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Does one ever actually "reach " Santiago ? Took me 10 years to get the hang of the place and that was sitting in a small square with a very large ice-cream!After 3 x CF I wanted a 'different' challenge, a more remote Camino and greater Solitude.
So walked VdlP Seville to Astorga. It was all of that.
For similar reasons I walked the Invierno. Landscapes and solitude plus plus....
I tried the Fisterra / Muxia 'extension' as something different and as a wind down. Loved it.
Next? Maybe the early part of Le Puy.........
I don't feel the need to reach Santiago any more.
There is only one plan: Camino. Time? Bin the watch or sell it for a few vino tintos!Yes I have thought about VDLP and Le Puy ... I am worried about walking from Le Puy and arriving in St Jean and not wanting to stop, which means allocating another 3 weeks... then once I arrive in Santiago again... I will be wanting to push on towards Finisterre and Muxia....
I have got an EBC trek on plan too so lots might have to put on the back burner
I worked with many Portuguese people who always told me to look them up in Lisbon and Porto.....
so many plans... so little time
My second is coming up in April 2024! A friend (from Brazil) whom I met on my first wants to walk the del Norte so she's meeting me in Spain to begin!I feel the Camino urge coming on again.
Thinking about options...
Which makes me wonder how those of you picked your next Camino.
1.VDLP. While in Zamora I saw a route map in the albergue and that got me interested in the Levante.
2.Levante + Invierno. Didn't have time to do the Northern VDLP route.
Now thinking about 2 options.
Would like to do a Camino with my daughter when she graduates. Thinking about a Piemont/ Frances combo so she can use the French she has been studying...
Otherwise, I haven't been to Madrid yet so a Camino Madrid/Salvador/Primitivo combo with my partner.
I have enough leave to do a solid 6 weeks as I get 8 weeks of leave per year.
Wow. Your writing has a transportational quality to it. I feel transported to a different place. We are doing our second Camino this fall; a repeat of the Norte because we loved the beauty, the challenge, the length, the not-too-crowdedness, the language and last but not least, the affordability of it from last time we did it on 2019. This time I will perhaps reread your post once or twice. You're right, how fortunate we are to be able to do this... on so many levelsI think I may be something of an outlier - I was appalled on arrival to Santiago. The Cathedral itself was hidden behind scaffolding and the square in front of it was busy with newly arrived and arriving Pilgrims in various states of celebration. It was also busy with salespeople offering services ranging from packing and shipping my bike to helping me achieve a spiritual or mental calmness that I had seemingly failed to achieve. I was particularly appalled by all the souvenir tat in shop after shop after shop.
I visited the Cathedral and was moved by the sight of confessions available in so many different languages for Pilgrims but shocked at the behaviour of some of the people within the walls. I queued for my Compostela and was amused at the whinging, moaning and complaining of others in the queue. Weeks to walk to Santiago and a few minutes of waiting seemed intolerable. And I was so grateful that I wasn't finishing here. The destination would have been nothing in comparison to the journey.
Santiago wasn't my final destination but a half way point. I still had to cycle home.
In hindsight, I had the benefit of a Camino in three distinct parts. While I started the Camino at my front door (a local Trappist Monastery being my first "sello"), I made my own way to Paris, then to the coast to follow the sea before starting "My Camino" in SJPP. After Santiago, I had a week exploring the west coast with a friend, a return to Santiago for a Compostela then a long journey home, following my nose. On the way back, camping, I got to see Spain away from the Pilgrim Lifestyle. I wasn't awoken predawn nor had to be in bed early. I met different kinds of travellers and ate in places that rarely saw a Pilgrim.
Later that year, on a cold winter night I was playing with Google maps and looking to see where my "Camino distance" of some 6-6500 km would bring me. I was genuinely shocked to discover that I could cycle from my front door to Russia! Or a full exploration of Greece and Turkey! All places I've wanted to visit since I was a kid. Or across the USA. Or even Canada!
Somewhere in the back of my mind the wheels were crunching and prioritising the things that I took from my Camino. Far and above everything else was the humanity of the experience.
Joining the "virgin" pilgrims in SJPP and the magic in the air is something I hope to have with me always.
Meeting the huge variety of people along the way, local and pilgrim, the sheer diversity of folk and the immense goodwill and kindness of so many locals. Meeting people who struggled silently with infirmity or injury and others who complained loudly and continuously at the slightest inconvenience. The generosity of some pilgrims and the sheer petty-minded selfishness of others.
The chance, random encounters at a café or on the side of the road, the chance to exchange words of encouragement, or where language was an issue, gestures of encouragement, was something of a shock. The power in a smile. In a nod. It was educational and it prompted the question of "why here?". What's so special about this route?
I came to the conclusion that it wasn't the route. It was me. It was how I carried myself, how I perceived things, how I processed things and how I projected myself to others.
The easiest way to get someone to smile at you? Give them a smile! The easiest way to strike up a conversation with a stranger? Make yourself open to it. The best way to enjoy food or a cold glass of water? Arrive hungry and thirsty.
So when I got home I changed some things. Enough became enough. More than enough was excess and unnecessary. I travelled on my bike in the same Camino manner - haphazardly and less planned, responding to what was all around me as opposed to what I thought would be.
I didn't just survive, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I played the hapless traveller only a few kms from my front door and was treated as such, soaking up kindnesses. I greeted fellow travellers and was recognised in return. I explored places I'd seen many times with new eyes and saw things in a way I'd never seen before.
They were my next Caminos. An overnight trip here, a weekend there. Sleeping in a tent, cooking on a stove. The destination in my mind far more important than a destination on a map.
I have since travelled quite a ways on my bike, often in places where the advice is not to travel. It hasn't always been easy or safe but it has been incredibly rewarding with a lot of what the Camino offered me back then - the chance to meet people from different parts of the world, learn of their lives, their hopes and fears, to bond and connect and gain an understanding of the common threads that bind us all together. One thing that has pierced me is just how many people in parts of the world would give almost anything to complete a Camino to Santiago. Those of us who have are incredibly fortunate.
The long distance traveller, (or the one who travels as such) to my way of thinking, is welcome in most places, whether there are yellow arrows pointing the way or not. Perhaps the Camino is not a route, it's a state of mind.
Hi, I did the CF in 2021, & last year wanted a different experience, so I did the Camino De Norte, stunning scenery, quiet, but a bit more expensive, the infrastructure isn't as good as the CF, but that's part of the experience.....highly recommendedI feel the Camino urge coming on again.
Thinking about options...
Which makes me wonder how those of you picked your next Camino.
1.VDLP. While in Zamora I saw a route map in the albergue and that got me interested in the Levante.
2.Levante + Invierno. Didn't have time to do the Northern VDLP route.
Now thinking about 2 options.
Would like to do a Camino with my daughter when she graduates. Thinking about a Piemont/ Frances combo so she can use the French she has been studying...
Otherwise, I haven't been to Madrid yet so a Camino Madrid/Salvador/Primitivo combo with my partner.
I have enough leave to do a solid 6 weeks as I get 8 weeks of leave per year.
Thank you! I hope it was a good place you were transported to!Wow. Your writing has a transportational quality to it. I feel transported to a different place.
I can condesnse it down to fewer words: Look for the things to be grateful for, especially at those times when there seems like there is absolutely nothing to be grateful for. There nearly always is. Sometimes just the very fact of us being where we are or with who we're with.This time I will perhaps reread your post once or twice
That one is on my list. I'll be looking out for your posts.Hence - the Primitivo.
4 weeks and counting !!!!
I picked my first Camino, Lisbon to Santiago and then on to Muxia and Finisterre, because I wanted a combination of a Camino that was less crowded and one that was more traditional. And I was very happy, it was all I could’ve asked for! I picked my second Camino, because my sisters had already chosen to go on the Chemin du Piedmont Pyrenees in France. I wasn’t so sure about it, I thought it might be too difficult for my bad knees, but once again, it proved to be all that I could’ve asked for! This year I hope to complete at least a portion of the Camino Frances, and next year, I’m looking forward to exploring the Camino Torres that starts in Salamanca and ends in Braga.I feel the Camino urge coming on again.
Thinking about options...
Which makes me wonder how those of you picked your next Camino.
1.VDLP. While in Zamora I saw a route map in the albergue and that got me interested in the Levante.
2.Levante + Invierno. Didn't have time to do the Northern VDLP route.
Now thinking about 2 options.
Would like to do a Camino with my daughter when she graduates. Thinking about a Piemont/ Frances combo so she can use the French she has been studying...
Otherwise, I haven't been to Madrid yet so a Camino Madrid/Salvador/Primitivo combo with my partner.
I have enough leave to do a solid 6 weeks as I get 8 weeks of leave per year.
Agree. After many Caminos over 15+ years, Santiago is not the goal. The Way, and its room for reflections, is my Way. For firsttimers, I can understand that the wonder is the Camino, and reaching its end in Santiago.I don't feel the need to reach Santiago any more.
I would go for VdlP since it is a peaceful, but yet walked Camino where you can to some extent socialise, which may be important. The Levante is lonely. If you prefer your own company only, it would be perfect.1.VDLP. While in Zamora I saw a route map in the albergue and that got me interested in the Levante.
2.Levante + Invierno. Didn't have time to do the Northern VDLP route.
Him I start Frances from Pamplona on July 2nd. Sending my luggage ahead each day staying in small hotels. Was it very busy? I thought to miss the last 100kms because of the crowds and don't need to see Santiago. Spent 4 days there last year after the Portuguese Coastal. Love to hear your thoughts.I just finished my first Camino…the Frances. Long time coming and planning. But it went by so fast I’m planning to do the Le Puy en Velay and Frances in 2026. Maybe three months of walking will be enough lol. So many things on the Frances I did not get to see or do. Walking off stage to experience new villages and history. And I’m going to learn Spanish (my sister used to teach it) and as a French Canadian, I’ll be all set to fully experience interacting with local people.
Hi I start Frances from Pamplona on July 2nd. Sending my luggage ahead each day staying in small hotels. Was it very busy? I thought to miss the last 100kms because of the crowds and don't need to see Santiago. Spent 4 days there last year after the Portuguese Coastal. Love to hear your thoughts.
Don't linger in Pamplona or you will meet your crowds with a vengeance during the Running of the Bulls.Him I start Frances from Pamplona on July 2nd. Sending my luggage ahead each day staying in small hotels. Was it very busy? I thought to miss the last 100kms because of the crowds and don't need to see Santiago. Spent 4 days there last year after the Portuguese Coastal. Love to hear your thoughts.
If you skip the last 100k you'll miss the Pulpo in Melide!Him I start Frances from Pamplona on July 2nd. Sending my luggage ahead each day staying in small hotels. Was it very busy? I thought to miss the last 100kms because of the crowds and don't need to see Santiago. Spent 4 days there last year after the Portuguese Coastal. Love to hear your thoughts.
Totally get that!After 3 x CF I wanted a 'different' challenge, a more remote Camino and greater Solitude.
So walked VdlP Seville to Astorga. It was all of that.
For similar reasons I walked the Invierno. Landscapes and solitude plus plus....
I tried the Fisterra / Muxia 'extension' as something different and as a wind down. Loved it.
Next? Maybe the early part of Le Puy.........
I don't feel the need to reach Santiago any more.
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