Why do you want to walk the Camino?

[LaurnaBerry]

Are you also interested to know the reasons why other fellow pilgrims choose to walk El Camino?
Please participate in the poll!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Can't really answer sorry, as it's not multiple choice.

Honestly, all five boxes !!

 

[nycwalking]

I wanted to add spiritual but only one option was available.

 

[semisavant]

Good day! mixed reasons: #1 life changing (retired now) # 2. "other" = bonding with adult sons a very close second but also "Suedade" # 3 spirirtual/reflective. My son looked up that only 30% travel for religuous/spirirtual. what are your thoughts Laurna?

 

[Tincatinker]

My son looked up that only 30% travel for religuous/spirirtual

Any chance of a source for that data?

 

[Bradypus]

The breakdown by motive on last year's pilgrim office statistics. Without any explanation of the distinctions it doesn't seem overly helpful!

 

[semisavant]

Any chance of a source for that data?

I will assume he used google. I do not know specific site. i will ask. My assumption it was much higher 50-60%.

 

[Telelama]

I need an option for; "I'll know once I get there"

However, having done it a few times, I still don't know for sure... just say'in

 

[JabbaPapa]

The breakdown by motive on last year's pilgrim office statistics. Without any explanation of the distinctions it doesn't seem overly helpful!

View attachment 166145

One unfortunate effect of the digitisation of nearly all personal pilgrim reports about the motivation(s) of each, when registering for a Compostela, is that the reporting of multiple simultaneous motivations has withered very radically down to likely a minute fraction of the detail that existed previously.

The motive "religiosos y otros" really is not sufficiently informative !!

 

[Tincatinker]

"religiosos y otros"

Either because I have a religious obligation or because I want a Compostela

 

[woody66]

I just wanted an adventure and it ended up being more to me than i ever imagined!
My heart was opened; my feet got sore!
All i know is i want more

 

[trecile]

My heart was opened; my feet got sore!
All i know is i want more

I love your little rhyme!

 

[alexwalker]

"

Why do you want to walk the Camino?"​

Why not?

 

[semisavant]

I need an option for; "I'll know once I get there"

However, having done it a few times, I still don't know for sure... just say'in

"other" for sure !

 

[CWBuff]

Add'l optiins to suggest

• Allof the Above
• None of the Above
• Some of the above

Reckon my then would be All of the Above

 

[Saint Mike II]

Hola - to be honest I would have selected the first three as equal first reasons. Never considered it a life changing event. Had I walked back in 1989 or 2003 it might have had that effect.

 

[HeatherJourney]

For me, it could be all of the above, but the primary reason is spiritual. I just feel it’s something I need to do, that I’m led to do. I keep coming back to this idea of walking the Camino, and it’s been on my mind for several years. But I also have that feeling that I’ll understand more once I actually go.

 

[naplesdon]

In the immortal words of Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia-what attracts you personally...it is clean.

 

[RangerRick]

Motivations can change. I started considering the Camino Frances about 3 years ago when all I wanted to do was get away from things. Over the intervening time, I have become much more drawn TO the Camino than rather than
needing to get away. I like my motivation now and I look forward to starting the Camino Frances in two weeks.

 

[Bradypus]

Motivations can change.

Absolutely! When I walked my first Camino I would have unhesitatingly said "religious". Much more difficult to say these days.

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

To be honest, I could have ticked three of those choices to provide a more complete answer.

 

[alexwalker]

For me, it could be all of the above, but the primary reason is spiritual. I just feel it’s something I need to do, that I’m led to do. I keep coming back to this idea of walking the Camino, and it’s been on my mind for several years. But I also have that feeling that I’ll understand more once I actually go.

It is best to not have too many expectations: All will (hopefully) eventually sink in anyway. But it takes time. Just go, and the time (and Camino) will do its work on you: You will definitely get it when you get it.

Buen Camino!

 

[lt56ny]

Can't really answer sorry, as it's not multiple choice.

It is best to not have too many expectations: All will (hopefully) eventually sink in anyway. But it takes time. Just go, and the time (and Camino) will do its work on you: You will definitely get it when you get it.

Add'l optiins to suggest

• Allof the Above
• None of the Above
• Some of the above

These are just a few answers from pilgrims that I recognize that have walked multiple Camino’s. Personally I think it is an exercise in futility to quantify why people walk. Although I do think it is easier to “pick” a reason for a new pilgrim. Most new pilgrims are still cluttered with expectations, hopes, dreams and anxiety of the unknown. All natural and expected feelings.
I think for pilgrims who walk many Caminos over many years begin to internalize our reasons for walking and it become more difficult to put into words. What becomes so simply complex is the feeling of not why we walk but we walk because we must. It is part of the breaths we take, the beats of our hearts, and the knowledge that when we are walking, rain, scorching heat, snowstorm or fair weather, we know we are home. No survey can capture this.

 

[J.Patrick]

Two things:
My accurate answer would be “all of the above.”
It seems to me that “religious” is a subset of “spiritual.” It’s peculiar to see this as an either/or.

 

[Sandra R]

I just wanted an adventure and it ended up being more to me than i ever imagined!
My heart was opened; my feet got sore!
All i know is i want more

Perfect response! Sums up me too

 

[Rita Flower]

@LaurnaBerry Welcome to the forum.
There are so many complex overlapping and unexpected reasons for why people to walk the Camino that I think a simple poll will never capture the real data. Like many others, I think I would have to tick all the boxes, and I don’t think I could even pick one main reason.
Like another for a member, I started as someone who wanted to walk in the countryside, and somehow became a pilgrim. Three Camino later, I keep saying - that’s enough for me - but then I read something on this Forum and my heart longs for that experience again.
There are some other threads that cover this topic as well. You might find those interesting.

 

[KevinWilcox]

To digress a little, for me, I’ve never gone on any walk or journey with the explicit intention of finding answers, be they spiritual of otherwise. At least not since the first time I did so and realised life doesn’t work that way. Since then, rather than the journey itself being life-changing, most of my journeys have involved reflection on a life changing event that occurred to me around 40 years ago. I haven’t come back from any of those trips (and there have been many) with grand, definitive answers. Rather, with each trip, bit by bit I see aspects of the event more clearly. With age comes experience, and my perception of events back then has gradually changed over the years and decades, a bit like the cliché of peeling the onion.

But I’ve also learned that trips have a habit of turning out differently to what you planned, especially if your expectations are particularly focussed on it being this or that kind of experience. I went on a big mountaineering trip once, hugely focussed on (rather obviously) a summit, and ended up in one of the flattest places on earth. So for me, the bottom line is the adventure, the not knowing what will happen along the way, but that it will probably be a lot more interesting than sitting here at home.

 

[LaurnaBerry]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Yes there can be more than one reason why people choose to walk the Camino.
I read many walk for a religious reason and I really wonder what they want to accomplish by doing the walk. Can anyone explain what are the religious motives today year 2024?
And for spiritual reasons; is that to uplift your soul and spirit (or how to explain/describe), I'm curious to understand this one also
(Personally I have faith in God and I would like to spend more quality time with our Creator while on the Camino. But for me it's not religious but on a personal level.)

 

[David Tallan]

Are you also interested to know the reasons why other fellow pilgrims choose to walk El Camino?
Please participate in the poll!

I think you'll find that many, like I, have difficulty answering your poll as many of us walk for multiple reasons and not just one to the exclusion of all others.

 

[AnaRosario]

Can't really answer sorry, as it's not multiple choice.

Honestly, all five boxes !!

Ikr!!! I chose 3 spiritual next season of life and adventure