How do you count your caminos?

[HappyValerie]

Wow! Tha

Nakatsukasa, Mohei (1845-1922)

This extraordinary pilgrim devoted his life to the Shikoku pilgrimage, walked the route 280 times between 1867 and 1922, and erected 249 stone markers along the route, similar to the stone marker examples shown below.

Wow! Thank you. I know the reassuring relief that a waymarker can bring.
Thank you to those who have provided all the yellow arrows & scallop shells along the Camino.

 

[Arctic_Alex]

Luxury. I count them with tears of pain

Actually, isn't is so that the first thing you forget after a couple of months is actually the pain?

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Actually, isn't is so that the first thing you forget after a couple of months is actually the pain?

Yes, just like having a baby.

 

[camino07]

I count my Caminos by the amount of flights from Australia .17 now and will be 18 next April. Sometimes 2or 3 Caminos in each trip. Needless to say I no longer collect Compostelas. Worse part of any Camino is the long flight.

 

[dick bird]

I’ll bite.
0
Is the VDLP a Camino as it doesn’t end in Santiago?

? Where does it end then?

 

[Bradypus]

? Where does it end then?

Some argue that the VdlP proper ends at Astorga where pilgrims join the Frances. In practice more people choose to finish their journey on the Sanabres. Some argue that the Sanabres is really an extension/alternative branch of the VdlP rather than a distinct route and therefore the whole VdlP includes the walk through Ourense and on to Santiago.

 

[dick bird]

Thanks for the clarification. Having walked the Sanabrés, I forgot that the original route went via Astorga.

To answer the original question, walking a Camino suggests arriving in Santiago, which you can do a number of times following the same Camino route, or alternatively once or even not at all by following several connected routes. Then you can disappear down a rabbit hole trying to work out if the Aragonés or the Invierno are separate routes or variants or stand alone Camino routes.

This one will run and run.

 

[David Tallan]

Some argue that the VdlP proper ends at Astorga where pilgrims join the Frances. In practice more people choose to finish their journey on the Sanabres. Some argue that the Sanabres is really an extension/alternative branch of the VdlP rather than a distinct route and therefore the whole VdlP includes the walk through Ourense and on to Santiago.

When I was on the Camino de Madrid, some of the markers gave the number of km to Sahagun, others gave the number of km to Santiago, depending, I guess, on where they thought the Camino ended.

When I was on the San Salvador between Leon and Oviedo I saw markers for the Via de la Plata, much to my surprise. Apparently it doesn't end in Astorga but continues north.

 

[David Tallan]

Then you can disappear down a rabbit hole trying to work out if the Aragonés or the Invierno are separate routes or variants or stand alone Camino routes.

If the Aragonés is a separate or stand alone route, so is the Camino Navarro and the Camino Frances starts in Puente la Reina. At least, so says my El Camino de Santiago: Guia del Peregrino by Elías Valiñas Sampedro and team. And he should know.

 

[dick bird]

If the Aragonés is a separate or stand alone route, so is the Camino Navarro and the Camino Frances starts in Puente la Reina. At least, so says my El Camino de Santiago: Guia del Peregrino by Elías Valiñas Sampedro and team. And he should know.

UNESCO seems to regard the Aragonés as a branch or section of the Francés. Who am i to question the wisdom of UNESCO? To quote my favourite rock band (Half Man, Half Biscuit), ‘surely a bit of controversy is part of the games’s appeal?’

 

[David Tallan]

UNESCO seems to regard the Aragonés as a branch or section of the Francés. Who am i to question the wisdom of UNESCO? To quote my favourite rock band (Half Man, Half Biscuit), ‘surely a bit of controversy is part of the games’s appeal?’

I think that is a result of when UNESCO made its designation. In the late 80s and early 90s both the Somport Pass and the Cize Pass were both seen as alternative starts to the same Camino. Much the way it seems the routes from Almería and Malaga are both seen as alternative starts to the Camino Mozarabe.

I think as more and more people took the Cize Pass, you started to get guide books that didn't include the Somport Pass, accelerating the trend and contributing to the impression that the Camino Frances didn't include the Somport Pass. Earlier guidebooks included both (of course, earlier guidebooks tended to call it the Camino de Santiago rather than the Camino Frances).

 

[J Willhaus]

The phrase that the supporters of the way through Aragon is "The French Way through Aragon" instead of the Aragonés. They are trying to get people to use that instead. Also on Gronze.com I think it is also called the French way through Aragon.

 

[trecile]

Also on Gronze.com I think it is also called the French way through Aragon.

Yes, there's the Francés por Roncesvalles and the Francés por Aragón

 

[Former member 104756]

This thread has been going for a while and demonstrates how many different ways people consider this when asked.

I tend to think of ‘my Caminos’ as times I’ve walked a path that has its own widely recognised name and is shown on most maps as a unique path - whether or not the path ‘finishes’ in Santiago. If I look at the Gronze map and list (for France, Spain and Portugal) I can clearly differentiate each path I’ve walked, though I think of the Frances and Fisterra as combined in my case. I haven’t yet walked camino paths in other European countries.




I’ve also walked various sections of camino paths e.g. the Norte to Bilbao twice, the Norte to Santander once, Lectoure to Pamplona … but I don’t think of those as caminos - but rather time spent walking on a camino path.

That may make no sense to others but it makes sense to me.

 

[Arctic_Alex]

Hm, but I always thought the Francés does not end in Santiago but people actually walked the last bit on the Primitivo ... just to add a bit personal confusion here ;-)

 

[dougfitz]

Hm, but I always thought the Francés does not end in Santiago but people actually walked the last bit on the Primitivo ... just to add a bit personal confusion here ;-)

That is an appealing thought. I know it has been raised before, perhaps by you. Unfortunately, I cannot see it changing anything for any but the most dedicated purists. Others will continue to see the Frances as extending from SJPP to SDC.

 

[maurice]

I know the question kinda sucks. So earlier this year, on the VDLP, I had a discussion with a Spaniard. We talked about his walking experience. He told me he's walked like 4 caminos but it drives him nuts, sometimes, when he talks to other people, and they claim 5, all from Sarria.

I personally only count the longer ones. Nah, Finesterre or Muxia don't count. Neither does the San Salvador. I do have this one, when I was younger, from SJPdP to Leon... no compostella, do I count that? It's either 18 or 19 now for the next one... like a milestone maybe.

As I write this I already know the answer. If you count your caminos you are missing the point.

don't count, just walk