Walking Backwards

[Coleen Clark]

I will have three months for my Camino, more or less. If I finish the Camino Frances with enough time I'm thinking of doing one of the other routes, perhaps the Del Norte or the Portuguese Way, in reverse, heading out from Santiago, going as far as I can before I have to take a bus to an airport and get back.
1. Has anyone done the Camino backwards since John Adams?
2. Will I have to reclaim all the atrocious distressful and wicked feelings I left behind me on the Camino?
3. Would it be better to bus out to a beginning point and walk back into Santiago from a different direction?
I'm like everyone else here, I'm having a hard time letting go and getting on with real life after Camino.
Thanks

 

[Kiwi-family]

Walking the Portuguese backwards would not be troublesome because you can follow the blue arrows to Fatima.

 

[Coleen Clark]

Walking the Portuguese backwards would not be troublesome because you can follow the blue arrows to Fatima.

Fatima was one of the places I wanted to visit. Brilliant!

 

[dougfitz]

I will have three months for my Camino, more or less. If I finish the Camino Frances with enough time I'm thinking of doing one of the other routes, perhaps the Del Norte or the Portuguese Way, in reverse, heading out from Santiago, going as far as I can before I have to take a bus to an airport and get back.
1. Has anyone done the Camino backwards since John Adams?
2. Will I have to reclaim all the atrocious distressful and wicked feelings I left behind me on the Camino?
3. Would it be better to bus out to a beginning point and walk back into Santiago from a different direction?
I'm like everyone else here, I'm having a hard time letting go and getting on with real life after Camino.
Thanks

1. There were a few pilgrims returning along the CF in 2010. Is that recent enough, because I am not sure which John Adams you might be talking about. The one that lives along the road claims not to have done the camino forwards, let along backwards.
2. Only if you return on the same route, visit the same bars and eat at the same restaurants, etc.
3. Possibly, depending on your time and inclination. Or you could walk on the Finisterre and Muxia. But with about three months, you might find you can do much more in the time you have available - should you want to.

 

[dougfitz]

John Adams The second president of the USA. He traveled to Paris looking for support from the French against the British empire in the fight for independence. He passed thru Bilbo on his wagon the Camino del Norte. There is a bust on a pedestal in his honor of that "walk".

Ondo Ibili !

Really. The bloke down the road will be sorry it wasn't a reference to him after all!

 

[Coleen Clark]

It was walking the Camino backwards that gave John Adams the idea to make that wonderful beer. The Camino inspires.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

walking the Camino backwards that gave John Adams the idea to make that wonderful beer

If he had been on a unicycle, he might have made single malt whiskey.

 

[jmcarp]

I will have three months for my Camino, more or less. If I finish the Camino Frances with enough time I'm thinking of doing one of the other routes, perhaps the Del Norte or the Portuguese Way, in reverse, heading out from Santiago, going as far as I can before I have to take a bus to an airport and get back.
1. Has anyone done the Camino backwards since John Adams?
2. Will I have to reclaim all the atrocious distressful and wicked feelings I left behind me on the Camino?
3. Would it be better to bus out to a beginning point and walk back into Santiago from a different direction?
I'm like everyone else here, I'm having a hard time letting go and getting on with real life after Camino.
Thanks

1. We saw a (very) few walking backwards on the CF in 2013. One of them may have been a scam since he was asking for money "to help him get home."
2. That's up to you.
3. If it were me, that's what I'd do.
Lastly, any new Camino friendships developed as you walk against the flow will likely be very short -- probably limited to a brief "Buen Camino!" as you pass. Of course you could take the positive slant on that and say that what you lost in quality will be many times offset by the quantity .

 

[hecate105]

I cycled backwards on Norte and Litoral back to uk. It is totally different and you have to get your head around the strangeness of only ever seeing other pilgrims once. But i met some of the dearest and most memorable people of the trip!
The Fatima route would be great as you are going backwards on one route and forwards on another - best of both worlds - like pilgrimage itself!

 

[DowtyCamino]

John Adams wrote a great diary of his accidental trip on Camino (he was only there because his ship to France was leaking so badly). He wasn't very complimentary I'm afraid. His portrait of the fat-cat clergy existing on the backs of the peasants was interesting and probably very accurate for the times. He mentioned fleas and rats at about every place he stayed. - I'm so glad things have improved since then!!

 

[Coleen Clark]

I cycled backwards on Norte and Litoral back to uk. It is totally different and you have to get your head around the strangeness of only ever seeing other pilgrims once. But i met some of the dearest and most memorable people of the trip!
The Fatima route would be great as you are going backwards on one route and forwards on another - best of both worlds - like pilgrimage itself!

WOW!!! All the way back to the UK!!! What kind of tire pressure did you need to cross the channel?
So many people come and go in my life it will not be strange to have a friend for just a meal. Besides, I only have three jokes. I can tell them and get a laugh *every night*. Did you hear the one about...nope? Well let me tell you....

 

[Anamya]

In May we met only one guy doing CF backwards.
My parents were in Portugal at that time and they said there were some people walking to Fatima - place that they loved and recommended.

If it was me doing it, I'd go for Santiago-Finisterra-Muxia-Santiago-Fátima. Or maybe I'd go back to the border of France and start walking toward Rome in the Via Francígena... Or maybe to Trondheim... OMG, so many options! ==

 

[Lachance]

It was walking the Camino backwards that gave John Adams the idea to make that wonderful beer. The Camino inspires.

The beer ref was a joke, wasn't it? A quick Google didn't elucidate. A Sam Adams beer in NY years ago was the best beer I have ever tasted. Summer ale or similar.

 

[Coleen Clark]

The beer ref was a joke, wasn't it? A quick Google didn't elucidate. A Sam Adams beer in NY years ago was the best beer I have ever tasted. Summer ale or similar.

Sorry. Joke. Yes. But keep sipping the Sam Adams. Good stuff.

 

[Coleen Clark]

In May we met only one guy doing CF backwards.
My parents were in Portugal at that time and they said there were some people walking to Fatima - place that they loved and recommended.

If it was me doing it, I'd go for Santiago-Finisterra-Muxia-Santiago-Fátima. Or maybe I'd go back to the border of France and start walking toward Rome in the Via Francígena... Or maybe to Trondheim... OMG, so many options! ==

I went to Fatima two years ago. What a wonderful site! Perhaps my best bet would be to find an Albergue that needs a volunteer for a while and just work and wait for y'all to walk to me. That was an idea that first came to mind when I realized I may have lots of time left after Finisterra.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

But keep sipping the Sam Adams. Good stuff.

The company was formed in 1984, so has no connection to Samuel Adams, the colonial period, or anything but profit (and good beer). Jim Koch, founder, has degrees from Harvard, so is familiar with Boston at least.

 

[giorgio]

Having three month's time why don't you start from Le Puy in France ? This would make around 1600 kms possibly leaving you some time at the end...

 

[Coleen Clark]

Having three month's time why don't you start from Le Puy in France ? This would make around 1600 kms possibly leaving you some time at the end...

A traveler came upon an old farmer hoeing in his field beside the road. The wanderer hailed the countryman, who looked up from his work.

"How long will it take me to get to the next town?" asked the stranger.
"I can't rightly say," was the farmer's curt reply.
Insulted, the traveler strode off.
"About an hour," shouted the farmer after him.
"Why didn't you say so when I first asked?"
"Because I didn't know how fast you were walking."

 

[giorgio]

How fast are you walking ?

 

[Coleen Clark]

How fast are you walking ?

About an hour.

 

[Former member 2537]

I will have three months for my Camino…
…since John Adams?

I LOVE it! Someone else knows about John Adams on the Camino! If you'd like to read the whole story with a reference to his full journal/autobiography see this paper that I wrote on the topic:
http://americanpilgrims.com/newsletter_archive/newsletter_article_archive/0911_john_adams_camino.pdf

And concerning the "three months" be sure to be out of the Schengen Area before 90 days! Please see:
http://americanpilgrims.com/camino/faqs.html#schengenarea

 

[Coleen Clark]

I LOVE it! Someone else knows about John Adams on the Camino! If you'd like to read the whole story with a reference to his full journal/autobiography see this paper that I wrote on the topic:
http://americanpilgrims.com/newsletter_archive/newsletter_article_archive/0911_john_adams_camino.pdf

And concerning the "three months" be sure to be out of the Schengen Area before 90 days! Please see:
http://americanpilgrims.com/camino/faqs.html#schengenarea

Did not know about the 90 day rule! The Dude will abide.
I like John Adams, but a Thomas Paine quote works better for the Camino.
"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad."

 

[Peregrino Falcon]

The beer ref was a joke, wasn't it? A quick Google didn't elucidate. A Sam Adams beer in NY years ago was the best beer I have ever tasted. Summer ale or similar.

I thought Foster's was "Australian for beer," no?

 

[Peregrino Falcon]

Speaking of walking backwards--if you are suffering from tendonitis, especially of the knee, a little hint is to turn around and walk slowly backwards down steep paved hills. It really works and saved me a few times.

 

[Lachance]

I thought Foster's was "Australian for beer," no?

Not much of a beer drinker these days, but the younger generation like to tipple on 'boutique' beers. Poor old Fozzies is ancient history here I gather.