Some beginner questions

Hello everyone!

I'm quite new to all of this and have tried to find answers to my questions online and browsed the forum first, but there are a few things I'd still like clarified. Hopefully, some of you can help:

- Is there a time limit for walking the camino? Let's say, I really like a town along the way and would like to spend another day (or if this happens a few times), will it affect the validity of my completion certificate-wise?
- I understand the Compostela and Certificate of Welcome can be obtained in Santiago de Compostela and I just read that there is also Muxiana and Fisterrá. Are there any other related certificates?
If I start in Poland or Germany, will I have to complete the whole route to Santiago to receive a certificate? Or is it possible to only do the Via Baltics, e.g.?
- Would I have to do the whole route to Santiago at once or could I do it in stages? Could I do, let's say, the Via Imperii in April and continue where I left off, in September?
- Is it possible to receive a Compostela / Certificate of Welcome if walking the camino 'backwards', e.g. starting in Santiago and ending in Le Puy?
- Is it possible to pick up a Compostela/ Certificate of Welcome anytime after completion or does it have to be done right away? If I arrive later than expected and have to catch a flight, thus am unable to pick up my Compostela / Certificate of Welcome, can I still get it a year later for that walk?
- Can the Certificate of Distance only be obtained in Santiago? Or somewhere along the way, if I don't walk the entire route to Santiago?

I kindly ask you not to tell me it's about the pilgrimage and that the certificate is just a piece of paper.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Su

Thanks for your replies!

whariwharangi said:

The compostela requirements are that you walk the last 100 km and that you obtain two sellos in your credencial each day.

The observed rule is that people who have walked a long way on a continuous walk need only obtain one credencial per day on this last 100km.
[...]
There is no time limit. Some people walk a portion of any given camino for a week each year. The only real time limit is that imposed by how long we can stay in Schengen areas ... something that doesn't apply to you as a German citizen.
[...]
If I were to walk another camino ... I would take a day off ... feet up all day ... at least once a week. There is no requirement that you walk every day or that you walk a minimum distance in any day.

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So, if I start in Poland, I can really walk for a week, return home, and continue from where I left off a few months later? Except for the last 100km? The 2 stamps per day needed for that last leg, can they be from the same towns or even same places (church, café, etc) where the credential was stamped the previous day? Meaning, is it still possible to spend another day in a place along the way or does it have to be a continuous walk for those last 100km?

domigee said:

If you walk to Fisterra you can get the Fisterrana (or whatever it's called) from the Municipal albergue. You just need to get stamps each day on the same credential you used to get to Santiago.
Same in Muxía, I got my certificate from the albergue 'Bela Muxía'.
They don't mean anything really, just look pretty

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Is the rule for the Muxiana and Fisterrá the same as for the Compostela / Certificate of Welcome? 2 stamps per day?
I'm not doing this for religious reasons (maybe it'll be a bit of a cleansing, like the original pagan rituals); they'll mean as much to me as the certificate obtained in Santiago. I've never achieved anything physically. This will be my first time and the certificates will be wonderful keepsakes and future reminders that not everything is impossible

SYates said:

The main thing you need to understand, then a lot of other things will fall into place, is that in order to receive the Compostela you need to have walked the last 100km or biked the last 200km to Santiago. The Compostela confirms that you have made a pilgrimage "with an attitude of devotion or because of a vow or promise make a pilgrimage to the Tomb of the Apostle,..."

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Yes, that's what I thought, but then the Muxiana and Fisterrá confused me. I thought, since legs of the ways have different names, maybe they are considered individual instances, but it's clearer now.