- Time of past OR future Camino
- March/April 2015, Late April 2016, Sept/Oct 2017, April 2019.
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Thanks for your service to the Camino and congrats on the 50 miler award.My 13 yo son and I walked from Leon to Santiago last Spring. We walked not only as pilgrims, but also as scouts. As long as we were walking 200 miles, we decided to get our "50 Mile Hiking Award", We needed to include a 10 hour service project on the way and so decided to pick up trash for 1/2 hour per day, dumping it in a public trash can when we came upon one in a village/city. It was a pain in the neck-- actually in the back,-- as we were wearing packs as we bent over to pick up garbage. My son got quite good at stabbing trash with his walking stick.We hauled quite a bit of garbage off the trail, but sadly left quite a bit behind. The amount of wind blown garbage (including toilet paper and sanitary pads) between Leon and Ponferrada was appalling.
So I encourage you all! Scouts and non-Scouts! Spend some time picking up garbage that's not yours! Leave the Camino a better place than you find it!
I wish you all a Buen Camino!
Spend some time picking up garbage that's not yours! Leave the Camino a better place than you find it!
Scouting ethics stuck with me from 50 years ago. Always pack out what I pack in--a baggie to collect my tissues, ibuprofen blister packs, and sardine cans. And I pick up Camino trash for about two half days--but always near the end as by then my back is conditioned and the bending isn't a pain.
And my general observation is that the Camino has gotten trashier even in proportion to the increased number of walkers. I wonder if one of the best things the Camino Amigos could do is get trash cans along the way to incent those too lazy to carry their garbage all day to deposit trash along the way. My sense is that we have reached some tipping point where trash is so prevalent that it gets people to think there is no reason to pick up their own trash. And now a viscous cycle.
And the French routes seem to be nearly spotless; even tho I am convinced that EVERY Frenchman smokes, I have yet to see a cigarette pack or butt along the chemin. Only trash seems to be tissues, which, although they degrade, sit unsightly beside the forest mushrooms for a very long time.
Thank you and your son kellymac for making the Camino a little better.
You can also find them in many albergues. These guys leave trash bags and gloves in the albergues for the use of pilgrims.What a good idea the plastic glove is! You can get one from the fuel stations along the route. We are finishing our Camino next year and I will do the same. Buen Camino!
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