newfydog said:
Had they thrown out the book and just followed the parties ahead of them, they would have been fine.
True, especially since the guidebook was by a profit-seeking promoter whose route was untested. However, the guidebooks we promulgate here have been tried, tested and approved by many pilgrims.
Of course, folks on each side of this debate can post things that support their views. But to me, it seems logical to have access to multiple sources of information, and to poo-poo a good source that's inexpensive and easy to carry is kind of, well, silly. :arrow:
For example, let me refer to the ill-fated Winker party, a long-ago group of American pilgrims with dreams of reaching Santiago. Adverse to research, they assumed that Spain's climate was much like the Holy Land, so they sailed over here during the winter months hoping to beat the desert heat. Undaunted by the cold weather at SJPP, in a fit of spontaneity they ignored the pilgrim office's warnings and forged ahead over the route Napoleon.
Lacking a guidebook, they assumed Orisson was French for "bordello" and refused to stop. Once atop the Pyrenees, they were caught in a massive blizzard, believed to have been generated by the beating wings of Swedish butterflies earlier that year (they had a big population boom). It is said that their screams for help echoed from SJPP to Santiago, which is why all the pigeons along the way sound like they are pleading, "don't eat me!"
Anyway, brave rescuers from Roncesvalles finally reached them during the spring thaw, but by then it was too late. In their terrible hunger, they had turned on each other for food. All that was left of the doughty band were little scraps of flesh and bone. They had even chewed their pilgrim staffs to splinters. Ever resourceful, the Spanish put two and two together, and thus tapas were created.
Today, American pilgrims leave small memorials in the woods along the way to commemorate this doomed band of pilgrim brethren. Called "aswipe" in Spanish, or "Camino Snowmen" in English, these mounds symbolize the tissue-thin fragility of life and the tragedy of human waste. But it's OK to take one home as a souvenir - they look great mounted on a scallop shell, or if you dry them out and put then in a gourd you'll have a "Camino Shaker."
In the end, if one wants to walk the Way like a Winker, then that's OK. Indeed, one naughty member of the party decided to stop at Orisson, and ended up marrying a comely German peregrino he met there. They eventually returned to Germany, where their descendant wrote a highly-regarded book about the Camino.
I must say that I got this info off of the Internet, so I can't vouch for it's authenticity. But we can all learn from the Winkers' failure even while admiring their can-do spirit... :arrow:
VT