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Sello requirements from Ourense

JohnJocys

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Via de la Plata, Camino del Norte
I'm on final approach to Santiago de Compostela, currently in Ourense.
Can anyone clarify if I need TWO sellos per day from here to the end, or will one per day be enough?
I leave around 5 - 6am each day, there are few people around at that time to stamp my credencial!
Many thanks :)
 
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The pilgrim office asks for two stamps per day for at least the final 100km. A number of people have reported receiving a Compostela with only one per day when they have started much further away but why risk an argument about it? My credencial has always been stamped on arrival at an albergue - not first thing in the morning. You should not have much trouble in finding a second sello somewhere during the day even on the Sanabres.
 
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The pilgrim office asks for two stamps per day for at least the final 100km. A number of people have reported receiving a Compostela with only one per day when they have started much further away but why risk an argument about it? My credencial has always been stamped on arrival at an albergue - not first thing in the morning. You should not have much trouble in finding a second sello somewhere during the day even on the Sanabres.
I'm currently on my 4th camino. On the 3 previous ones never bothered about getring 2 stamps per day. In the pilgrims office they seem to distinguish between pilgrims only walking the last 100 kilometers and those who started in St. jean, Irun, Sevilla, Salamanca and so on. Never had any problems getting my compostela.
 
The official 'credencial' from Santiago clarely specify that two stamps are required if you walk only the last 100 km.
So, if you are coming from far away, two stamps are not requested.
buen camino
2 sellos.jpg
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
I'm currently on my 4th camino. On the 3 previous ones never bothered about getring 2 stamps per day. In the pilgrims office they seem to distinguish between pilgrims only walking the last 100 kilometers and those who started in St. jean, Irun, Sevilla, Salamanca and so on. Never had any problems getting my compostela.
You maybe not but there are Pilgrims they had. Yust get the 2 sello's and you will have no problems.
 
I'm on final approach to Santiago de Compostela, currently in Ourense.
Can anyone clarify if I need TWO sellos per day from here to the end, or will one per day be enough?
I leave around 5 - 6am each day, there are few people around at that time to stamp my credencial!
Many thanks :)
I know what the rules of the PO are but in my experience if the volunteer at the counter see all the stamps in your credencial from let's say Seville or Valencia they don't make any fuss about two stamps per day in last 100km. One would be enough. At least that was so in my case twice.
But if you walk just the last 100km (which you are not as I understand) then they be vigilant about two stamps per day.

You can get your credencial stamped in churches, ayuntamientos, post offices, bars, shops virtually everywhere. Maybe it won't be best designed stamp, just a business one, but it would do for PO. I usually stamp it in the place where I stay for the night at check-in.
 
I'm on final approach to Santiago de Compostela, currently in Ourense.
Can anyone clarify if I need TWO sellos per day from here to the end, or will one per day be enough?
I leave around 5 - 6am each day, there are few people around at that time to stamp my credencial!
Many thanks :)
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
You need 2 sellos per day if you start in Ourense. If you have other sellos from walking to Ourense you should be good with one sello per day. We always get our sello when we check into the albergue at night. we got another one during the day. It was not a problem for us.
 
You may be confusing your good luck (or good looks) for a wise choice to comply with the Pilgrim Office requirements. I don't have the looks (or the luck) to expect a waiver of the rules. I just do what they ask. :)
I don't know of my looks or lucks but I just don't go pick up a compostela. Problem solved ;)
 
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€149,-
According to my "official" credencial, I got this year, you need 2 Stamps per day on the last 100 km, irrespectively where you started. Even if someone has started far away you can not be sure, that he has walked the last 100 km (which are the only kilometers which matter for the pilgrim office) and not taken the bus because he ran out of time. I saw a pilgrim having started at Saint Jean being denied her compostela because she had no stamp between Arzua and Santiago. Especially on the last 100 km there are plenty of possiblities to obtain a stamp. Not only the albergue you are staying in, but also the bar where you take your second breakfast....

BC
Alexandra
 
There's no shortage of places that will stamp your credential on the Sanabres. In the last 100km, some cafes and shops proactively suggested to me that I put their stamp in my credential. Unfortunately, my document was pretty full and I declined several of them.
 
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Kinky (above) is correct. While TWO sellos per day are required in the final 100 Km, regardless of the Camino route you are on, it is also true, as a general statement, that, if all the rest of your sellos establish a line of march from a far distant point of origin, Porto, Sevilla, St. Jean Pied de Port, etc., they do tend to be more flexible.

This DOES NOT mean that you only need one sello per day in the final 100 km. It DOES mean that if you miss getting two sellos per day for a day or two, during your final 100 Km, they are unlikely to make a big deal of it.

The rule is there to try to deter the folks who only walk 100 km and obtain too few sellos. Walking a short distance and only having a few sellos, suggests (only suggests) fraud. This is just a fact, over time.

This is also why hyper-distance folks, who seek to do a Camino in an insanely short amount of time, draw attention to themselves. It is why they need to bend over backwards to get many, redundant sellos and take multiple, location & time stamped stamped photos on their smartphones daily to establish their rapid progress and line of march.

If you re a hyper-distance or even a short-distance pilgrim, it also wise to pay attention to unique architectural features, cafes, restaurants, and statues in the villages as you pass rapidly through them. The staff at the counter may ask you about location x, or cafe y, knowing that every passing pilgrim is aware of them. During the summer months, this 'cat & mouse' game is played out daily as fraudulent Compostela seekers attempt to 'put one over.' Avoid this game. Pay attention as you are on Camino. Observe your surroundings.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm a hyper-distance pilgrim and I have never been questioned at the PO but I have stopped for the day's first sello in a"normal" stage spot and then the second one in the albergue on my last 100 Km. I do make sure to have a lot of photos both in camera and phone (with Gps-location and timestamp) if needed to prove I have been to the places preferable photos at places not reachable by car, on the trail (got that recommendation from another long stage walker). Names of bars or statues seems to be a strange validation who remember bars you pass. I surely don't.
 
The staff at the counter may ask you about location x, or cafe y, knowing that every passing pilgrim is aware of them.
That's ludicrous. Instead of working on our inner spiritual development, we now have to memorise coffee shops!
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Rules are rules. They are not onerous if you incorporate them into your daily routine.

This issue would not exist if fraud was not a regular occurrence. You would be very unpleasantly surprised to see this happen daily.

Asking the more probative questions is only one way to get to the truth. The good news is that it is only occasionally necessary.

Hope this helps.
 
Asking the more probative questions is only one way to get to the truth. The good news is that it is only occasionally necessary.

I had a long and probing interview with a priest from the cathedral staff before receiving my first Compostela: a detailed spiritual debriefing which I found very helpful at the time. However I think that if I found myself being asked a lot of factual questions clearly aimed at exposing me as a liar about my journey then I would no longer wish to receive a Compostela for that walk. It would be tainted by such doubt and suspicion.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I agree with both of you, immediately above. My post was about things as they are. I try to report facts as I know them.

These situations occur regularly but at a very low level. They are confined mostly to the very busy summer months, and to certain segments of the pilgrim population.

Probative challenges to a pilgrim’s veracity are; neither very frequent, nor obvious to someone not directly involved.

If you follow the simple rules for two sello daily, NONE OF THIS applies to you, and you need not be concerned.

Hope this helps.
 

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