shells & distances

[chinagal]

There seems to be quite a variation in the total distaance of CF - SJPDP to Santiago. From 790kms to 900kms! Why is this?
Also, regarding the scallop shell to carry - can you bring your own or do you get given one? has significance for me so would like to bring my own.

 

[Bradypus]

Also, regarding the scallop shell to carry - can you bring your own or do you get given one? has significance for me so would like to bring my own.

You are not usually given one. You are welcome to bring your own if you wish. There is no special rule about scallop shells and not every pilgrim chooses to carry one.

 

[Bradypus]

There seems to be quite a variation in the total distaance of CF - SJPDP to Santiago. From 790kms to 900kms! Why is this?

I have never seen anywhere claiming that the CF is 900km! That's way outside the normal margin of error. Sometimes I read about 800km. The distance certificate I have from 2016 says 775km. Most guesses are somewhere between those two. Hard to be precise because there are several places where there are alternatives of different lengths to choose from. And the Camino Frances has changed a bit over time when old paths have been cut off and others marked as replacements.

 

[lettinggo]

There seems to be quite a variation in the total distaance of CF - SJPDP to Santiago. From 790kms to 900kms! Why is this?
Also, regarding the scallop shell to carry - can you bring your own or do you get given one? has significance for me so would like to bring my own.

Hola

Well.. when you walk the Camino everyone is doing it a littel bit different.
There are many smaller - and bigger - detours, such as scenic routes in nature or possible visits to curches and monastaries.
On the meseta there are different ways to walk and so on.

When you leave Roncesvales there is a famous sign which say - 790 km to Santiago.
So walking from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvales - depending on which route you chosse - is around 25 km. That should then total 815 km.

Regardless, I usually say that if you walk from Saint Jean to Finisterra or Muxia - you have walked 1000 km.
That is if you take the nature routes and includes the km you do when you take wrong turnes and in general walking for shopping and so on.

I am sure that other people got GPS gear can have a more precise number, but that is how I do it.

Buen Camino
Lettinggo

 

[Bradypus]

When you leave Roncesvales there is a famous sign which say - 790 km to Santiago.

My 2016 distance certificate says it is 775km from SJPDP to Santiago. I walked it again in January and I could have sworn that SJPDP was further from Santiago than Roncesvalles. Maybe my navigation is becoming worse with age...

 

[lettinggo]

My 2016 distance certificate says it is 775km from SJPDP to Santiago. I walked it again in January and I could have sworn that SJPDP was further from Santiago than Roncesvalles. Maybe my navigation is becoming worse with age...

Well... I guess those signs are for cars and they do a more indirect route than pilgrims..

Google give us this picture of the sign outside Roncesvales.

Lettinggo

 

[chinagal]

I have never seen anywhere claiming that the CF is 900km! That's way outside the normal margin of error. Sometimes I read about 800km. The distance certificate I have from 2016 says 775km. Most guesses are somewhere between those two. Hard to be precise because there are several places where there are alternatives of different lengths to choose from. And the Camino Frances has changed a bit over time when old paths have been cut off and others marked as replacements.

i saw this on the first page. 920kms the French way. maybe its a typo?

The French Way of Saint James | spain.info

What to see and where the most popular route goes on the Camino de Santiago. | spain.info

www.spain.info

 

[Arctic_Alex]

There seems to be quite a variation in the total distaance of CF - SJPDP to Santiago. From 790kms to 900kms! Why is this?
Also, regarding the scallop shell to carry - can you bring your own or do you get given one? has significance for me so would like to bring my own.

people measure with their gps and that gives some variations. In particular those who include their sightseeing in the cities or their deviation to their accommodation in their measurements ;-)

However, 900 is way off, that must include some other stretch of way, such as Santiago-Fisterra.

I only got my scallop shell in Santiago upon arrival, by someone who gave me hers as a sign of friendship. so this is very individual. You could carry whatever scallop you like, or none at all!

 

[chinagal]

I have never seen anywhere claiming that the CF is 900km! That's way outside the normal margin of error. Sometimes I read about 800km. The distance certificate I have from 2016 says 775km. Most guesses are somewhere between those two. Hard to be precise because there are several places where there are alternatives of different lengths to choose from. And the Camino Frances has changed a bit over time when old paths have been cut off and others marked as replacements.

thankyou

 

[Kathar1na]

i saw this on the first page. 920kms the French way. maybe its a typo?

You are right, it does say 930 km for the French Way (see screenshot). And it does so on “Spain’s official tourism website”!!! Very sloppy work. It is wrong, the whole length is about 800 km and they say so in the text that follows.

 

[trecile]

When you leave Roncesvales there is a famous sign which say - 790 km to Santiago.

Well... I guess those signs are for cars and they do a more indirect route than pilgrims

Yes, that sign is on the road for cars.

Regardless, I usually say that if you walk from Saint Jean to Finisterra or Muxia - you have walked 1000 km.

You could say that, but it would be incorrect since Santiago to Finisterre or Muxía is about 90 km, 120 km if you walk between the two also. If you make the roundtrip back to Santiago you are approaching 1000 km.

i saw this on the first page. 920kms the French way. maybe its a typo?

It's wrong - Maybe a typo.

 

[chinagal]

well, whatever it is - it is a long way! just trying to work out total days needed if taking it leisurely! thanks all. buen Camino!

 

[ebrandt]

I had the same question about the shells before our first camino. It didn't dqwn on me that you can buy them everywhere, so I mad embroidered felt shells. We have carried them on all our walks since then.

 

[motero99]

If you want something a little different, the blacksmith at the bottom of the hill leading to the wine fountain sell stamped b lack metal ones. At first I was not impressed with them, but as I kept seeing them on the Camino, I grew to like them. After hiking, my daughters and I took a detour to visit relatives in Pamplona. We stopped at the blacksmith shop to get the shells and at the winery at the wine fountain. Their high end wines were very good and not that expensive.

 

[lt56ny]

Yes, that sign is on the road for cars.

You could say that, but it would be incorrect since Santiago to Finisterre or Muxía is about 90 km, 120 km if you walk between the two also. If you make the roundtrip back to Santiago you are approaching 1000 km.

It's wrong - Maybe a typo.

It has to be wrong as we know and it could be a typo or just sloppy as has been suggested. When you read the distance totals and the stage totals it does not add up

Castilla y LeónDistance: 380 kilometres.Recommended stages: 14.​

Galicia Distance: 160 kilometres.Recommended stages: 7 or 8.​

The distance from Castillo and Leon is 220k longer than Galicia but it is recommended that you only do double the amount of stages.
Sloppy or a mistage.

 

[1elantra]

There seems to be quite a variation in the total distaance of CF - SJPDP to Santiago. From 790kms to 900kms! Why is this?
Also, regarding the scallop shell to carry - can you bring your own or do you get given one? has significance for me so would like to bring my own.

Sounds like the 900km could relate to total if walking from Santiago onto Finistere...

 

[Tincatinker]

Or starting at Somport and going on an interesting pub crawl or two

 

[TaijiPilgrim]

There seems to be quite a variation in the total distaance of CF - SJPDP to Santiago. From 790kms to 900kms! Why is this?
Also, regarding the scallop shell to carry - can you bring your own or do you get given one? has significance for me so would like to bring my own.

You can bring your own. I carried a small scallop shell that a friend found especially for me on a Cape Cod beach before my first camino. I also have one given to me as a birthday gift by the pilgrims and owner of the gite where I spent my first night - and my birthday- on the Le Puy route.

 

[chinagal]

I had the same question about the shells before our first camino. It didn't dqwn on me that you can buy them everywhere, so I mad embroidered felt shells. We have carried them on all our walks since then.

View attachment 143894

it looks lovely!

 

[eamann]

In the Middle Ages it was common for people who had committed a crime to be condemned to walk to Santiago / Fisterra as punishment/penance. My understanding is that these pilgrims brought back home a scallop shell with them as proof that they had indeed gone there. Pilgrims starting off on their journey did not carry shells.

 

[Arctic_Alex]

In the Middle Ages it was common for people who had committed a crime to be condemned to walk to Santiago / Fisterra as punishment/penance. My understanding is that these pilgrims brought back home a scallop shell with them as proof that they had indeed gone there. Pilgrims starting off on their journey did not carry shells.

Well, what did you think why most of us walk?

 

[chinagal]

In the Middle Ages it was common for people who had committed a crime to be condemned to walk to Santiago / Fisterra as punishment/penance. My understanding is that these pilgrims brought back home a scallop shell with them as proof that they had indeed gone there. Pilgrims starting off on their journey did not carry shells.

thankyou! I love hearing all the little stories, true or not, about the camino.

 

[Virginia G.]

There seems to be quite a variation in the total distaance of CF - SJPDP to Santiago. From 790kms to 900kms! Why is this?
Also, regarding the scallop shell to carry - can you bring your own or do you get given one? has significance for me so would like to bring my own.

in 2019, in the Pilgrims Office in SJPP, the volunteer showed me a big box of shells where I could choose my own, and then drop a donation into the box mounted there. Each shell was drilled with 2 tiny holes and strung with a piece of twine, so you could hang it on your pack.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I've used the same scallop shell I picked up on a beach from my travels and drilled a small hole in it. I have a friend who dangles a very small brass shell from her pack...anything goes!

I have only one distance certificate, every step walked from SJPdP to Santiago in 2017...it says 799k.

 

[Bradypus]

I have a friend who dangles a very small brass shell from her pack...anything goes!

I have a small pewter scallop shell badge pinned to my hat

 

[dick bird]

walked it again in January and I could have sworn that SJPDP was further from Santiago than Roncesvalles.

Well they do say the universe is expanding (at least Eric Idle says it is).