Reusing credencial from 2019

[Smash123]

Hi all!
In 2019 I did part of the Via Podiensis (Figeac to St Antoine). This year I am going back to walk from Le Puy to SJPP. I plan to do the detour to Rocamadour (thus missing a lot of what I did previously and taking in that beautiful place). Can I use the same credencial that I used in 2019? I get mixed info on this question. I understand that once you reach SC, your credencial is closed. But what about this case? Thanks for any info.

 

[henrythedog]

Yes. You can indeed reuse it. The compostella is only issued for the last continuous 100km (on foot), anything before that is irrelevant. You cannot interrupt and resume that stretch.

A distance certificate (if you want one) will be based on your original start point providing you can demonstrate a continuous (although interrupted) journey.

(I have been politely and definitively corrected on the ‘last 100k - please see below)

 

[dougfitz]

I get mixed info on this question. I understand that once you reach SC, your credencial is closed. But what about this case? Thanks for any info.

The pilgrim office in SDC will 'close' your credencial, but so far as I am aware, it never gets closed anywhere else.

 

[trecile]

The compostella is only issued for the last continuous 100km (on foot), anything before that is irrelevant. You cannot interrupt and resume that stretch.

However you can complete the last 100 km in more than one trip. You just need to make sure that you start where you left off, and get a new stamp in that place in addition to the two stamps per day that you need in the last 100km.

 

[henrythedog]

However you can complete the last 100 km in more than one trip. You just need to make sure that you start where you left off, and get a new stamp in that place in addition to the two stamps per day that you need in the last 100km.

Are you sure?

 

[trecile]

Are you sure?

Yes

This is what the Pilgrims Office says

You can do the Way in stages, provided they are in chronological and geographical order. However, if you only do the minimum required distance (last 100 or 200 km), you must always get your Credencial stamped at the start and end of each stage, including the corresponding date, to show that the pilgrim has resumed the Way in the same place where they last stopped (i.e. you should always get the stamp at the starting point even though you have already stamped the card in the same place at the end of the previous stage).

 

[henrythedog]

Yes

This is what the Pilgrims Office says

You can do the Way in stages, provided they are in chronological and geographical order. However, if you only do the minimum required distance (last 100 or 200 km), you must always get your Credencial stamped at the start and end of each stage, including the corresponding date, to show that the pilgrim has resumed the Way in the same place where they last stopped (i.e. you should always get the stamp at the starting point even though you have already stamped the card in the same place at the end of the previous stage).

Thank you. That’s clear.

 

[Smash123]

Well, I have not experienced a desire to walk the entire route. My sense is that the Via Podensis is much less crowded and commercial. I may try other routes in the future, but may never reach SdC.

 

[NorthernLight]

I’ve ‘hopscotched’ between caminos in the past and the gites and hostels generally don’t care. Many along the Le Puy don’t even ask to see your credential, since they are also a GR route with many French walkers who will never go to Santiago.

I recall an American couple who walked from Le Puy and didn’t bother to get a credential until somewhere around Lectoure where they had decided that they’d actually like to get to Santiago some day.

 

[trecile]

I recall an American couple who walked from Le Puy and didn’t bother to get a credential until somewhere around Lectoure where they had decided that they’d actually like to get to Santiago some day.

If you aren't staying in pilgrim albergues that require a credential you don't need one to earn a Compostela until you reach the last 100 km. But it makes such a good souvenir that I will always use one, even though I don't care about a Compostela.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I too have enjoyed the souvenirs of my credentials on two of my Caminos in Spain, but my other four have been in different countries where I have stayed in many small guest house type properties where keys/instructions are left for you; often you never see the owner of the property so I no longer am able to collect the stamps.

 

[David Tallan]

In 2019 I did part of the Via Podiensis (Figeac to St Antoine). This year I am going back to walk from Le Puy to SJPP. I plan to do the detour to Rocamadour (thus missing a lot of what I did previously and taking in that beautiful place). Can I use the same credencial that I used in 2019?

Well, I have not experienced a desire to walk the entire route. My sense is that the Via Podensis is much less crowded and commercial. I may try other routes in the future, but may never reach SdC.

You can, but it may make more sense to just start with a new credential. Your 2019 Camino started in Figeac and it shows a Camino starting there. You may confuse people in earlier parts of the route who will wonder what you are doing there, farther from SdC on what is being documented as a single Camino. You don't have to worry about the rules in SdC if you don't think you'll end up there, but as others have said, they really only care about the last 100km for the Compostela. For the distance certificate, I'm not sure if they would include the 2019 portion rand the bits you walked twice, rather than just calculating from Le Puy, which you could get with a new credencial.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't be put off by reports of crowding on the Spanish portion of the Frances. I think it is overblown. The community of pilgrims on the Camino Frances is really something to be experienced, and solitude is not hard to come by if it is sincerely desired.

Myself, on my next Camino Frances I'm hoping to reuse and complete a credencial from 1989 that I never completed because a Compostela wasn't important to me back then. Not that I'd be able to use it to get a Compostela this time. There isn't room for 2 stamps a day in the last 100 km, which wasn't a rule back then.

 

[Smash123]

You can, but it may make more sense to just start with a new credential. Your 2019 Camino started in Figeac and it shows a Camino starting there. You may confuse people in earlier parts of the route who will wonder what you are doing there, farther from SdC on what is being documented as a single Camino. You don't have to worry about the rules in SdC if you don't think you'll end up there, but as others have said, they really only care about the last 100km for the Compostela. For the distance certificate, I'm not sure if they would include the 2019 portion rand the bits you walked twice, rather than just calculating from Le Puy, which you could get with a new credencial.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't be put off by reports of crowding on the Spanish portion of the Frances. I think it is overblown. The community of pilgrims on the Camino Frances is really something to be experienced, and solitude is not hard to come by if it is sincerely desired.

Myself, on my next Camino Frances I'm hoping to reuse and complete a credencial from 1989 that I never completed because a Compostela wasn't important to me back then. Not that I'd be able to use it to get a Compostela this time. There isn't room for 2 stamps a day in the last 100 km, which wasn't a rule back then.

Thanks for your input.

Actually the front of my credencial was never filled out. The only thing there is my name. I intend to fill it out as leaving from Le Puy and going to SJPP. The only things in the credencial are the stamps between Figeac and Auvillar. I am planning on hiking from Figeac up to Rocamadour rejoining the VP at Moissac. So the only stamps that may overlap will be Moissac and Auvillar. I don't HAVE to reuse, but I would like to.

I will consider what you said about the Frances - Maybe join a clean-up effort there, or get an idea of a better time to be there for a quieter trip.

For your credencial - I wonder if you could simply staple some extra pages to it?

 

[David Tallan]

For your credencial - I wonder if you could simply staple some extra pages to it?

This is what I have to work with for the last 100 km. The whole credential is one piece of cardboard folded in half so there is a front page, two middle pages for stamps (from 16 named locations from Viscarret to Ponferrada) and this back page. Stapling extra pages doesn't seem practical. I'd rather get this stamped at the named locations and bring along another, modern, credencial.