third or fourth or... whatever Camino I think that our first experience sets a baseline. Something about that first journey touched us and we return to recapture that essence. And that is probably what we compare our later journeys with. If your first experience of a Camino was walking the Camino Frances sometime in the past 5 years or so then the large numbers you encountered are probably just "normal" for you and nothing to worry about. But Ariel's baseline is walking the Via de la Plata in 2015 - a year in which 9,221 people received Compostelas for walking the VdlP. In that same year 172,243 Compostelas went to people who walked the Camino Frances. Almost twenty times as many. It is very common to hear people speak of "culture shock" when walking the Camino Primitivo and then joining the crowds on the Frances at Melide. It becomes a vastly different experience. Not necessarily a worse one - that is very much a personal judgement though I myself prefer the quieter paths. I think it is important to understand what it is that you valued so highly in your first Camino before deciding where and when to walk in future. For me the things I treasured most on my first Camino Frances are now far more easily found elsewhere.
It also probably helped that some of the things I was really looking for in 1989 were to walk through the same places and towns that the medieval pilgrims had walked through and see the medieval churches etc. that had been built for them, to have something of their experience, rather than specifically setting out for a solitary walk. Those things I had been looking for in 1989 were still there in 2016. That essence was still there.
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