Walking all the "Caminos"

[sillydoll]

Saying "I am going to walk the camino" is a bit of a misnomer. There are about 15 routes in Spain - with another dozen variants - 7 or 8 routes in France and another four in Portugal, all recognized 'camino' routes. So, if you are planning on walking a camino a year, it will take you about 35 years to walk them all!

In 2003 you could log on to http://www.caminoasantiago.com/ and follow Carlos as he walked all 8 camino routes in Galicia: Camino Frances, Camino Ingles, Camino Portugues, Ruta del Mar Arousa, Fisterra, Camino del Norte, Camino Primitivo.

Here is a list of routes in France, Spain and Portugal: (For information on other 'compostelean' routes go to Peter's website: http://www.peterrobins.co.uk/camino/routes/)

FRANCE:

Via Gebennensis (350km - Geneva to Le Puy)
Via Turonensis (+970km Paris and Tours)
Via Podiensis (736km from Le Puy to St Jean)
Via Tolosana (905km; 745 km in France, 160 km in Spain - Arles)
Via Lemovensis (900km - Vezelay)
Chemin du Piemont (525km - Narbonne via Lourdes to St Jean)
La Voie Littorale (140km - Pointe de Grave)
La Voie de Soulac/La Voie des Anglais

SPAIN:

Camino de Andorra (Abalate to Fuentes de Ebro)
Camino Aragones (245 km – Somport – Puente la Reina)
Variante de Huesca y San Juan de la Peña (238 kms)
Ruta Sur del Camino Aragonés (Jaca)
Camino Frances (750 Kms - Roncesvalles)
Camino de la Costa (765 km – Hendaya)
Camino Vasco del Interior (210 km – Irun to Santo Domingo)
Ruta Vadiniense Picos de Europa (134 km – Potes a Mansilla de las Mulas)
Camino Primitivo (369 Kms -Oviedo)
Camino del Salvador (120kms - León a Oviedo)
Via de la Plata (676 km - Sevilla)
El Camino del Sur (184 km - Huelva to Zafra)
Camino Inglés (108 km - Ferrol)
Camino Catalán (480km - Montserrat to Logrono)
Camino del Ebro (219km - Tortosa to Logrono)
Camino de Valencia (863 km – Valencia)
Camino de Alicante (735 km – Alicante)
Camino de Murcia "Ruta del Azahar" (153 km – Cartagena)
Camino de Levante (900km - Valencia to Zamora)
Cami de Sant Jaume (251 kms – Barcelona)
Camino Mozárabe (347 km - Granada to Medellin)
Camino Sanabres (400km - Zamora)
Ruta de la Lana (380 Kms -Valencia to Burgos)
Camino del Maestrazgo-Bajo Aragón (497 kms – Castellón)
De Granada a Mérida (613 km )
De Málaga a Córdoba (190 km.):
Camino de Madrid (321km – Madrid to Sahagún)
Camino de Fisterra (141km – Santiago)
Camino de Invierno (A variant from Quiroga - near Ponferrada - to Montefaro)

Portugal
Camino del Interior (230 Kms - Oporto to Santiago)
Camino del Norte (170 Kms - Barcelos a Redondela)
Camino de la Costa (140 km - Oporto a Vila do Conde, y de La Guardia a Vigo)
Caminho Portuguese (1050km - Lagos)
Camino Portugués de la Vía de la Plata (268 km – Zamora)

 

[Barbara]

There are about 15 routes in Spain - with another dozen variants - 7 or 8 routes in France and another four in Portugal, all recognized 'camino' routes.

Yes, but actually your Camino starts outside your door. The route is chosen for convenience, speed, scenery or whatever, but actually this whole "walking the Camino" is a modern invention. You can bet your best socks that if you said to a twelth century pilgrim "we've got this metal tube, you get in this morning, in the afternoon you are at the tomb of St James, quick prayer then a night on the town, and home in time for evensong tommorrow" he would be saying "where's the airstairs?" before you could lace up your boots. :roll: The whole point was not to go for a long walk, it was to worship at the tomb of the Apostle. You got there by a method commensurate with your ability to pay.
Having said this, I have cycled from home and twice walked to santiago, so you may care to take all I say with a tiny pinch of salt.....

 

[sillydoll]

Yes, but actually your Camino starts outside your door

You are quite right Barbara.
However, for a peregrina who starts out from an African town on the Indian Ocean Coast, 6000km from Santiago, the journey proper has to start somewhere on the continent of Europe. She will obviously choose a route that she has read about, followed by others, written about by others, with monuments and churches to marvel at and refuges to shelter in.
The point I was making in my post is that to say "I am walking ]the camino" is a misnomer, because there are so many caminos - not just the camino frances.
I first read about the 'camino' from Paris in James Michener's book "Iberia". He wrote a vivid account of medieval pilgrims gathering under the chestnut trees outside St. Jacques de la Boucherie in Paris before embarking on their long journey south to the many shrines along the way and on further to the Pyrenees and Spain. (I chose that route as my 2nd camino).
In Walter Starkie's book, he writes about the gypsies of 'Little Egypt' coming from the east, walking along the footlhills of the Pyrenees and crossing at the Somport Pass into Aragon. (I have chosen this route for my 4th camino).
For my 5th Camino, I hope to walk the Camino Primitivo or "Original Way" named so for Alfonso II who first walked to Compostela in the 9th C after Jacob's body was discovered on the hillside.
Chaucer wrote of many different kinds of pilgrims - those who went on long journeys for pious reasons and those who went on long journeys for fun and adventure. I don't think too much has changed since those times!
Hugs,

 

[Barbara]

Well, I did say take a pinch of salt. I walked the camino primitivo in 2004. I think you will like it.
Yes, of course some people treated it as a holiday, and some were doing it as a penance or as a proxy for others. But still......It was primarily a spiritual journey for most. And the pilgrim from anywhere still starts outside their own door, even if they get a taxi to an airport in Australia and a taxi from the airport in Santiago to the cathedral. If they choose to walk a part of the journey that is fine too, but they are still starting from home on what is now a somewhat different journey. No longer journey's end, but the walk in itself for most.

The point I was making in my post is that to say "I am walking ]the camino" is a misnomer, because there are so many caminos - not just the camino frances.

And I think what I am trying to say is that there IS only one camino. The one that you are doing.

 

[sillydoll]

Yeah, I see what you mean. I've been on my 'camino' for over 60 years!

 

[Javier Martin]

Uffff, how many Caminos to walk ...

how many new places to discover.

Thanks, Sil,

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.

 

[sillydoll]

Hola Javier!
The webmaster of American Pilgrims asked this question and so far he has not had any reply.

Can anyone provide information about waymarking (yellow arrows or other) on the
Ruta de la Lana? Information on the entire distance from Alicante to Burgos would be most
useful.

Should he ask the AASC in Burgos?

¡Qué les vaya bien!
Abrazos,

 

[Javier Martin]

I'm sorry, I have many messages not read yet and I haven't read the his.

In the AGACS webpage (http://www.amigosdelcamino.com) you can see the whole Ruta de la Lana, but I'm afraid in spanish.

My good friend Paco Serra was working a couple of years ago with the GPS to mark all the possible points from Alicante to Burgos.

Hope it's useful for you!!

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain

PD: If someone can translate it to english would be great, for Paco and for everybody!!

 

[sillydoll]

Gracias Javier.
I have sent your message to the American Pilgrims webmaster.
Perhaps translating is something the American Pilgrims could help with? They must have many members who are bilingual and would be prepared to volunteer help with translating camino related text from Spanish to English.

Unfortunately there are not many Spanish speaking people in South Africa. We have large Portuguese communities thanks to a 15th C Pope sent all the Spanish sea explorers one way and the Portuguese the other!

 

[Javier Martin]

Thanks, Sil.

Paco is doing a great work for all Caminos, you can´t imagine so much. He has work to created many associations along the Camino del Sureste, marking the Camino del Sureste and the Ruta de la Lana, he is Hospitalero as well, and last week he was marking the Camino Portuguese between Lisbon and Porto.

Buen Camino. ¿When will you return to walk a new Camino? Please tell me know, will be a pleasure to meet you again!!

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.