LIVE from the Camino Fever in the Blood

[Pilgrim]

Not 'blowing my own trumpet', just hoping fellow pilgrims will enjoy some brief notes, live, daily from the Camino. I say 'live daily' that is as long as my mobile phone finds reception, my phone charges aren't excessive and my wife can beat the technology and turn my daily recollections into readable prose. The German pilgrim, on his third Camino and called by me McGregor - the origin of which is another story - and I will be on foot for a fortnight. I am flying Ryanair into Porto and out of Santiago and will be visiting Finnisterre for the first time. Wish me luck! Pilgrim

 

[William Marques]

Good Luck

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always on your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
the rain fall soft upon your fields and,
until your journey's end,
May God hold you safely in the palm of his hand.

Good Luck & Buen Camino
William

 

[Pilgrim]

The Old Celtic Blessing.

Thank you William for your kind words. I will remember you in my prayers in the Cathedral. Pilgrim.

 

[shani]

Buen Camino Pilgrim !!
will be looking forward to your posts... and will be on the camino myself too, in less than 3 weeks - I'm so excited and looking forward to it. Wonder if I can post things via email or if I need a more tech savvy phone to log onto internet - do they have GPRS network along the Camino ? I intend to bring a Triband phone, GPRS enabled.

 

[ivar]

shani,

You should have GPRS access all the way, but it is pricy. Check with your mobile service provider and what they charge for roaming in Spain. It is probably not worth it, because of the price.

But hey, we would love to hear from you while on the road! If you find a "Cyber" (internet cafe) along the way that would be the easier for you I think.

On this "Camino Diaries" section of the board, you do not need to log in to post a message, so you don't have to worry about entering your username/password at an internet cafe computer.

Buen camino to you both, Pilgrim and shani!

Welcome to Santiago!
Ivar

 

[Pilgrim]

Thanks and Good Luck!!!

Shani, thank you for your kind wishes. May I also wish you good luck on your Camino from Leon. I extend to you also the old Irish blessing that William has put on this section. Leon is a lovely City and a fine place to start from and I hope that every step of the way is a happy one for you. Good luck and God bless you pilgrim. Ultreya!

 

[Anonymous]

Pilgram re your trip and posts

I am looking forward to reading your posts. I am doing the Camino in 2006 and love hearing about others' experiences.
Keep safe, happy and pain free. Will check in often.
Bless you.
Rosetta

 

[Pilgrim]

Rosetta,

Thank you for your kind words. I too hope for a 'pain free' journey. I hope your camino will be a good one too. My departure date is now getting very close so I am getting in some extra walking practice. I did 20km today with a pack, it went well but I fell asleep when I got home which was not good as the best practice is to wash (self and clothes) as soon as one arrives at the hostel, thereby getting maximum clothes drying time and hopefully a share of the hot water before it runs out. Still at home I have no such worries, my dear wife will put the clothes in the washing machine and hot water never runs out. I began by saying my departure time is getting close because it has 'sort of' crept up on me catching me unaware that I have only a fortnight to finish preparing in. The time to your Camino will I hope go as quickly. You say you like hearing about other peoples experiences so can I suggest two books I have read. The first - Pilgrim Snail by Ben Nimmo - I read before my first pilgrimage and found it very interesting. Ben walked from Canterbury in England in memory of a girl-friend who had died. It is not a sad book. The second - Spanish Steps by Tim Moore - my son gave me for the Christmas after I returned. It was great, bringing fond memories flooding back. Tim who is a travel writer did the Camino Frances with a very loveable but reluctant donkey called 'Shinto'. Both are worth a read in my view. Sorry to be so 'long winded' in my reply. Ultreya pilgrim.

 

[Pilgrim]

WHERE TO BEGIN?

Where does the pilgrimage begin? Spiritually in the head I suppose and intellectually with the planning, but where does the physical pilgrimage start? We all know that a wise man once said that ‘even a journey of a thousand miles must start with the first step’ but where should that first step be? For many truly courageous pilgrims it is outside their own front doors and they carry on on-foot from there to Santiago. For those of us who fly closer to the ‘city of the saint’ for our start the question is still relevant.

I pose it because I was uncertain where to start the Portuguese route to Compostela. I am aware some start south in Lisbon, or beyond, and others start north at Tui, my guide book starts at the Cathedral in Oporto. However since I fly into Oporto I need to walk south into the city and spend a night in a hostel before starting at the Cathedral and spending the second day walking back past the Airport. True the pilgrimage is not a dash, the trouble is that cheap flights need to be booked in advance and this time I know my departure date is only two weeks from landing. So I will walk north on my day of arrival and pick up the ‘camino’ somewhere near the airport.

It is in this way that, God willing, we will arrive in Santiago in time to attend pilgrim mass, take a guest out for an evening meal and push on the following day for Finisterre.

 

[ivar]

Pilgrim was the first member of this discussion forum, he joined the first day I opened (October 12th 2004). It is fitting that he is the first to tell us "up-close" the preparations and the daily life of a pilgrim. He picked a good name...

... the tapas are on me :wink:

Buen camino peregrino.

Ivar

 

[Peter Robins]

Re: WHERE TO BEGIN?

Where does the pilgrimage begin? Spiritually in the head I suppose and intellectually with the planning, but where does the physical pilgrimage start? We all know that a wise man once said that ‘even a journey of a thousand miles must start with the first step’ but where should that first step be? For many truly courageous pilgrims it is outside their own front doors and they carry on on-foot from there to Santiago.

Your first step will always be from your front door (well, all right, it may be from your back door ). The question is how far you go. Assuming your home is in Britain, then it's not physically possible to walk the whole way. In medieval times, people will have walked to their church, obtained a blessing, and then set off for a port, to catch a boat, to Galicia or France, where they would set off on foot again. If you're using a plane as a modern substitute for a boat, then logically you should walk from your home/church to the airport, and then walk from your destination airport to Santiago.

If all you're doing is emerging from your front door and taking a few steps to your car or a taxi or the bus-stop to take you to an airport where you take a plane . . . then, why not just fly direct to Santiago and be done with it? After all, plenty of people fly to Rome or Lourdes or somewhere without walking very far at all. Are they not pilgrims?

 

[Peter Robins]

where does the pilgrimage begin? where does it end?

carrying on with this discussion, the corollary question is 'where does my pilgrimage end?' Santiago, I hear you say, but that is not your last step. Your last step is when you get back home again. Again, using Britain as an example, a round journey Britain-Santiago is 2000km or more. Is your 'pilgrimage' only the 10% or maybe even less of this that you complete on foot? Or does your pilgrimage start when you leave home, and finish when you get back again, regardless of mode of transport? And if that's the case, does it matter which mode of transport you use?

Does not the whole idea of flying/driving/catching a train to a distant place and walking to another distant place owe far more to the modern concept of trail-walking than it does to the ancient idea of pilgrimage? If I walk the Pennine Way, for example, yes, I travel to Edale, walk to Kirk Yetholm, and travel home again. That's walking a trail, but what's it got to do with pilgrimage? Agreed, Santiago as a destination is considerably 'holier' than Kirk Yetholm (and considerably more interesting), but as a principle?

 

[shani]

as someone about to start walking the Camino in 10days time... my 2cents worth. What constitutes a pilgrimage ? indeed - as the Peter's post : some merely fly to Rome or Lourdes.. some walk all the way. I guess for me - till I can stop working altogether - It would mean flying into a place close enough to start walking. (I live in Singapore). For me and my partner, I think the process started when the planned holiday became a pilgrimage - when we thought about the spiritual side of things, went to see our parish priest, got a blessing.. and in the last few weeks and days, also spending time reading and praying. Practising meditation whilst physically preparing - doing those long walks with a loaded pack in tropical heat...Making sure our packing list to be as simple as possible. We fly into Santiago first (cheapest route) then make our way across to Leon where we start the Spanish part of our journey.

 

[Peter Robins]

I guess for me - till I can stop working altogether - It would mean flying into a place close enough to start walking. (I live in Singapore).

walking from Singapore to Santiago - that really would be an adventure! with considerable personal danger too - unlike the modern Camino

doing those long walks with a loaded pack in tropical heat

tropical heat you certainly won't get. Although it can get hot on the meseta (though probably not in April), it is a dry heat. The humidity of the tropics is very bad for walking. Galicia is humid, but not generally very hot.

 

[shani]

it will certainly be a welcome change from hot humid tropics !!

 

[Anonymous]

The Start of your Pilgrimage, where is it?

For me my Pilgrimage started January 8th, 2005, although I won't walk the Camino till April/May 2006, I am now preparing myself for this great adventure I will partake next year.
For now I am walking almost every day. March of 2005 I went into the Smokey Mountians and walked for 10 days. I completed 61 miles. This Memorial Day Weekend I will walk for 3 days again.
I will continue to do short walks and long walks for the rest of the year. This fall I might attempt to sleep out instead of heading out each morning and coming back in the afternoon.
So for me the Pilgrimage started 1/8/05 and it will end sometime in May 2006. I expect by the time I finish I will be a completely different person from the one who started this and that is my goal.
Reading all of your posts invigrates me, thanks all of you.

 

[Pilgrim]

WHERE TO STOP?

Peter, Shani, Rosetta,

It is truly cheering to come back to the 'discussion' board and find so many encouraging and thought provoking ideas posted. I wrote my 'WHERE TO BEGIN?' piece partly to explain to those who had read my 'FEVER IN THE BLOOD' article why I was starting where I was and not going the 'whole way'.

There was a secondary purpose however, which I could, 'tongue in cheek', call an attack upon 'Camino Guide Book tyranny'. I accept that guides to the route have existed ever since the Codex was published and that they serve a useful purpose for all, including me. I do feel however that they give rise to the sort of idea that the Camino has a specific route and only that route. I remember last time avoiding the climb up a muddy hill, in the rain, by taking the road, only to be berated later by fellow pilgrims who felt I had 'cheated' by not following every step of the 'true' way. Yes they were teasing, but there was also a real element of challenge behind their joke. My argument is that medieval pilgrims came by whatever route they could - for us English most of the way by sea.

I agree with Peter that those who travel by car or plane are also pilgrims. In some ways the Camino is unique in that so many do come to Santiago on foot, unlike the coaches of pilgrims to Rome or Lourdes. The existance of the Compostela 'demanding' the last 100km of walking must play a part in this.

The question 'Where to Stop'? is not understood to be literal - Santiago or Finnisterre - by any who have done a Camino and experienced 'pilgrim fever'. The effects can truly be life altering but then I believe life is a pilgrimage - Christians claim to be a pilgrim people - and by this they do not mean walking but travelling through life. Pilgrimage is, I think, travelling with a true spirit. Thus a walk from Edale can also be a pilgrimage. ULTREYA!

 

[Peter Robins]

Re: WHERE TO STOP?

perhaps we should start a new thread for this!

I wrote my 'WHERE TO BEGIN?' piece partly to explain to those who had read my 'FEVER IN THE BLOOD' article why I was starting where I was

If your aim is to follow in the footsteps of medieval pilgrims from Britain, starting in Porto is entirely plausible. English (and to some extent Scottish) merchants settled in both Porto and Viana (centre of the wine trade until the C17) more or less from when Portugal split off from Galicia in the C11-C12. They even signed their own commercial treaty with Edward III. So it's entirely possible that some pilgrims to Compostela hitched a ride with a trading ship bound for N Portugal and walked from there.

and not going the 'whole way'.

My point would be that 'going the whole way' doesn't necessarily involve much walking. Paradoxically, although Britain (and other countries on the Atlantic seaboard) is a long way from Galicia, you do not need to walk very far to get there. In medieval times, you went to your nearest port, and if you lived in a port, as many did, that was not very arduous. Even if you didn't, few people lived more than a day or two's walk away. If your ship went to a Galician port, such as Corunna, you will have only had a couple of day's walk to Santiago. And if there'd been a navigable river to Santiago, we can be sure the ships would have gone directly there. Flying from Stansted to Santiago seems to me to be the modern equivalent of this.

There was a secondary purpose however, which I could, 'tongue in cheek', call an attack upon 'Camino Guide Book tyranny'. I accept that guides to the route have existed ever since the Codex was published and that they serve a useful purpose for all, including me. I do feel however that they give rise to the sort of idea that the Camino has a specific route and only that route.

yes, it seems to be a feature of anything related to religion that before long the dogmatists move in with their rule-books: you must do this, that and the other, or you're not a proper Christian/Muslim/Jew/pilgrim. Not that the dogmatists all have the same rule-book: "oh, the true pilgrim doesn't walk the Camino Frances any more; much too crowded - full of people who don't understand what pilgrimage is [i.e. don't follow my rules]". And I'm afraid far too many of the modern guidebooks are simply me-too publishing, trotting out the same old things with little original thought.

The existance of the Compostela 'demanding' the last 100km of walking must play a part in this.

the problem with this is it's a completely arbitrary number. People who walk from Sarria, a place of no historical or religious significance whatsoever, are somehow pilgrims and can be given a certificate in Latin and a mention in a mass, whereas those who follow the many thousands of yore on the English Road from Corunna are somehow not pilgrims. Take it to its logical conclusion and disabled people or others who are not able to walk 100km are somehow not pilgrims - not a conclusion I can sign up to.

Pilgrimage is, I think, travelling with a true spirit.

A hip flask, you mean
As someone who's been following the development of the Camino for 25 years now, I am fascinated (in fact, rather bemused) by the way it has changed from being a rather obscure part of European history known to a handful of academics and walked by a handful of eccentrics to something that seems to affect and bring meaning to so many people. I'm also intrigued by the way this explosion of interest in the Camino and in pilgrimage (whatever that might be) has coincided with a dramatic decline in more conventional religious observance in Spain.