Urban Trekker
Happy Trails
- Time of past OR future Camino
- English Camino (2013)
Portuguese Camino (2014)
French Camino (2016)
Way of Saint Francis April 2017
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Yes I have to agree. I just finished walking from Lisbon yesterday and I would have to say of all the trails I have walked throughout the world this one was the worst when it came to trash. A lot I feel was from pilgrims where they just discarded their water bottles etc. But also a lot of home waste from the locals. You might not of seen as much on the side of the roads ( I did) but go of to the tracks and they locals dump their trash. Out of sight out of mind maybe. Don't know what their rubbish collection etc is like here. It made me sad to be walking in such a beautiful country and see so much trash.I live in Nevada on the back side of the Sierras. Lake Tahoe and the surrounding National Forest and BLM land abound in trails. There is a rule that all hikers and trekkers follow, "pack it in, pack it out" leave only faint foot prints. Its a rare occasion that you see trash along the trails and I have never seen graffiti.
I had the pleasure of walking the Caminho Portuguese in September. I and friend Craig walked from our room in Porto to Santiago. We saw all kinds of fascinating places and things and met wonderful people everywhere. Spain and Portugal never cease to amaze me and always leave me wanting more. When it's time to go, I want to stay.
There was one thing that bothered me as I walked the countryside and that was the litter. There was very little along the roadways but once you got off the pavement, you saw trash all over the place and I'm sure it was pilgrim trash. Water bottles, empty food containers/wrappers, and energy shot wrappers. The things that walking and biking pilgrims would carry and use.
Future pilgrims and repeat pilgrims, please remember "pack it in and pack it out, leave only faint foot prints." Now that you know about the trash, think about taking a small trash bag with you and pick up some of that trash. I did. If we all chip in the Caminos would soon be spotless.
Happy Trails
While I agree, comments in an English-speaking Forum do not do much. Virtually no one who reads this is guilty of littering. The only effective thing we can do is pick up after others. I do not think I can solve the problem, but I do commit to picking up ONE piece of trash each day. That is an achievable goal, so not an overwhelming commitment to an overwhelming problem. I do more, but I feel my obligation is a single piece of trash.There was very little along the roadways but once you got off the pavement, you saw trash all over the place and I'm sure it was pilgrim trash. Water bottles, empty food containers/wrappers, and energy shot wrappers. The things that walking and biking pilgrims would carry and use.
I had a empty bag that my bocadillo came in. Filled it up and disposed it a first opertunity. Not much but it was a start.How much of the litter did you pick up?
I wasn't angry just disapointed. I do what you do. I try to leave the trail a little cleaner that it was.Pilgrim trash, schmilgrim trash. Small Dog and me collected our usual super-market carrier bag of trash while on our daily walk today. Its probably co-incidence that we are on a long-distance footpath / bike trail and on the edge of a national park. People do seem to manage to bring stuff from quite a long way away just so they can leave it on our paths and fields or hanging in the hedges.
I stopped being out-raged years ago: anger may well be an energy but its a tiring one. So, trash, I just pick it up and take it to a bin.
How much of the litter did you pick up?
I'm not so sure it's pilgrim trash. I saw more of it between Lisbon & Porto than I did from Porto north, if you can believe that, and there is a tiny percentage of pilgrims who walked that portion. Almost the entire length of the Portuguese Caminho is also used by other day hikers and longer trekkers as evidenced by the red & white blaze marks. I have to believe that it's mostly (not entirely) non-pilgrim. And, yes, I did pick up some and I also -hopefully - shamed some people in bigger cities by picking up their discarded trash and putting it in nearby bins while they watched. I can't, of course, be certain but my guess was that all those people were Portuguese. Maybe I assumed too much but some were groups of kids, others were kids in families and others adults. I was shocked.[/Q. Yes it was in portugal but I don't think it was day trippers. The areas were to isolated.
Well saidWe have talked about this topic with relative frequency on this Forum; it is a consistent problem that many recognize. Repetition breeds familiarity and helps to instill reminders and good habits.
It does not matter who threw the trash - what is important is that it gets picked up. Some of our pilgrims bring bags for collecting trash along the way. It does not matter how much or how little the point is that they make an effort to clean up the Camino that we all love.
Others learn never to throw trash down and still others correct the behavior when others do it. Some of us are better at correcting others and some of us are not nearly as good.
Now that you know there is trash; make an effort to fill a bag - a small sandwich bag or a large garbage bag is your choice. This is our problem because we walk the Camino and the Way needs our hands.
I live in Nevada on the back side of the Sierras. Lake Tahoe and the surrounding National Forest and BLM land abound in trails. There is a rule that all hikers and trekkers follow, "pack it in, pack it out" leave only faint foot prints. Its a rare occasion that you see trash along the trails and I have never seen graffiti.
I had the pleasure of walking the Caminho Portuguese in September. I and friend Craig walked from our room in Porto to Santiago. We saw all kinds of fascinating places and things and met wonderful people everywhere. Spain and Portugal never cease to amaze me and always leave me wanting more. When it's time to go, I want to stay.
There was one thing that bothered me as I walked the countryside and that was the litter. There was very little along the roadways but once you got off the pavement, you saw trash all over the place and I'm sure it was pilgrim trash. Water bottles, empty food containers/wrappers, and energy shot wrappers. The things that walking and biking pilgrims would carry and use.
Future pilgrims and repeat pilgrims, please remember "pack it in and pack it out, leave only faint foot prints." Now that you know about the trash, think about taking a small trash bag with you and pick up some of that trash. I did. If we all chip in the Caminos would soon be spotless.
Happy Trails
This was something that I have been thinking about a lot as I saw quite a bit of trash from Sarria to Santiago this time. While I did pick up some every day, it was not nearly enough and I wished I had more time to spend to actually make a more worthwhile effort in cleaning up along the way. I was wondering if there was any sort of clean up initiative (like adopt a highway) where once can adopt a section and actually fund a clean up of a section. I would certainly be willing to do that since I am quite far away. But when I do the walk again, I will take a bag a day and fill it.
We walked through small villiages on Camino Francis (10-14) and couldn't believe how much garbage was left on benches and tables at several nice bars by fellow perigrino's. I apologized to the owner when he came out to clean up after the crowd the crowd had left. He said they can't understand it either but they are used to it. I just thought Camino walkers had a better mind-set and should, in any case, know better. I imagine random tissue paper along the trail may have mistakenly fallen out of ones pocket, but some areas had 20 some tissues.. One would need rubber gloves to safely clean these sections of the path up, but possible to do.I live in Nevada on the back side of the Sierras. Lake Tahoe and the surrounding National Forest and BLM land abound in trails. There is a rule that all hikers and trekkers follow, "pack it in, pack it out" leave only faint foot prints. Its a rare occasion that you see trash along the trails and I have never seen graffiti.
I had the pleasure of walking the Caminho Portuguese in September. I and friend Craig walked from our room in Porto to Santiago. We saw all kinds of fascinating places and things and met wonderful people everywhere. Spain and Portugal never cease to amaze me and always leave me wanting more. When it's time to go, I want to stay.
There was one thing that bothered me as I walked the countryside and that was the litter. There was very little along the roadways but once you got off the pavement, you saw trash all over the place and I'm sure it was pilgrim trash. Water bottles, empty food containers/wrappers, and energy shot wrappers. The things that walking and biking pilgrims would carry and use.
Future pilgrims and repeat pilgrims, please remember "pack it in and pack it out, leave only faint foot prints." Now that you know about the trash, think about taking a small trash bag with you and pick up some of that trash. I did. If we all chip in the Caminos would soon be spotless.
Happy Trails
@Riseson, the Palencia Camino Clean-up Crew will be out again this December and would be glad to receive any support you can offer. See this thread: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/palencia-camino-cleanup-2014.29592/
I hear you, Magwood. They may be considered litterbugs by some standards, but they do have a sense of humour ..... perhaps again, by some standards !I live in southern Spain and am always incredulous at the amount of litter in the countryside. I feel quite confident that this is not left by foreign visitors or residents. It is the locals who do not expect their countryside. Their houses and village streets are immaculate but the countryside is full of discarded wrappers, bottles, cans and yoghurt pots. I really don't understand it, because they obviously love their land and tend it with great care.
As to litter on the camino, I would hazard a guess that very little of it is left by foreign pilgrims.
This photo is just one example of 'fly' tipping on the camino Portuguese. Quite an amusing image, but indicative of the disrespect that some people have for their local countryside.
View attachment 14623
The chairs were still there in September. I tend to carry to much gear but not a chairI live in southern Spain and am always incredulous at the amount of litter in the countryside. I feel quite confident that this is not left by foreign visitors or residents. It is the locals who do not expect their countryside. Their houses and village streets are immaculate but the countryside is full of discarded wrappers, bottles, cans and yoghurt pots. I really don't understand it, because they obviously love their land and tend it with great care.
As to litter on the camino, I would hazard a guess that very little of it is left by foreign pilgrims.
This photo is just one example of 'fly' tipping on the camino Portuguese. Quite an amusing image, but indicative of the disrespect that some people have for their local countryside.
View attachment 14623
It matters a lot to me. That, however, has nothing to do with whether or not I help clean it up or do something to try to stop it from happening in the first place. I'm convinced that the vast majority of it was not left by pilgrims so telling pilgrims to stop littering will mean that we'll be picking up trash for a long, long time.it does not matter who dumped the stuff.
Please don't blast me for saying the following. I live in California and, for awhile, I worked in El Centro, CA, just north of the Mexican border in the Imperial Valley. A "local" told me that it was the custom of some Mexican citizens to dump their trash outside the city limits. Sure enough, at the project where I worked I saw old mattresses, toilet bowls, etc., dumped beside the road. Maybe it is a cultural thing that you saw, as it is in Mexico.I live in Nevada on the back side of the Sierras. Lake Tahoe and the surrounding National Forest and BLM land abound in trails. There is a rule that all hikers and trekkers follow, "pack it in, pack it out" leave only faint foot prints. Its a rare occasion that you see trash along the trails and I have never seen graffiti.
I had the pleasure of walking the Caminho Portuguese in September. I and friend Craig walked from our room in Porto to Santiago. We saw all kinds of fascinating places and things and met wonderful people everywhere. Spain and Portugal never cease to amaze me and always leave me wanting more. When it's time to go, I want to stay.
There was one thing that bothered me as I walked the countryside and that was the litter. There was very little along the roadways but once you got off the pavement, you saw trash all over the place and I'm sure it was pilgrim trash. Water bottles, empty food containers/wrappers, and energy shot wrappers. The things that walking and biking pilgrims would carry and use.
Future pilgrims and repeat pilgrims, please remember "pack it in and pack it out, leave only faint foot prints." Now that you know about the trash, think about taking a small trash bag with you and pick up some of that trash. I did. If we all chip in the Caminos would soon be spotless.
Happy Trails
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