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Craziest thing you've seen someone bring on Camino

One of the craziest items I have seen on the Camino was a guy who carried a massive bicycle chainlock in his backpack. It weighted 750 gr. (1 1/2 lb), and the intention was to lock his backpack to chairs/tables/bed/whatever if he had to leave it unattended for a while, not understanding that a thief would simply just have to cut the pack open with a knife, take what he wanted, and walk calmly away with it. He walked with it in his pack all the CF way, and even brought it back home again, unused...

The guy was me on my first Camino...:rolleyes::oops:
 
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Who would be so crazy to bring a first aid kit, if someone else is willing to bring one? :cool::D

It is a personal duty to bring at least some first aid items for your personal needs, and at best a full first aid kit. The sense that someone else will always be around to supply you is irresponsible.
That we all will help each other out is self evident but to count upon others entirely is not very grown up !
Here the weight tyranny is taken to far .....
 
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It is a personal duty to bring at least some first aid items for your personal needs, and at best a full first aid kit. The sense that someone else will always be around to supply you is irresponsible.
That we all will all help each other out is self evident but to count upon others entirely is not very grown up !
Here the weight tyranny is taken to far .....
My comment was intended to be lighthearted and mischievous.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
On my first Camino in the pyreenes a group of young people were carrying a huge Antennae . They were hoping to get in touch with alians on the way. One of them had it attached to his bag when walking. They were camping and I lost them in a few days.
Alien Abduction. Absolutely.
 
So I understood that I would have to carry anything I brought the whole way, and packed and repacked and thinned down as much as possible before my first Camino. But I refused to leave my granny flannel pajamas behind. I needed them to sleep, and if you don't have a good night's sleep you just can't function the next day. When I walked out of the women's shower that first night the young ladies waiting to go in got the giggles, and asked if they could take a photo with me. Sure. Sure. I was the security blanket for them. You cannot have bad dreams with granny sleeping just across the way in her cozy flannel pajamas.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
I have often said, in reply to those who asked about accuracy in "The Way", that I wished I had the wardrobe of Martin Sheen... who walked in blue jeans and nice shirts..... I guess some have watched the movie too often! I am reading about them.

I've watched The Way about 10 times now lol
The one item I'm going to allow myself is a pair of jeans.
They are light weight so I don't see a problem.
I'm 6"2 200 pounds so I'm guessing carrying 15-18 pounds won't be that much of a burden? If I find myself looking to get rid of some weight I'll mail some things to a friend of mine in A Coruna whom I'll be staying with after my Camino.
 
I've watched The Way about 10 times now lol
The one item I'm going to allow myself is a pair of jeans.
They are light weight so I don't see a problem.
I'm 6"2 200 pounds so I'm guessing carrying 15-18 pounds won't be that much of a burden? If I find myself looking to get rid of some weight I'll mail some things to a friend of mine in A Coruna whom I'll be staying with after my Camino.
I met a pilgrim who wore and loved his jeans, the via de plata. It was iin may, I've often wondered if more people wear them in fall/winter. I think the biggest hurdle would be drying time, but jeans are made to not be washed everyday.
 
Not exactly 'crazy', but I remember a wonderful Sicilian character who had a clanging set of pots and other utensils attached to his backpack (and lots of dried home-made pasta on the inside). He'd pick herbs and wild plants along the way, and in the evening would make a huge meal for everyone in the albergue. We all contributed extra ingredients and vino.

I am considering whether to take a possibly crazy item when I cycle from Pamplona on the Frances starting next Monday or so.

Let me explain first. We have previously cycled then walked in stages from the UK all the way to SdeC via the Vezelay route and the Camino de Norte. Once we got past Vezelay we were generally staying in albergues with cooking facilities and got into the habit of mostly cooking our own evening meals, often sharing with other pilgrims, as you do. Very enjoyable.

However the nearer we got to S de C the less equipped the kitchens seemed to be, if there even was a kitchen. There were occasions when there was NO way to even boil water for tea and coffee. Imagine how that was for a 60 ish Englishwoman!

We were told that the local bar/restaurant owners sometimes came in and removed pans etc! I do understand the point about bringing trade to the locals, but we always shopped in small supermarkets etc as we passed by so we were contributing to the local economy too, like those who always eat in restaurants. And we did drink plenty of coffees in bars too.

So now I am going to experience the Frances, (by myself, my husband stays at home this times) and I think I want to be able to cook at least from time to time. I am considering bringing our little camping Trangia meths fueled stove which comes all packed with it's kettle and pans. I know that weight and space won't be an issue because I have cycle camped with it on my own and then I had a tent and a sleeping mat as well. I would not use it dangerously indoors but happily sit outside to boil a kettle if there was no other way of making a cup of tea!

Opinions. please?
 
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The Trangia has a very small holder for the spirit burner, sold seperately..
I have served bacon n' eggs at the top of Ben Nevis and and in minus 16 dg centigrade, too. Nothing better if you can find the space.
Can understand the need for fast hot beverages an food when bicycling...
 
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I met a parish group of Italians who had hired a support vehicle and driver, not to transport their luggage, which they carried, but to bring a giant gas burner, pots, pans, kitchen implements, sacks of pasta and other provisions, all driven from Italy. Their rationale 'You can't get decent pasta in Spain and the ham is no good'. Some times the driver got lost or had parking problems and they were sitting hungry until late in the albergue worrying about him. Shouldn't laugh though, I did get to eat their food!
 
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I have decided against the trangia. Packing paperback copy of The Brothers Karamazov instead. And the 'thermoplongeur' water boiler in a cup thingy for cup of tea emergencies. Not the dodgy one which plunged a whole albergue into darknes. That went in a bin.
 
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Unless they belonged to some sort of very marginal group like the so-called "Old Catholics", they're most likely not "schismatics" as such, so most likely not in 99% of cases ; that priest is simply wrong in his appraisal of the effects of dressing in such garments as my big black woollen pilgrim cape or their traditional habits or what it's actually like in real terms (and remember -- monks are completely used to wearing them all year 'round in the first place, rain or shine) ; there is nothing wrong with carrying all you need to do your own cooking once there's more than one of you ; there is also nothing wrong with carrying a tent.

We've had a few of these traveling groups of uber-conservative "Catholic" priests and/or religious come to our village. They ask to use the church for a Mass, which we always agree to. But when the service starts we realize these fellows are using all their own altar ware, using a mix of languages and liturgics none of us "regular" worshipers has ever seen. We the Parishioners are not welcome to help set up the altar or read the scriptures; we are ushered out of the sacristy. and when we go to "pass the peace" to one another we find they've rushed past that part of the service. It's all about them, and the performance they're putting on up there for one another with their backs to us so we cannot see or hear. When we receive communion, we are forced to use their methods -- it is embarrassing and confusing to all of us.
I am not the Church Police, but if you're going to celebrate a Mass in a Catholic church, and you present yourself as a Catholic priest, it is disingenuous to produce something otherwise to the unsuspecting parishioners. We are not experts in which liturgy is legitimate or illegitimate. We shouldn't have to be. The Chicago-based priest who pulled this on us this summer came under some close questioning afterward, and appalled a couple of elderly communicants when he admitted the pope considers him a "heretic!"
Using a local church, altar, utilities, etc. to do your own sorta-Catholic thing is rude and presumptuous in the least, and sacrilege at worst.
Most of the neighbors are sanguine about it. "It's God's business, let him sort them out," Modesto says.
 
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We went to mass everyday, when available, on our camino SJPP to SdC and I never saw this. I am surprised to here that any local church would "turn over" the church for a mass without authentication paperwork. Priest on the camino usually ask to concelebrate the mass with the local priest. What has been described is certainly unacceptable IMHO.
 
We've had a few of these traveling groups of uber-conservative "Catholic" priests and/or religious come to our village. They ask to use the church for a Mass, which we always agree to. But when the service starts we realize these fellows are using all their own altar ware, using a mix of languages and liturgics none of us "regular" worshipers has ever seen. We the Parishioners are not welcome to help set up the altar or read the scriptures; we are ushered out of the sacristy. and when we go to "pass the peace" to one another we find they've rushed past that part of the service. It's all about them, and the performance they're putting on up there for one another with their backs to us so we cannot see or hear. When we receive communion, we are forced to use their methods -- it is embarrassing and confusing to all of us.
I am not the Church Police, but if you're going to celebrate a Mass in a Catholic church, and you present yourself as a Catholic priest, it is disingenuous to produce something otherwise to the unsuspecting parishioners. We are not experts in which liturgy is legitimate or illegitimate. We shouldn't have to be. The Chicago-based priest who pulled this on us this summer came under some close questioning afterward, and appalled a couple of elderly communicants when he admitted the pope considers him a "heretic!"
Using a local church, altar, utilities, etc. to do your own sorta-Catholic thing is rude and presumptuous in the least, and sacrilege at worst.
Most of the neighbors are sanguine about it. "It's God's business, let him sort them out," Modesto says.


Perhaps this was posted to the wrong thread??
 
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Rebekah's post is a response to two posts (#89 and #90) way back in March: if you read those posts then you may understand the context for Rebekah's remarks.

Gotcha...I'd forgotten that sub-thread. Thanks
 
We've had a few of these traveling groups of uber-conservative "Catholic" priests and/or religious come to our village. They ask to use the church for a Mass, which we always agree to. But when the service starts we realize these fellows are using all their own altar ware, using a mix of languages and liturgics none of us "regular" worshipers has ever seen. We the Parishioners are not welcome to help set up the altar or read the scriptures; we are ushered out of the sacristy. and when we go to "pass the peace" to one another we find they've rushed past that part of the service. It's all about them, and the performance they're putting on up there for one another with their backs to us so we cannot see or hear. When we receive communion, we are forced to use their methods -- it is embarrassing and confusing to all of us.

hmmmm, if none of you "regular" worshippers have seen it, then it doesn't sound like simply the Traditional Latin Mass that some, at least, in Moratinos would have known in their youth or childhood, and more among the pilgrims might know in more recent times.

BTW, given certain internal Church arguments, your "It's all about them, and the performance they're putting on up there for one another" is highly ironic.

"and when we go to "pass the peace" to one another we find they've rushed past that part of the service" -- it's not part of the 1962 Missal, and it's not really a required part of the New Mass either. But it's not really a novelty either, I've seen several references to the "kiss of peace" in mediaeval, Renaissance, and early modern literature.

I am not the Church Police, but if you're going to celebrate a Mass in a Catholic church, and you present yourself as a Catholic priest, it is disingenuous to produce something otherwise to the unsuspecting parishioners. We are not experts in which liturgy is legitimate or illegitimate. We shouldn't have to be. The Chicago-based priest who pulled this on us this summer came under some close questioning afterward, and appalled a couple of elderly communicants when he admitted the pope considers him a "heretic!"
Using a local church, altar, utilities, etc. to do your own sorta-Catholic thing is rude and presumptuous in the least, and sacrilege at worst.
Most of the neighbors are sanguine about it. "It's God's business, let him sort them out," Modesto says.

If " he admitted the pope considers him a "heretic" ", then he had absolutely no right to make use of your church, and he knows it ; only your Bishop has the right to grant such faculties (though broad faculties likely exist for foot pilgrim priests on the Camino), not the locals of Moratinos, and it's likely that service in particular wasn't just illicit, but actually invalid. Condemned heretics are suspended a divinis, which means that they may not provide the Sacraments, one of which is the Mass. None of which is of any incidence at all upon you innocent inhabitants of Moratinos, as you were clearly misled by a Chicago man having no rights to give a service at your local church, nor indeed most likely in any church anywhere.

But this is not true of all traditionalist groups, a few of which are in full Communion with Rome and so would have such faculties, so that your habit in Moratinos of welcoming such groups shouldn't change just because of a small number of defrocked or pseudo-clergy etc. abusing your trust -- I could say a LOT more, but then that would devolve into discussing the Catholic religion as such rather than reacting to certain real circumstances and situations in Moratinos and generally on the Camino. :rolleyes:
 
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A selection of Camino Jewellery
During busier times, some of the businesses take the seat off their toilet to discourage pilgrims from using it without buying something.
That doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t matter. If I need to use the toilet, I will use it, toilet seat or no. There was only one time I recall that I used the toilet and didn’t buy anything, didn’t even leave a donation. It was at a bar that was so crowded I couldn’t get anywhere near the counter, and I wanted to continue my walk. So, yes, I am guilty on that count.:oops:
 
Sorry @HuffyCane, that was rude of me to say it doesn't make sense. However, I have heard that sometimes the seat is removed to make cleaning easier. And I guess it makes sitting less comfortable so folks may be less inclined to linger. :cool:
 
The main problem I've heard of is that the seats break when people stand on them to do their business.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
We've had a few of these traveling groups of uber-conservative "Catholic" priests and/or religious come to our village. They ask to use the church for a Mass, which we always agree to. But when the service starts we realize these fellows are using all their own altar ware, using a mix of languages and liturgics none of us "regular" worshipers has ever seen. We the Parishioners are not welcome to help set up the altar or read the scriptures; we are ushered out of the sacristy. and when we go to "pass the peace" to one another we find they've rushed past that part of the service. It's all about them, and the performance they're putting on up there for one another with their backs to us so we cannot see or hear. When we receive communion, we are forced to use their methods -- it is embarrassing and confusing to all of us.
I am not the Church Police, but if you're going to celebrate a Mass in a Catholic church, and you present yourself as a Catholic priest, it is disingenuous to produce something otherwise to the unsuspecting parishioners. We are not experts in which liturgy is legitimate or illegitimate. We shouldn't have to be. The Chicago-based priest who pulled this on us this summer came under some close questioning afterward, and appalled a couple of elderly communicants when he admitted the pope considers him a "heretic!"
Using a local church, altar, utilities, etc. to do your own sorta-Catholic thing is rude and presumptuous in the least, and sacrilege at worst.
Most of the neighbors are sanguine about it. "It's God's business, let him sort them out," Modesto says.
It's my sincere hope that you contact me via 'private' message.
 
We've had a few of these traveling groups of uber-conservative "Catholic" priests and/or religious come to our village. They ask to use the church for a Mass, which we always agree to. But when the service starts we realize these fellows are using all their own altar ware, using a mix of languages and liturgics none of us "regular" worshipers has ever seen. We the Parishioners are not welcome to help set up the altar or read the scriptures; we are ushered out of the sacristy. and when we go to "pass the peace" to one another we find they've rushed past that part of the service. It's all about them, and the performance they're putting on up there for one another with their backs to us so we cannot see or hear. When we receive communion, we are forced to use their methods -- it is embarrassing and confusing to all of us.
I am not the Church Police, but if you're going to celebrate a Mass in a Catholic church, and you present yourself as a Catholic priest, it is disingenuous to produce something otherwise to the unsuspecting parishioners. We are not experts in which liturgy is legitimate or illegitimate. We shouldn't have to be. The Chicago-based priest who pulled this on us this summer came under some close questioning afterward, and appalled a couple of elderly communicants when he admitted the pope considers him a "heretic!"
Using a local church, altar, utilities, etc. to do your own sorta-Catholic thing is rude and presumptuous in the least, and sacrilege at worst.
Most of the neighbors are sanguine about it. "It's God's business, let him sort them out," Modesto says.

Sounds like a Neocatechumenate group. They have ... unusual ... ideas about the liturgy.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
I saw a beautiful, red, leather vanity- case in the showers. I think it was Puente la Reina....
It was open and crammed FULL of every potion, bottle , jar you can imagine...there was a full bathroom worth in there.
I looked at it with envy :oops::D
I wonder if that came with the Australian girls we met at Zubiri. They had huge amounts of really unsuitable stuff they were transporting on each day. Yes they had huge cosmetic cases. Their main suitcases were the max airline allowance, 32kg. Each. Plus the other stuff. We were flabbergasted, but I guess if you're not actually going to carry it, it doesn't matter?.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Wow! Malachiuri! That would have been a sight!
I hope that you were able to keep pace with the dude and found out where he was staying! Also that he cooked supper that night for everyone at the albergue! ;):)
Cheers from Oz -
Jenny
 
Supported French Catholic religious pilgrimage. Disabled pilgrims in specially made chariots, hauled by two volunteers, mentally disabled being walked with.
At puente. At Santiago Apostel refugio super coach and two vans arrived and unloaded baggage and wheelchairs then they all started to walk in.
Later on two old men arrived, arm in arm. One sighted and one blind. Supporters gave them two large oddly shaped shoulder bags and in the garden they unpacked and assembled two Alpen Horns and played Auld Lang Syne as
a tune up. Brilliant!!?

IMG_20180924_182902434.jpg
 
Supported French Catholic religious pilgrimage. Disabled pilgrims in specially made chariots, hauled by two volunteers, mentally disabled being walked with.
At puente. At Santiago Apostel refugio super coach and two vans arrived and unloaded baggage and wheelchairs then they all started to walk in.
Later on two old men arrived, arm in arm. One sighted and one blind. Supporters gave them two large oddly shaped shoulder bags and in the garden they unpacked and assembled two Alpen Horns and played Auld Lang Syne as
a tune up. Brilliant!!?

View attachment 46833
Were they taking requests? ... The Lonely Goatherd perhaps! ;):)
Cheers from Oz -
Jenny
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Saw a guy with an Ikea shopping bag along with his backpack. Turns out he had a kitchen kit with him complete with a cast iron dutch oven.

Dude was built like a solid block of wood and hiked FASTa with all his stuff!
Hey did you meet a girl in Zubiri with a metal brace and a granola bar ...heeeheee it was me . Happy to see you in the mix. If it’s not you my apologies
 

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