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Further to the current thread on measuring distance I would like to pose a question.
On attending the pilgrims' office in Santiago I was pleased to be offered the new certificate of distance (for a fee of 3 euros).
I had measured my distance walked from Lisbon on a gps device, which I believe is very accurate. I took a couple of diversions which would have added less than 20 km to the standard path.
John Brierly's guide stated the distance for the camino Portuguese from Lisbon to be 615 km. My gps told me I had walked 670 km. Nevertheless, I was expecting my certificate of distance to state 615 km and I would have been happy with this - mas o menos.
However the number of km's written on my certificate is 575 which made me somewhat dumbfounded. Where does this arbitrary figure come from, does anyone know?
I feel rather inclined to take a biro and change the initial '5' to a '6', which would be much closer to the truth of my camino. What is the distance given on the certificate for the camino Frances from SJPP I would be interested to know?
(Just in case someone takes this too seriously, I am writing somewhat 'tongue in cheek'!)
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...I was volunteering in the pilgrims' office in May and wrote up a lot of these. There is a list (actually several lists) of distances and I don't know exactly where the distances come from. I remember that there were a lot of discrepancies-- Sarria showed up as 112 or 116, etc.
My advice to people in the future is to know your distance and tell the person writing the certificate. So long as it's reasonable, they will be most obliging in my experience.
And Maggie, you could always order another one through Ivar and give careful instructions on what the number of kms is. If you tell them you had a gps and this is what it said, I would be stunned if they gave you any problems.
Hi .... I also have just finished the Camino Norde and when offered the certificate of distance I thought I would support the office with the 3 euros, but It was'nt something I particularly wanted. When I got my certificate it said 803km.
This is wrong, my book said 867 and I walked that and more with a few unwanted diversions. I too wondered how on earth they came up with that number. Maybe it is the road miles or as the crew flies but I know I walked so much more than that and that is the main thing.
I know someone that went back and made them change their Camino Francais one as the Kms were ridiculously low,
They did......So if you are not happy they will change it but that is ridiculous in itself. They need to get it right......
...
I like the new certificate, the Compostela does not say where I have walked from, this does, the number of km does not matter in my opinion.I don't begrudge a successful fund raising activity, but this certificate is such a bad idea!
Google Maps says it is 831km on foot from SJPdP to Fisterra.I walked from St Jean to Finisterre and Muxia but my certificate says 775km.
The best argument for not doing it at all. Add bragging rights to a compostela, and it is like a miniature silver plate botafumeiro.My opinion, if you do something, make sure you do it right.
Except that ... there are so many ways to calculate the distance, because the more detailed the route, the longer it will be.Its not that hard to get a distance right these days. So many accurate ways to calculate it.
YESAfter reading all of these posts, and thinking about how impracticable it is to get agreed-upon distances, maybe the moral of the story is that the certificado de distancia should be re-designed to eliminate the number of kms. Starting point, and starting and end dates ought to be sufficient, don't you think?
I agree Laurie that it will be impossible to please one and all, and on reflection I just agreed to buying the certificate because it as offered, not because it was important to me. I shall keep it tucked in its tube and I hope the revenue from the certificates is a useful boost to the pilgrims' office funds. The credencial, for most of us, will probably remain our most treasured memento of our pilgrimage.After reading all of these posts, and thinking about how impracticable it is to get agreed-upon distances, maybe the moral of the story is that the certificado de distancia should be re-designed to eliminate the number of kms. Starting point, and starting and end dates ought to be sufficient, don't you think?
Mark we walked from SJPP to Santiago and also got 775 on our distance certificate ☺Yes, I was disappointed when I got mine also. I walked from St Jean to Finisterre and Muxia but my certificate says 775km.
Conversation normally avoids interesting questions for the mundane. You would be set aback a bit if the first question was "where did you go to the bathroom?" and other more personal questions, the ones that really are on the minds of others! Your first question is a popular one, followed by "why did you go?", and "was it difficult?"the first question I get asked when talking about my caminos is always 'how many miles/km's did you walk?'.
Hola Houlet
The Certificate of Distance is intended as a record of the journey ending in Santiago therefore what we usually do is enter the original start date and place and the final date of arrival in Santiago.
I hope this helps.
John
1,505 according to www.Godesalco.com.All calculations I've seen indicate there are about 1600 km
It is 708 according to www.godalseco.com!From Pamplona to Santiago we made 400 km's walking.
Personally I think this certificate of distance is a waste of time. It is creating double work for the folk behind the desks in the Pilgrims Office. This, of course, is creating longer queues waiting outside ( or at least that is what I am reading on various reports regarding the waiting time).
After all, we all know, roughly, how many Kms we walked. We've done sooooo much researching before we ever start the Camino. Do we REALLY need a certificate for this? Anne
My biggest pet peeve from volunteering in the pilgrims office is the number of pilgrims who failed to leave a donation even when I pointed out the box and said that it was there for their donations. So often a pilgrim would take the compostela, take out some money and ask how much it cost. When I said it was a donation/donativo, the money went back in the pocket.
As we all know from our endless discussions about donativo albergues, donativo does not mean free.
My biggest pet peeve from volunteering in the pilgrims office is the number of pilgrims who failed to leave a donation even when I pointed out the box and said that it was there for their donations. So often a pilgrim would take the compostela, take out some money and ask how much it cost. When I said it was a donation/donativo, the money went back in the pocket.
As we all know from our endless discussions about donativo albergues, donativo does not mean free.
Well said matey. I hope people realise point 2 is so very important as some people's idea of a donation is well to be kind questionable.1 Buying in the Certificate of Distance is not compulsory
2 It raises essential funds to employ paid staff in the Pilgrims' Office - in a country where there is 25% unemployment
3 Because of this and other strategies more paid staff are now employed than in any previous year
4 A separate "group office" which receives organised groups is now open and fully staffed
5 A "next please" machine has been installed and is working very well
6 Waiting times - how short are the memories - gone are the hours spent on the stairs in the old office at Number 1 or the 5 - 6 hour queues during the Holy Year. We recently issued 2,200 compostelas in one day with waiting just over 1 hour. By 2pm today we had issued 660 compostelas with a waiting time of 35 - 45 minutes.
7 40% of pilgrims request a Certificate of Distance
8 Over 100 members of this forum have ordered one
Lesson - if you don't like it, don't buy it - but please leave a donation anyway!
He he. Well the distance and time is not important.@Beatrice: Everyone here knows that you're one heck of a trekker.
I had ordered one too and the distance was 775kms from SJPDP (even though I have the photo where I'm standing next to a sign in Ronsesvalles that says 790 to go!) We laugh and call it "Camino Kms" because those last 2kms always ended up being like 5kms more.
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