Passport Stamp Requirement

[ffp13]

When I completed my Camino from SJPP in 2009 then pylgrims office warned me that from 2010 a pilgim must obtain 2 stamps per day in their passport.

I can understand their concerns with the 100Km pylgrim, however those walking from Roncessvalles and further I believe should only need to obtain stamps from alburgues where they stayed.

What is the current ruling?

If two stamps are required, from where must this be done? and

Have they increased the passport size to accomodate the extra stamps if required?

 

[grayland]

Johniewalker (volunteers in Santiago Pilgrim Office) has addressed this several times recently.
He advises that the policy is that you need 2 stamps per day for the last 100k.
The passport has not been enlarged to hold more sellos.
I use a South African Credential that has enough to get several per day from SJPP.

 

[anniethenurse]

I finished my camino a week ago (from Burgos to Santiago) and I usually got a stamp from every albergue, coffee bar, restaurant and church I visited. Sometimes up to 4- 5 per day. Just like to remember a bar or church or whatever! If your credential gets full you can buy a another one - many albergues sell them for maybe €1-2.
One stamp a day is enough - and two stamps for the last 1oo km are recommended.

 

[jpflavin1]

I just finished the Camino on April 25th of this year. Started in SJPdP. I did not get 2 sellos each day. I had one from each Albergue I stayed in and any place I stopped that was of particular interest. I wanted to remember a certain church, bar or other stop along the way. As I reviewed my passport, I did not have 2 sellos for each day or the last 100km's. That being said, each person in the Pilgrim office who reviews your passport and asks questions is different. Some ask lots of questions, others one or two. I do not know of anyone who was not given a certificate.

Ultreya,
Joe

 

[jl]

We are about to start printing our own Pilgrim Credentials for the Australian Friends of the Camino members, and we will do a covering letter in which we will reccomend that from Saria pilgrims should get 2 sellos each day. This will be at Johnnie Walkers recommendation - through his work at the pilgrim office. Cheers, Janet

 

[grayland]

We are about to start printing our own Pilgrim Credentials for the Australian Friends of the Camino members, and we will do a covering letter in which we will reccomend that from Saria pilgrims should get 2 sellos each day. This will be at Johnnie Walkers recommendation - through his work at the pilgrim office. Cheers, Janet

I highly recommend you increase the space for the sellos. The UK, Canadian and South African all have an excellent space setup.
ThConfraternity of St James of South Africa credential has spaces for 90 sellos. The standard Spanish passport has 40 and the American Pilgrim passport has 56....both a inadequate if you are coming from SJPP or thereabouts.

 

[jl]

I highly recommend you increase the space for the sellos. The UK, Canadian and South African all have an excellent space setup.

Don't worry Grayland - we have already considered that. So many of our pilgrims walk for many more days than the 30 - 35 days that most people take for the Camino Frances, it is very impractical to have only 40 spaces for sellos, hence we are allowing for a far greater number. Cheers, Janet

 

[Sojourner47]

The standard credential from the CSJ contains 90 spaces and,quote - "If you are doing one of the longer routes you will automatically receive a Pilgrim Record with more spaces. If you run out you are free to add more pages yourself"

 

[fsam33]

Hi Jan,
I'm leaving WA on 24 th May, am early. Any way of getting 2 credentials from Aus before my sister and I leave for the CF?
Francest

 

[carolgibney]

So is my understanding correct - you don't need to stay in an albergue to get a stamp? I will be staying in hotels all along the way (Sarria to Santiago) purely because I am a dreadful sleeper at the best of times and apparently when I do sleep I snore like a wild animal. So my choice of hotels is not just for my own comfort but also for the comfort of those unfortunate enough to have to sleep with me! Also, fortunately my budget doesn't constrain where I sleep so I feel it is kinder for me not to take the bed in an albergue that could be given to somebody who had a more restricted budget.

I do get the impression from some blogs that this choice would/could prohibit me from being granted a completion certificate. I am not considering myself a pilgrim since I am not going for spiritual reasons, I am going to enable my Dad to do the pilgrimage..he will want the compostela at the end and he will also stay in hotels...and we will probably use a support vehicle to move our luggage through to each town so he only has to carry a day pack. I am just wondering where the impression rose that unless you carry your gear and stay in albergues you are not really on a pilgrimage? or is this actually a rule?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Everyone has a stamp -- albergue, hotel, bar, restaurant, etc. At this site, you can see how many there are:

http://www.lossellosdelcamino.com/index ... Itemid=838

 

[carolgibney]

Thanks for that Falcon....
Can you answer my other questions regarding staying in hotels with vehicle support for luggage excluding one from being granted a compostela?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Just stay on your feet! A bus, taxi, or hitchhike ride would mean that you did not continuously complete the last 100km on foot. You can use baggage services, Sherpa guides, donkeys, or llamas for you luggage. Most of the private albergues will take reservations and accept your labeled baggage. Hotels/hostales will do likewise.

 

[carolgibney]

Thanks again Falcon..
We will definitely walk the 100+ kms, that's not a problem at all (other than the obvious physical effort of it!). I just dont want my Dad to be excluded from being a pilgrim by some rule we didn't know about other than the walking bit. I wont be a pilgrim in the traditional sense..I'm just going to be his "support walker". So hotels and luggage transfer will just make it a lot easier for him to only have to focus on walking and it'd be dreadful for him if he got to SDC and was refused because he didn't "suffer" enough on the trail. He's done enough of that in his lifetime

 

[SabsP]

I was surprised how little attention was paid to the amount of sellos I had in my credencial when I arrived last week. I just got a stamp every day I was in the albergue or when I spent the night in a pension. I only got four " extra " sellos, church at Torres de Rio, from the lady when entering Logrono, the beautiful church in La Portela and the funky bar at Salceda.
Staff just asked me if I honestly started in Roncesvalles and if I really did not use any form of other transport than " a pie ". So that was is.
Also some older couples I regularly met and who used only daypacks and always slept in hostales en pensiones but also walked the whole way got their Compostela without a problem.

Now sending a copy of my Compostela to the flemish confraternity and I'll receive my tile ( a gift from them when you finish the Camino ).

 

[+@^^]

my pilgrim passport stamp collection resembled an exraorinarily long 42 day pub-crawl
.
i accumulated as many stamps as i could - churches, municipal offices, civil guards, roadside diners
always one each day from the albergue or hostal
but the overwhelming majority were from bars

 

[carolgibney]

my pilgrim passport stamp collection resembled an exraorinarily long 42 day pub-crawl
.
i accumulated as many stamps as i could - churches, municipal offices, civil guards, roadside diners
always one each day from the albergue or hostal
but the overwhelming majority were from bars

hahahaha love that...my kinda pilgrimage!

 

[mmm042]

Just remember that if you're doing just the last 100km (versus the entire route), you need to obtain two stamps a day. Maybe they're not checking that closely, as someone else said, but that IS the official rule, and you'd hate to have a strict person at the desk refuse your dad his credencial because you only got one per day.

Melanie

 

[OldDad]

I was surprised how little attention was paid to the amount of sellos I had in my credencial when I arrived last week. I just got a stamp every day I was in the albergue or when I spent the night in a pension.

Yep. Main thing is don't sweat the small stuff. Don't worry. Just get your credencial stamped every day, and don't lose it!

 

[Tia Valeria]

Walking the Camino Inglés we were careful to try to get at least 2 stamps per day. On 2 days, where nothing was open as we passed, we actually asked local folk we were talking to if they would be kind and sign our credenciales. They were only to pleased to help us and the Pilgrim Office didn't question it. We also found the school in one village and the teacher called us over and gave us a sello.
If I had been short of sellos I think I would have asked them to look at my camera as proof that I had walked.

 

[ArkBuilder]

Don't worry Grayland - we have already considered that. So many of our pilgrims walk for many more days than the 30 - 35 days that most people take for the Camino Frances, it is very impractical to have only 40 spaces for sellos, hence we are allowing for a far greater number. Cheers, Janet

Hi Janet.

You wouldn't happen to how many [quantitatively] are a "far greater number"? It would be nice to get all stamps into one credencial instead of two.

Thanks!

 

[koilife]

I would argue for roughly 72 stamps; enough for two per day (lodging plus cathedrals, museums, restaurants) over a typical 30 to 35 day journey along the Camino Frances. I would also argue that (unlike the American Pilgrims version) all stamps should be on one side so that the full journey can be displayed on a wall or picture frame. I ended up stitching together two separate credencials just to have enough stamps.

Now, if one is doing a pub crawl and getting three or four stamps for every bar, restaurant, etc. as well, then two credencials is probably still needed.

 

[ArkBuilder]

I would argue for roughly 72 stamps; enough for two per day (lodging plus cathedrals, museums, restaurants) over a typical 30 to 35 day journey along the Camino Frances. I would also argue that (unlike the American Pilgrims version) all stamps should be on one side so that the full journey can be displayed on a wall or picture frame. I ended up stitching together two separate credencials just to have enough stamps.

Now, if one is doing a pub crawl and getting three or four stamps for every bar, restaurant, etc. as well, then two credencials is probably still needed.

Thanks Koilife. 72 stamps? Wow. I do REALLY like your idea of all stamps on one side. The one you can order through Ivar in Santiago does have all the pages on one side for stamps but still doesn't have enough room for all the stamps we need [In my opinion only ]. I am a slow walker so it will take me at least 42 days to get from SJPP to SDC.

The backside of it is covered with maps, which is totally unnecessary [ not to be critical ]. We could use a pilgrim's passport that focused on more pages for stamps since there are plenty to collect and this is more important than all the stuff they put on so many pages.

I will probably have to "stitch" two credencials together OR uses my reporter's notebook [ Moleskine ] to collect all but one per day until the last 100kms.

Thanks again!

 

[koilife]

I will probably have to "stitch" two credencials together OR uses my reporter's notebook [ Moleskine ] to collect all but one per day until the last 100kms.

Getting additional credencials is straight forward along the way, and "stitching" them together after the camino is no big deal. Also, once inside the 100KM mark, you'll probably only find "extensions" and not full credencials.

Different strokes for different folks, but I found all the various stamps to be incredibly fascinating, and a reminder of the larger trip. I wish I had been more diligent along the way for getting them each time we stopped and ate, etc. I framed the credential and it hangs on my wall in a place of prominence, along with my compostella and shell.

 

[ArkBuilder]

Getting additional credencials is straight forward along the way, and "stitching" them together after the camino is no big deal. Also, once inside the 100KM mark, you'll probably only find "extensions" and not full credencials.

Different strokes for different folks, but I found all the various stamps to be incredibly fascinating, and a reminder of the larger trip. I wish I had been more diligent along the way for getting them each time we stopped and ate, etc. I framed the credential and it hangs on my wall in a place of prominence, along with my compostella and shell.

Thanks again Koilife. I still wish the pages for stamps were all on one side [ American PP ] so it would be easier to frame.

They will be a "treasure" to keep for many years.

 

[koilife]

I only used one side of my American PP and then got a second one along the way. Inconvenient, but it looks fine once it was all assembled. The minor differences are irrelevant when I stand back and see the visual story of the pilgrimage played out in sellos.

 

[ArkBuilder]

I only used one side of my American PP and then got a second one along the way. Inconvenient, but it looks fine once it was all assembled. The minor differences are irrelevant when I stand back and see the visual story of the pilgrimage played out in sellos.

Good idea Koilife. I think I will take two [2] American PP and do as you did. Again, good idea and thanks again.

 

[clindseypac]

http://www.lossellosdelcamino.com/i...ncluye-caminos-de-la-costa-primitivo-e-ingles

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