Certificate of distance

[AJGuillaume]

My wife and I have been walking for a while, 99 days today to be precise.
We have walked from a place called Les Evouettes in Switzerland to Geneva, then in sequence followed the Via Gebennensis, the Via Podiensis, the Voie Nive Bidassoa, and we are now on the Camino del Norte, expecting to finish in SdC at the end of October.
We have heard that in addition to the Compostela, there is a document called the Certificate of distance ( for which there is a cost).
As we will have walked a fair distance, we thought we might get the certificate, but wanted to know what distance would be indicated: is it the whole distance from our departure point, or only the Spanish part? If it is the distance from our departure point, how is it calculated (are there 'standard' distances for the various Caminos)?
Thank you!
Buen Camino !

 

[domigee]

Hi! The Certificate of distance is 3€ - or at least it was 2 years ago.
I think they ask you your point of departure and work it from there.... Members of this forum who worked in the Pilgrim office in Santiago will know more
Well done, anyway!

 

[Miki Goldie]

Hi well done for walking all that way. All I know is the Camino Francis has a distance certificate for 799 klms from SJPP to Santiago.....

 

[trecile]

Hopefully, @t2andreo will chime in, as he volunteers in the Pilgrims Office.

 

[t2andreo]

Domigee is correct. PROVIDED that your credential(s) establish a line of march from Point A to Santiago, the Certificate of Distance will state that you started at Point A and walked to Santiago.

In my direct experience as a volunteer at the Pilgrim Office, I have seen certificates with starting points from from Le Puy, Stuttgart, Utrecht, Warsaw, and Geneva.

As an aside, it is very common for bicyclists to have distance certificates stating that they traveled anywhere from 1,500 km to 2,500 km to arrive at Santiago. It is no different for walking pilgrims.

This optional certificate is available for €3. You can combine family members on one certificate if you wish. Some folks want "La Familia Garcia-Rodriguez," or "Mary & John Smith" accomplished this camino. Either way works, as does individualized certificates, at €3 each.

They will document anything you can substantiate.

Hope this helps.

 

[IngridF]

Domigee is correct. PROVIDED that your credential(s) establish a line of march from Point A to Santiago, the Certificate of Distance will states that you started at Point A and walked to Santiago.

In my direct experience as a volunteer at the Pilgrim Office, I have seen certificates with starting points from from Le Puy, Stuttgart, Utrecht, Warsaw, and Geneva.

As an aside, it is very common for bicyclists to have distance certificates stating that they traveled anywhere from 1,500 km to 2,500 km to arrive at Santiago. It is no different for walking pilgrims.

This optional certificate is available for €3. You can combine family members on one certificate if you wish. Some folks want "La Familia Garcia-Rodriguez," or "Mary & John Smith" accomplished this camino. Either way works, as does individualized certificates, at €3 each.

They will document anything you can substantiate.

Hope this helps.

Aldo it helps if you have some idea how many kms you have accumulated. Makes the process less time consuming.

 

[AJGuillaume]

Domigee is correct. PROVIDED that your credential(s) establish a line of march from Point A to Santiago, the Certificate of Distance will states that you started at Point A and walked to Santiago.

In my direct experience as a volunteer at the Pilgrim Office, I have seen certificates with starting points from from Le Puy, Stuttgart, Utrecht, Warsaw, and Geneva.

As an aside, it is very common for bicyclists to have distance certificates stating that they traveled anywhere from 1,500 km to 2,500 km to arrive at Santiago. It is no different for walking pilgrims.

This optional certificate is available for €3. You can combine family members on one certificate if you wish. Some folks want "La Familia Garcia-Rodriguez," or "Mary & John Smith" accomplished this camino. Either way works, as does individualized certificates, at €3 each.

They will document anything you can substantiate.

Hope this helps.

Thank you @t2andreo !!
That's extremely helpful!

 

[AJGuillaume]

Aldo it helps if you have some idea how many kms you have accumulated. Makes the process less time consuming.

Agreed, and I have been keeping a running (sorry for the pub) total of the KMS we have covered.
Thank you!

 

[Purky]

I have been keeping a running (...) total of the KMS we have covered.

Sensible. I walked from Holland, and once at the Pilgrim Office it turned out they didn't have fixed numbers ready for further back than Vézelay. They were gracious enough to accept my own calculations, also because the distance I walked from Vézelay on was virtually the same as on their list.

 

[t2andreo]

Purky:

I saw this done several times this past summer. In situations where they do not have the actual starting point in the computer database of approved distance...it happens...the Pilgrim Office staff will go online right there and use Google Maps.

They will plot directions and distance (in order) by walking, cycling or, if all else fails, the driving distance from one point to the first point where they can start using the Cathedral-approved database table of 'Camino distance.'

This actually works. No one gets all worked up beyond the final 100 km on any route into Santiago (200 if on bike or horse.)

Hope this helps.

 

[Purky]

No one gets all worked up (...)

I beg to differ: I actually had to bring the final number of km's down a little, because the staff member became so energetic and enthusiastic about the distance she had to calculate. Apparently I was her first long haul pilgrim. It was kind of cute.

 

[t2andreo]

Okay, but you did get your Compostela and a wholly adequate distance certificate, correct?

It’s all good. Each staff person approaches this issue slightly differently. But in the end, a win-win result occurred.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Aldo it helps if you have some idea how many kms you have accumulated. Makes the process less time consuming.

The staff will still look it up!
On Sunday a lady came in and started off with "I'm Canadian and my GPS says I've walked 832kms from Saint Jean!"
Voluntario*: "Quite possibly, but we record it as 799km"
"But my GPS is very accurate!"
"Would you like the certificate, saying 799kms, or not?"

* no, it wasn't me!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Agreed, and I have been keeping a running (sorry for the pub) total of the KMS we have covered.
Thank you!

Never apologise for the pub unless the beer is rubbish.

 

[Stroller123]

Domigee is correct. PROVIDED that your credential(s) establish a line of march from Point A to Santiago, the Certificate of Distance will states that you started at Point A and walked to Santiago.

In my direct experience as a volunteer at the Pilgrim Office, I have seen certificates with starting points from from Le Puy, Stuttgart, Utrecht, Warsaw, and Geneva.

As an aside, it is very common for bicyclists to have distance certificates stating that they traveled anywhere from 1,500 km to 2,500 km to arrive at Santiago. It is no different for walking pilgrims.

This optional certificate is available for €3. You can combine family members on one certificate if you wish. Some folks want "La Familia Garcia-Rodriguez," or "Mary & John Smith" accomplished this camino. Either way works, as does individualized certificates, at €3 each.

They will document anything you can substantiate.

Hope this helps.

Should the credentials be of the specific routes you took (i.e. Francigena, Domitia etc.) or Santiago's credential can be stamped also on non Santiago routes as long as you walk to Santiago?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Should the credentials be of the specific routes you took (i.e. Francigena, Domitia etc.) or Santiago's credential can be stamped also on non Santiago routes as long as you walk to Santiago?

If you start in, say, Florence and walk to Santiago, they will have the distances. If you walk Hadrian's Walll or Machu Pichu, then do something in Spain, I doubt they will add the miles. The point of the Distance Certificate is to make some money by documenting the distance you walked to get to Santiago. The pilgrimage does not have to be done all at the same time, but it has to be a continuous route ending at the Cathedral. It is not designed as a certificate for hiking in general.

 

[t2andreo]

Should the credentials be of the specific routes you took (i.e. Francigena, Domitia etc.) or Santiago's credential can be stamped also on non Santiago routes as long as you walk to Santiago?

You can combine different routes in one credential, as long as the sellos establish a line-of-march on a pilgrimage route, from someplace to Santiago. The end point must be Santiago. You must have walked at least the FINAL 100 km on any route into Santiago. Before that you can have walked 10 km or 1,000 km. It does not matter for the purpose of obtaining a compostela.

Hope this helps.

 

[Stroller123]

You can combine different routes in one credential, as long as the sellos establish a line-of-march on a pilgrimage route, from someplace to Santiago. The end point must be Santiago. You must have walked at least the FINAL 100 km on any route into Santiago. Before that you can have walked 10 km or 1,000 km. It does not matter for the purpose of obtaining a compostela.

Hope this helps.

Thank you.

 

[t2andreo]

de nada! It is what I do...

Happy if it helped you or anyone else...

 

[howlsthunder]

I was initially amazed that my certificate marked my distance as 799km because I had to take (very minor) transportation at two points, shaving off about 20km from my total distance. I kept records of my distances, especially having taken alternate/scenic routes, based on distances in the Wise Pilgrim app -- and my totals came out to 799km anyway!