What an enormous wealth of information on this website - and others; possibly too much of the stuff! I have three weeks of freedom beginning 13th June and my gut instinct is to return to the Camino(s). The question is, which one(s)?
I did the
Camino Frances in 2012; I didn't always enjoy it but the experience had such a profound and long-lasting effect that last year I started a PhD on landscape and theology, using pilgrimage as my principal research methodology. Next year is the big one - from the Mediterranean coast to Finisterre/Muxia via a combination of Caminos but this year I have several shorter options. After toying with the Liebena/Vadiniense and then the Norte from Santander I’m now giving serious consideration to the Madrid. I’m torn, as always, between being a ‘pilgrim’ – and I’m really interested in the ways that might be defined – and being a ‘hiker’. On the Frances I left St Jean with the intention of being the former, considered myself the latter when I got bored and frustrated across the Meseta before arriving in Santiago as something between the two.
This summer the main issue is do I just walk for the sake of walking, which is my normal modus operandi, or do I try to get to Santiago? I noticed another contributor taking the Madrid to Sahagun then following the San Salvador to Oviedo and this option is currently top of my list. The Madrid seems to offer a pretty good infrastructure in terms of albergues and signage, the San Salvador more rugged landscapes.
But that combination wouldn’t take me to Santiago, and there’s the rub. I can’t work out whether that really matters to me or not. I suppose I could do the San Salvador then take the Primitivo ...
See what I mean?! Either way, might bump into one or two of you somewhere in northern Spain next month.