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Hi jesper KAt some point this will all die out - and people will find other places or activities to do. Lets be honest - how many met people that actually had spiritual or religious reasons(for lack of a better word) to walk "a" camino.
Let me try to put this in context; - Through the last few years there has been many people that have noticed the ever increasing number of "pilgrims". And let me give an example on another place. The last time I was in Jerusalem - a few years ago, I met some orthodox jews that were so tired of tourists -and as they said "Jerusalem is not a tourist place - it´s a religious place. And they continued - "people have lost sight of what is important - they come so they can say they have been there".
Rather harsh - but I got the point. And I have afterwards tried to remember that when I am out travelling.
Another point - On my last camino "and last" - I ran into a french guy that had a sign on his chest and on the backpack that both said Silent Camino - and another pilgrim told me that this guy never talks or walks with other pilgrims. Like going on silent retreat.
I know a lot of people will take offense to this post - but the camino is not an amusement park or an alternative to having a relationship. For many people the common experience is the most important thing. If it wasn´t - there would be just as many people walking the Oslo-Trondheim hike or the
St.Olav`s path from Selanger to Trondheim, or one of the many other hiking paths.
The church provides the albergue. I think it was the case that a volunteer hospitalero got into a snit and walked away. It reopened as soon as another hospitalero was found. I have never heard that the church's official position was to complain about freeloaders. I think they leave that to cranky pilgrims and hospitaleros. If it was a real concern to them, they would start charging the modest amount that most places charge. They are aware of the paucity of donations and elect to remain donativo. Getting one's shorts in a bunch about the behavior of others is a sure way to diminish one's camino!the incident with the albergue in Granon
I wonder if you have walked any of the St Olav Ways? Certainly this comment would lead me to believe you haven't, but if you have it's just a little sad that you think of them as just a hiking path.For many people the common experience is the most important thing. If it wasn´t - there would be just as many people walking the Oslo-Trondheim hike or the
St.Olav`s path from Selanger to Trondheim, or one of the many other hiking paths.
You make some very good observations. For me as a non-Catholic Christian, I do not see my Caminos as spiritual quests, but I so love and respect the religious quality of the paths with all the churches, from the smallest humble structures to the magnificent cathedrals. I look forward to seeing each and every one of them along the way. Do I think the Frances route is overly busy? Of course, but I choose to accept it as it is without grumbling...after all, I'm one of the 200,000+ (pilgrims/non-pilgrims) each year adding to its numbers and I do not feel guilty. The Camino gives back to me in great memories, special friendships and keeps my winter doldrums at bay in planning another. I take many other interesting and beautiful trips, but walking the Caminos are in a special category all their own.I'm writing the following without any positive or negative connotation, it's just an observation:
the Camino is a cheap holiday;
hiking is popular and the Caminos are included in many "top 10 of the world" lists or magazines such as National Geographic;
many want to visit Spain and Portugal;
cheap airfares make it possible to reach several towns in Spain and Portugal;
the mild winters make it an attractive year round destination, hiking is possible outside the summer season;
The trails are easy anough for newbies and untrained people;
Several books (Hape Kerkeling,..) have praised the Camino experience.
Nobody can calculate if there will be a turning point in general numbers. But from my (very limited) point of view, some of the busier caminos are already lacking to offer what people came from in the beginning.
Personally, I stopped seeing it as a spiritual experience and now see it merely as a hike. Too many people.
No one forgets that carrying a tent, all your food, cooking it, and sleeping outdoors is much harder than the Frances!Yes I have walked from Oslo to Trondheim - the other hike is still on the bucket list. A wonderful trip. Sleeping outside most nights - cooking food on a fireplace. And not to forget - much harder than camino frances.
At some point this will all die out - and people will find other places or activities to do. Lets be honest - how many met people that actually had spiritual or religious reasons(for lack of a better word) to walk "a" camino.
Let me try to put this in context; - Through the last few years there has been many people that have noticed the ever increasing number of "pilgrims". And let me give an example on another place. The last time I was in Jerusalem - a few years ago, I met some orthodox jews that were so tired of tourists -and as they said "Jerusalem is not a tourist place - it´s a religious place. And they continued - "people have lost sight of what is important - they come so they can say they have been there".
Rather harsh - but I got the point. And I have afterwards tried to remember that when I am out travelling.
Another point - On my last camino "and last" - I ran into a french guy that had a sign on his chest and on the backpack that both said Silent Camino - and another pilgrim told me that this guy never talks or walks with other pilgrims. Like going on silent retreat.
I know a lot of people will take offense to this post - but the camino is not an amusement park or an alternative to having a relationship. For many people the common experience is the most important thing. If it wasn´t - there would be just as many people walking the Oslo-Trondheim hike or the
St.Olav`s path from Selanger to Trondheim, or one of the many other hiking paths.
I walked the Camino by myself in May this year (2017) and I did not find it commercial at all. I found solace along the Way. Until I reached Santiago. There really were a lot of people there and I understand the commercialism there. I chose to avoid all of that and after receiving my Compostela and attending Mass at the Cathedral I found an albergue and retreated to the comforts that I had grown accustomed to along the Way. I continued on to coast and enjoyed every beautiful moment.
Thank you for that Fr. you said that better than I could ever even imagine. I truly hope I meet some Irish people on the El Camino as I feel a special kinship to them as my paternal grand parents were from The Republic of Ireland. The priest in my home parish, St. Francis of Assisi in Sacramento CA, is from Dublin Ireland. His name is Fr. Desmond O'Reilly; we call him Fr. Des. He is content to take on all the responsibilities of the two priests of the Franciscan order he replaced one year ago all by himself and doesn't ask for any additional help. I respect him tremendously for that. For some reason he loves the weather here also, even when it gets over 100 F which has been happening a lot lately.I think whatever our motivation,be that spiritual or otherwise, returns home feeling just that bit more enriched and invigorated than when they left. Something has changed but some just can't quiet put our finger on what. The Camino blesses each and every one of us in a different way. Some in this consumer driven materialistic world who maybe are not blessed with a strong faith or none come to a strange realisation that maybe there is more to life than just gratification.God works in hidden and diverse manners in men everywhere. He speaks to our very soul but most of the time we are too busy to listen. Going on the Camino I believe opens people up to God through fellowship. You never know the effect you may have on somebody never knock those who you may think go on the Camino for spurious reasons Jesus came to heal the sick not the healthy. You may just be the person he uses as his instrument today!
I found my time walking the Gudbrandsdalen route much more conducive to quiet reflection than the CF. I didn't think I was too distracted from that by the different physical challenges that are presented. I plan to walk the St Olavsleden next year as a pilgrimage, so I guess that this is a useful reminder that I will meet others like you who are treating it merely as a long walk - I will heed your warning to expect that.Yes I have walked from Oslo to Trondheim - the other hike is still on the bucket list. A wonderful trip. Sleeping outside most nights - cooking food on a fireplace. And not to forget - much harder than camino frances.
I think its just right amount of time hardship rewards and getting off the grid that it will be always a go to.At some point this will all die out - and people will find other places or activities to do. Lets be honest - how many met people that actually had spiritual or religious reasons(for lack of a better word) to walk "a" camino.
Let me try to put this in context; - Through the last few years there has been many people that have noticed the ever increasing number of "pilgrims". And let me give an example on another place. The last time I was in Jerusalem - a few years ago, I met some orthodox jews that were so tired of tourists -and as they said "Jerusalem is not a tourist place - it´s a religious place. And they continued - "people have lost sight of what is important - they come so they can say they have been there".
Rather harsh - but I got the point. And I have afterwards tried to remember that when I am out travelling.
Another point - On my last camino "and last" - I ran into a french guy that had a sign on his chest and on the backpack that both said Silent Camino - and another pilgrim told me that this guy never talks or walks with other pilgrims. Like going on silent retreat.
I know a lot of people will take offense to this post - but the camino is not an amusement park or an alternative to having a relationship. For many people the common experience is the most important thing. If it wasn´t - there would be just as many people walking the Oslo-Trondheim hike or the
St.Olav`s path from Selanger to Trondheim, or one of the many other hiking paths.
I don't think so. If it gets too commercial, or too busy, fewer people will go. This will make it less busy, and the greediest merchants will go elsewhere. But it won't die out--it will reach a balance point. It may be that it levels out at a point that is still too busy for you (or me) but it won't die.At some point this will all die out - and people will find other places or activities to do.
I don't think so. If it gets too commercial, or too busy, fewer people will go. This will make it less busy, and the greediest merchants will go elsewhere. But it won't die out--it will reach a balance point. It may be that it levels out at a point that is still too busy for you (or me) but it won't die.
I've found estimates of the numbers of pilgrims arriving in Santiago during the Camino's medieval heyday in the 12th and 13th century of between 200,000 and half a million. And they would all have walked/rode to get there. It seems that we are only just reaching the numbers who travelled then.
I do not doubt your numbers @Kanga but I am not convinced that the experiences of medieval and modern pilgrims are readily comparable. In the 12th and 13th centuries it is unlikely that the great majority of pilgrims made their journey along one very specific waymarked path as they do today. I think they would have been scattered more widely over the countryside on a broader network of paths. I've often thought that pilgrims are like manure: a fine thing which enriches the land when spread thinly but something of a eyesore and a trial for the senses when piled up in one great heap.
That may possibly be true at some point in the future but certainly not in my lifetime or, more precisely, "... in the lifetime of my legs." I plan on walking at least one pilgrimage every year, although they won't all end in Santiago. My walks are "pilgrimages" though and they all have some spiritual and religious reason behind them as well as physical and social aspects. While individual people may grow tired of walking caminos and many are happy doing only one before finding something else to do, there will always be a large number of new pilgrims coming of age ready to walk these fantastic paths and experience the wonderful caminos.At some point this will all die out - and people will find other places or activities to do. Lets be honest - how many met people that actually had spiritual or religious reasons(for lack of a better word) to walk "a" camino.
...
My thing is this - why do we have to analyse everything - the camino is whatever you want it to be - those that we meet along the way who are disrespectful to others and the surroundings are put there - as one pilgrim said to me on my very first camino in 2012 - to show us how not to behave - so maybe our good example can rub off on them - the camino will never die but some will find other things to do and enjoy in their life. For me I want to go and walk, enjoy the creation around me, meet wonderful people who want to walk a mile or two with me and leave some of life's blessings with those I encounter. Does it matter that there are too many on the path that day or too few or whatever - just be grateful that you have been so blessed to be able to walk the paths.
Let's just concentrate on the present-day camino(s) and their future and let the past be the past.
You are probably referring to the last chapter of the Codex Calixtinus, today widely known and touted as a medieval pilgrim's guide. Did you know that it was totally unknown until sometime in the late 1800s and became known to a wider public only from 1938 or so? Medieval pilgrims did not know about it. Notabene: I am referring to the last chapter of the CC, not to its other chapters, some of which were widely known and frequently copied during the Middle Ages.
Yes, there were roads in the Middle Ages in and between Spain, Italy and France. Even in Roman times. But pilgrims didn't follow yellow arrows and trotted one behind the other on a fixed trail as they do today. There are many traces of this past to the right and left - near and far - of the Camino Frances but very few seem to know let alone notice. What we know as Caminos today does not represent the ancient pilgrimage paths to Santiago de Compostela - it was a much larger net of roads and paths.
Thank you about your kind comments about Irish people it has been proved that (West of Ireland predominantly) we are more closely related genetically to Galician/Basque people than any other grouping.Its no wonder that per head of population we are so attracted to walking the Camino on that evidenceThank you for that Fr. you said that better than I could ever even imagine. I truly hope I meet some Irish people on the El Camino as I feel a special kinship to them as my paternal grand parents were from The Republic of Ireland. The priest in my home parish, St. Francis of Assisi in Sacramento CA, is from Dublin Ireland. His name is Fr. Desmond O'Reilly; we call him Fr. Des. He is content to take on all the responsibilities of the two priests of the Franciscan order he replaced one year ago all by himself and doesn't ask for any additional help. I respect him tremendously for that. For some reason he loves the weather here also, even when it gets over 100 F which has been happening a lot lately.
As for my atheist hiking companion, he may change his attitude on the camino I don't know, but I know I can't change him with a heavy hammer but only by example and perhaps some divine providence from the mojo of the camino. In either case I will continue to respect him as a human being.
As for me when I am hiking here in Northern California, often by myself, in an area of incredible beauty like Lake Tahoe, I say to myself this cannot all be by chance, it's just not possible.
In medieval times long distant pilgrimages were a very expensive undertaking especially from a land locked country like Ireland. We are lucky enough to have at least 2 recorded pilgrimages by Waterford's first citizen the Mayor of Waterford James Rice in the 1400's. It was a 2250 km journey by boat no mean feat back then especially on the Atlantic. The return journey by boat would have been the equivalent of 3 months wages so you would have to be a person of monetary substance to do it. He would have taken the English way starting in Corunna we expect walking on foot from there.Most pilgrims spent the night in a vigil within the cathedral in front of the high altar. The next day pilgrims attended mass and during the ceremony they presented their offerings. Pilgrims would also have made confession and obtained certificates of pilgrimage in the Capilla del Rey de Francia. There are no records detailing James experiences but he must have visited the relics of the saint and perhaps even purchased some souvenirs. From the 12th century scallop shells were sold to pilgrims in the cathedral square and a small number have been found in Irish medieval burials..We still have his silver Camino cloak pin which is on display in city hall. When he died he was installed in a very sobering tomb which can still be seen today An elaborately carved cadaver lies on top the tomb. It is wrapped in a shroud knotted at the head and feet which has fallen open.I've found estimates of the numbers of pilgrims arriving in Santiago during the Camino's medieval heyday in the 12th and 13th century of between 200,000 and half a million. And they would all have walked/rode to get there. It seems that we are only just reaching the numbers who travelled then.
The Camino endures.
At some point this will all die out - and people will find other places or activities to do.
In the 12th and 13th centuries it is unlikely that the great majority of pilgrims made their journey along one very specific waymarked path as they do today.
Well, there's camino as in road and there's camino as in contemporary pilgrimage.
There's been roads between say Leon, Astorga and Santiago for a long time (to Santiago not so long because it's a much younger establishment than Leon and Astorga) and I don't think the OP refers to them and they are not in danger of disappearing although of course they've changed their appearance and even their exact course over time and continue to do so.
As to the other camino: I'm not so sure that it has lived or will live forever. There's a line of thought that the current camino pilgrimage is a "reanimation" of the medieval pilgrimages which are gone forever. In a sense even, that the current camino pilgrimage is the result of having been given a new "animus", a new "soul". I think it is worth considering. I understand the OP as an invitation to do so, not as a rant about current conditions. What has made it such a success, has given it such a mass appeal and is there a danger of losing it.
Some estimates of the Saint's popularity claim that as many as one million pilgrims a year visited the tomb, although numbers in the thousands seem more likely.
Unlike today, medieval pilgrims did not all pile up on the Camino Frances in their majority.
My thing is this - why do we have to analyse everything - the camino is whatever you want it to be
You are probably referring to the last chapter of the Codex Calixtinus, today widely known and touted as a medieval pilgrim's guide. Did you know that it was totally unknown until sometime in the late 1800s and became known to a wider public only from 1938 or so? Medieval pilgrims did not know about it.
In medieval times long distant pilgrimages were a very expensive undertaking
Thank you that was very refreshing and honest. Sometimes we truly sweat the small stuff that in comparison to what you are going through is insignificant.Sometimes we need to get over ourselves and as you say not just smell the Rose but be the Rose. We spend a lot of time trying to impress others but truly who are we impressing. Others are only a mirror image of ourselves trying to impress somebody else it's like a vicious circle.The Camino is for everybody and nobody it doesn't pick and choose. The essence of the Camino is fundamentally christian but like Jesus it embraces everyone 'let them come'. Lets not try to own the Camino but share it because that is what it does. Thank you again for sharing this it is raw and it is beautiful all at the same time.In 1994, I read a book about the Camino by a friend of a friend and thought, "I'm going to do that some day."
I come from a line of very religious people, although I and my immediate family had abandoned all those beliefs by then. I had recently been a religion reporter at a newspaper, though, took the job seriously (no church suppers, more theology, doctrine and coverage of inter-faith stops and starts), and gained a lot from learning about various faiths. I was reporting in a predominantly Roman Catholic part of the country, with a very liberal bishop and an increasingly conservative hierarchy (recognizing that those labels can be superficial), and it was an interesting job.
Though I had gone through the "catechism" process that Methodists had established at my boyhood church, learning about Catholicism was the "Big Leagues".But it was the "small-c" Catholicism that was lived by so many parishioners in that area (even the lapsed ones) that had the most profound effect on me. There was something innately "good" about it, without seeking attention or approval. Sticks with me.
In 2010, I suffered a serious illness that left me paralyzed for months, on a ventilator and feeding tube for two months, at one point unable to even blink to communicate simple 'yes' or 'no' answers. I think the common imagined response to that is to want to 'hurry up and get on with what you've been missing'. My reaction was the opposite: I wanted everything slowed down. More profound than 'stop and smell the roses'. More like some kind of desire to be the rose, if that makes any sense.
In 2011, still recovering, I hobbled through Paris and Rome. Paris first - the Louvre, d'Orsay, the Left Bank! Great trip. Rome was to be just more of a fun thing to do with an old college chum. What's the fascination with all these old churches, anyway?
As anyone that's been there knows, the 'old churches' are... beyond powerful. Caravaggio, Bernini, Michelangelo; the relics and the indulgences; the frescoes that explain it all, reading and writing skills not required; the stone country churches and the local saints. Incredible. (Shout out to Saint Fina of San Gimignano!)
But by far the biggest impact of that Italy trip was a couple of days spent in a small walled city outside Siena, visiting with a couple my friend knew from the husband's work in the States. He spoke English well, his wife was an American expat, but the people I met through them did not speak English. I do not speak Italian.
On our first night in town, we went to one of those church suppers I disdained as a journalist with seemingly the entire community. Our English-speaking friend told of how an officious-seeming woman we were watching speak to the new, young priest had succeeded in convincing him to remove an old stone-walled basin (possibly large baptismal font) from the tiny courtyard in order to make room for another picnic table. Soon after, alarmed locals presented 15th-century drawings of the church - and the font - to the city fathers, who ordered its restoration, and the priest restored it. "Did they use the same stones?" I asked. "Some," my friend smiled.
After those couple of days, I split from my friend and ventured through other parts of Italy, interacting with no one who spoke English. Everyone I came across was eager to help me find my way and meet my needs. It may have been seeing a disabled man struggling with too much luggage, but I think it was more.
I don't know what all that means, but it is kind of my own mysterious religious parable. I knew that I wanted to get to small towns in other places and meet people from other lands. It counteracts some of the trends we see in the West today, where the fierce tribalism of the early Christian Old Testament is overtaking the more inclusive, tolerant and interconnected New Testament ideas.
Three years ago, my company gave up on my recovery (my doctors had given up some months before, but my company had gone the extra mile) and fired me. I was not able to return to full-time and my job really required it, and I was not as effective even during the reduced hours I was working.
I can walk with orthotics, but nerve damage everywhere has left me somewhat hobbled and weak. I have fatigue from the illness and some cognitive issues (from the drug treatment or the insufficient oxygen provided by the ventilator -- doctors say either could be the culprit). I stay active, but my legs get numb and I can freeze up physically after stopping to rest. I'm basically at the neuropathy level I see at my octogenarian parents' retirement community. To write this post, I had to look up what I would consider some pretty simple words, and you surely would not want me doing your taxes for you in the mid-afternoon, or, if I'm honest with myself, at all (this might be a US-only metaphor - our income tax laws and forms are ridiculously complicated).
I am not sure whether I will be able to complete this Camino. I feel bad about referring to "gear shopping" in another thread, and I do believe that is not in concert with the traditions, but I have to lug a CPAP and some back-up CPAP and orthotics parts, and I really do need to find lighter stuff and shoes that can withstand 800km and the relentless stress of the connection to the orthotic devices.
In a lot of ways, I am the "crowd" that has descended upon The Way rather than a "True Pilgrim", but I am looking forward to remaining slowed down and finding out what I find out. I expect that I will be immersed in the small-c Catholicism that underlies the faith. And True Pilgrims. And tourists.
Can't wait!
In a lot of ways, I am the "crowd" that has descended upon The Way rather than a "True Pilgrim", but I am looking forward to remaining slowed down and finding out what I find out. I expect that I will be immersed in the small-c Catholicism that underlies the faith. And True Pilgrims. And tourists.
One could argue that the latter are by definition "superficial"The Camino has changed since then in aspects that really are fairly superficial -- except of course for the surface improvements to the route itself.
I've seen a couple of people pulling trailers. One guy built a trailer exactly the width of a wheelchair to check whether he could bring his friend next year. A couple of others were purchased. Some had belt and/or shoulder harnesses...., but I have to lug a CPAP and some back-up CPAP and orthotics parts, and I really do need to find lighter stuff and shoes that can withstand 800km and the relentless stress of the connection to the orthotic devices.
I've seen a couple of people pulling trailers. One guy built a trailer exactly the width of a wheelchair to check whether he could bring his friend next year.
Sometimes we're guilty of believing that only people who meet our criteria "deserve" to be on the Camino (I'm guilty of this myself sometimes), and sadly this mindset trickles down to where we now have you, tjb, believing yourself to be part of that undeserving "crowd" instead of embracing the journey ahead with confidence, and with the support that we want and need to be giving you, our fellow sojourner. Your comment made me reflect a bit and honestly, when I walk the Camino, I am at times "True Pilgrim," at times part of the noisy "crowd", and definitely at times "tourist.
I saw a blind man walking with a friend .... he fully participated with the help of his friend... the one with sight telling the other what he could see...I tried to talk my blind friend into coming, when it was actually possible. Now she's on dialysis three times a week.
I love it! Gives me a chance to say that I don't want to overdramatize what I am facing now. I am very fortunate.
A few months after I got out of the hospital in 2010, when I really could go only about 100 feet on crutches with the help of an attendant, I went to see a Willie Nelson concert.
I had imagined that I might get picked out of the crowd and recognized for my effort, an illusion that was shattered immediately upon arriving at the venue and spotting a half dozen people who had a far tougher time getting around than I did, even back then. And they all seemed so happy to be there, not grimacing about, or seeming to contemplate, their mobility issues.
That's not to say that I don't truly appreciate all the kind words, though. Buen Camino!
It's hostel system has made its way onto the Appalachian trail as well as the pacific trail. The non camping part and the hostels themselves were an experience all to themselves
Primitive huts and a few b&b...As someone who has thru hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, I never saw any hostels. In fact, the trail is mostly far removed from virtually any town or city, requiring, in most cases, lengthy hitchhiking trips from trail-heads into towns along the way in order to resupply oneself over the 2650 mile length of the trail.
The Appalachian Trail, however, is quite different from the PCT in that it has a quite frequent interaction with towns.
Where are the B&Bs? None on the PCT. And the few huts are not hostels☺Primitive huts and a few b&b...
I guess I get my videos all mixed up, I watch a lot of documentaries so I concede the US TRAILS. It is actually what was so attractive about the Camino is the hostels. Onward!!Where are the B&Bs? None on the PCT. And the few huts are not hostels☺
Yes, that's the way it could have been. Too late now. However, I did get her to go to England with her daughter.I saw a blind man walking with a friend .... he fully participated with the help of his friend... the one with sight telling the other what he could see...
I did too in sept 2015Yes, that's the way it could have been. Too late now. However, I did get her to go to England with her daughter.
One could argue that the latter are by definition "superficial"
As someone who has thru hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, I never saw any hostels. In fact, the trail is mostly far removed from virtually any town or city, requiring, in most cases, lengthy hitchhiking trips from trail-heads into towns along the way in order to resupply oneself over the 2650 mile length of the trail.
And I can't wait to meet up with you (hopefully) on the paths that lie ahead -buen caminoIn 1994, I read a book about the Camino by a friend of a friend and thought, "I'm going to do that some day."
I come from a line of very religious people, although I and my immediate family had abandoned all those beliefs by then. I had recently been a religion reporter at a newspaper, though, took the job seriously (no church suppers, more theology, doctrine and coverage of inter-faith stops and starts), and gained a lot from learning about various faiths. I was reporting in a predominantly Roman Catholic part of the country, with a very liberal bishop and an increasingly conservative hierarchy (recognizing that those labels can be superficial), and it was an interesting job.
Though I had gone through the "catechism" process that Methodists had established at my boyhood church, learning about Catholicism was the "Big Leagues".But it was the "small-c" Catholicism that was lived by so many parishioners in that area (even the lapsed ones) that had the most profound effect on me. There was something innately "good" about it, without seeking attention or approval. Sticks with me.
In 2010, I suffered a serious illness that left me paralyzed for months, on a ventilator and feeding tube for two months, at one point unable to even blink to communicate simple 'yes' or 'no' answers. I think the common imagined response to that is to want to 'hurry up and get on with what you've been missing'. My reaction was the opposite: I wanted everything slowed down. More profound than 'stop and smell the roses'. More like some kind of desire to be the rose, if that makes any sense.
In 2011, still recovering, I hobbled through Paris and Rome. Paris first - the Louvre, d'Orsay, the Left Bank! Great trip. Rome was to be just more of a fun thing to do with an old college chum. What's the fascination with all these old churches, anyway?
As anyone that's been there knows, the 'old churches' are... beyond powerful. Caravaggio, Bernini, Michelangelo; the relics and the indulgences; the frescoes that explain it all, reading and writing skills not required; the stone country churches and the local saints. Incredible. (Shout out to Saint Fina of San Gimignano!)
But by far the biggest impact of that Italy trip was a couple of days spent in a small walled city outside Siena, visiting with a couple my friend knew from the husband's work in the States. He spoke English well, his wife was an American expat, but the people I met through them did not speak English. I do not speak Italian.
On our first night in town, we went to one of those church suppers I disdained as a journalist with seemingly the entire community. Our English-speaking friend told of how an officious-seeming woman we were watching speak to the new, young priest had succeeded in convincing him to remove an old stone-walled basin (possibly large baptismal font) from the tiny courtyard in order to make room for another picnic table. Soon after, alarmed locals presented 15th-century drawings of the church - and the font - to the city fathers, who ordered its restoration, and the priest restored it. "Did they use the same stones?" I asked. "Some," my friend smiled.
After those couple of days, I split from my friend and ventured through other parts of Italy, interacting with no one who spoke English. Everyone I came across was eager to help me find my way and meet my needs. It may have been seeing a disabled man struggling with too much luggage, but I think it was more.
I don't know what all that means, but it is kind of my own mysterious religious parable. I knew that I wanted to get to small towns in other places and meet people from other lands. It counteracts some of the trends we see in the West today, where the fierce tribalism of the early Christian Old Testament is overtaking the more inclusive, tolerant and interconnected New Testament ideas.
Three years ago, my company gave up on my recovery (my doctors had given up some months before, but my company had gone the extra mile) and fired me. I was not able to return to full-time and my job really required it, and I was not as effective even during the reduced hours I was working.
I can walk with orthotics, but nerve damage everywhere has left me somewhat hobbled and weak. I have fatigue from the illness and some cognitive issues (from the drug treatment or the insufficient oxygen provided by the ventilator -- doctors say either could be the culprit). I stay active, but my legs get numb and I can freeze up physically after stopping to rest. I'm basically at the neuropathy level I see at my octogenarian parents' retirement community. To write this post, I had to look up what I would consider some pretty simple words, and you surely would not want me doing your taxes for you in the mid-afternoon, or, if I'm honest with myself, at all (this might be a US-only metaphor - our income tax laws and forms are ridiculously complicated).
I am not sure whether I will be able to complete this Camino. I feel bad about referring to "gear shopping" in another thread, and I do believe that is not in concert with the traditions, but I have to lug a CPAP and some back-up CPAP and orthotics parts, and I really do need to find lighter stuff and shoes that can withstand 800km and the relentless stress of the connection to the orthotic devices.
In a lot of ways, I am the "crowd" that has descended upon The Way rather than a "True Pilgrim", but I am looking forward to remaining slowed down and finding out what I find out. I expect that I will be immersed in the small-c Catholicism that underlies the faith. And True Pilgrims. And tourists.
Can't wait!
My impression was that some secondary, easier, variant routes along the PCT provided some marginally better access to some facilities and a slightly greater number of towns as compared to the route proper. Is that mistaken ?
The Via Alpina (that I'll never hike) starts/ends practically right where I live, and there are shelters (rather than hostels) along the way, as well as variant routes for times when you may need to get down into a valley and a town or village for resupplies or for time & difficulty related reasons. Of course, the Alps are far more populous than the Rockies, and quite a few of these shelters can be a bit hostel-like ...
I guess I get my videos all mixed up, I watch a lot of documentaries so I concede the US TRAILS. It is actually what was so attractive about the Camino is the hostels. Onward!!
Hi, JabbaPapa... Rather than in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Crest Trail is in the high Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon and Northern California, and then going into the very high Sierra Nevada Mountain range from Northern California through Southern California. There are many links of trails (sometimes multi-day hikes themselves) and trailheads (usually US Forest Service areas) which allow backpackers access onto the Pacific Crest Trail. If I am understanding your post, there are really no variant trails which parallel the PCT. The PCT does infrequently cross some highways, especially at a few mountain passes along the route. In those situations, the nearest towns are mostly distant from the trail by dozens of miles requiring the backpacker --- if needing to resupply with food, fuel, or other consumables --- to (the usual case) hitch hike to that town, or to bite the bullet and spend the time walking the extra day or day and a half.
There are many other places where roadways are nearby to the PCT with a fairly short hike along accessory trails. Many also allow a short hitch hike or walk into a town adjacent to the road. A lot of PCT hikers will take Zero days in some of those towns. Again, there are many days of backpacking between such places.
For example, at Snoqualmie Pass and Stevens Pass highways in Washington State, there are trailheads off of those highways where backpackers can get onto the PCT. These passes do have seasonal resorts for snow skiing, access to a restaurant and perhaps a few condominium rental rooms (if available) near to the trail. Most backpackers, if not immediately crossing the highways at these passes to continue putting more trail miles behind them for the day, would pitch tents in nearby open fields.
In my neck of the woods what is being predicted is that future generations retirees will not be as well off as the current one as pension plans are becoming less generous, cost of living has increased, well paying lifelong jobs are a thing of the past. So the huge portion of Camino goers that is made up by the 60+ may actually decrease quite a bit.The futurists predict that we'll have more and more leisure time as AI takes over a lot of work. Therefore long hikes and longer vacations will become the norm.
In my neck of the woods what is being predicted is that future generations retirees will not be as well off as the current one as pension plans are becoming less generous, cost of living has increased, well paying lifelong jobs are a thing of the past. So the huge portion of Camino goers that is made up by the 60+ may actually decrease quite a bit.
Enough with the bad news already!If anything the number of older walkers might increase due to better health and longevity.
In my neck of the woods what is being predicted is that future generations retirees will not be as well off as the current one as pension plans are becoming less generous, cost of living has increased, well paying lifelong jobs are a thing of the past. So the huge portion of Camino goers that is made up by the 60+ may actually decrease quite a bit.
Easy to say for those who live in Europe and can fly in for 30€, not so much coming from over the pond or down under.But the most important currency on the Camino is time, and this is what continues to let the 60+ do their Caminos, even in stages over several years if needed, rather than financial wealth.
Thank you for these interesting clarifications -- perhaps there's a degree of mutual misunderstanding between our approaches to hiking, as I think we're each "purists" (in a sense) but of different breeds.
You explain getting to a town for resupplies as "leaving the trail", which I can understand from your point of view, whereas I'd personally view a detour for that purpose as being itself as part of the hike and therefore as part of the trail. My perceptions are also BTW coloured by the very long daily average distances I used to cover back in the 1990s to 2000s, so that I would not think of a detour of some "dozens of miles" as being particularly onerous (not even now that illness and age have slowed me down quite significantly), especially not if some major or minor access paths (not excluding tarmac ones) existed -- as I'm sure they must do here and there, even if not classified as "variants" by the PCT thru-hikers themselves -- allowing some more parallel itinerary or straightforward detour in places rather than a there and back again between a particular point on the PCT and a particular town.
My own perceptions are also coloured by the fact that on my second Camino, from Paris in 1994, there was no well-defined trail to follow at all for the vast majority of the French part, and not a single Camino waymarker until I reached SJPP, although I did follow some sections along some more minor hiking trails insofar as they carried on in the right direction more or less -- so that I'm very comfortable with the idea of not necessarily sticking to a trail as it has been defined, but rather to the general idea of it ; keeping to the trail when desirable, but inventing my own ad hoc detours when I might have reason to do so. Perhaps that is what I mean by "variants" compared to how you might understand the term.
Your point about nearest towns being distant from the highway crossings at mountain passes is interesting, from a European perspective -- such places in Western Europe had high strategic value in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the early Modern period, and so they were frequently fortified and then often permanently settled (not just the major passes either, but also some more minor ones). But of course there is no reason why they should have been so in the United States, with its far younger History. The resupply issues that you talk about for the PCT are far less present AFAIK on both the Pyrenees crest trail and the Via Alpina.
Personally, I stopped seeing it as a spiritual experience and now see it merely as a hike. Too many people.
I spent a total of five months over three seasons volunteering in an albergue. I talked to plenty of people who were not walking with "spiritual motivation." But others said they started on holiday, but it somehow became spiritual.That is a crowd, and motivation was entirely spiritual.
In the year 1200, it was not a tourist trip. If you were in an albergue for five months then, I'm very impressed!I spent a total of five months over three seasons volunteering in an albergue. I talked to plenty of people who were not walking with "spiritiual motivation."
Ha! I did read your post, but somehow missed what you were saying!In the year 1200, it was not a tourist trip. If you were in an albergue for five months then, I'm very impressed!
Easy to say for those who live in Europe and can fly in for 30€, not so much coming from over the pond or down under.
the point made by the OP seems to be based on one person's assessment of what a tourist is versus a pilgrim
Honestly ? I think that in very many cases they are one and the same person ; it is certainly untrue that everyone should try and become a "purist" !!
One person's purist is another person's tourist!
AI taking over will certainly mean more leisure time because people wont have jobs to go to or money to pay for Camino'sI think the Camino will only grow more popular. I think we are only scratching the surface of the potential numbers.
One reason is that hiking is becoming quite mainstream now, particularly multi-day backpacking.
The futurists predict that we'll have more and more leisure time as AI takes over a lot of work. Therefore long hikes and longer vacations will become the norm.
Spain's popularity as a tourist destination is only going in one direction too.
More to be pitied Bradypus perhaps you weren't wearing enough sackclothWalking the Camino Frances for the second time I met a German Catholic group travelling to Santiago with their parish priest by bus - spending their nights in hotels and celebrating mass together daily. One woman in the group was very insistent that theirs was a proper pilgrimage and that those like myself who walked the way alone and without the daily blessing and guidance of a priest were simply hikers and tourists. It always surprises me how many people truly believe that because their choice is self-obviously "right" any other way must by definition be "wrong"
We were discssuing what may cause less traffic on the C. in the future, not what makes a "real" C., and I suggested that as pension funds become a thing of the past, future retirees will not have the € to travel that retireers have today. And getting in a cargo ship is much much expensive than a flight, so that won't help.When this subject comes up, I sometimes point out that there's a "purist" way to walk the Camino even from the US or Australia etc ...
Walk to the nearest cargo port (which for you might be either on the Great Lakes or at Montréal or Québec), then take (cheap) passage on a cargo ship ...
We were discssuing what may cause less traffic on the C. in the future, not what makes a "real" C., and I suggested that as pension funds become a thing of the past, future retirees will not have the € to travel that retireers have today. And getting in a cargo ship is much much expensive than a flight, so that won't help.
I walked early this April through the middle of May and had a wonderful transformative experience if not a religious one. I met people from all over the world who are as varied as anything you can imagine. I think my point is is that we were all there with each other ,having a common experience and lifting each other up in many ways. Whether it's different than it was 20 years ago reminds me of the man who builds a house in the country and then decides he is the last one that should do so. We simply have never had this option and should stop rueing its loss. All we can do is enjoy what is available to us now.I walked the CF this year starting 2 April and walking well into May. Especially in the early stages, I might see maybe three or four other pilgrims all day and sometimes none. Many times I was the only pilgrim staying in albergues or pensions because I stayed in small towns and didn't follow the Brierley stages. I was actually a bit disappointed that it was so quiet (apart from during semana santa) because the first time I walked was in Sept/Oct two years ago when there were far more pilgrims. I did get used to the loneliness and quietness and ended up enjoying it. I think it comes down to managing expectations as much as anything else.
In any case, everyone's camino is different, as evidenced by the varying opinions expressed on the forum. And for any first timers who may be reading this thread, don't worry. It's still a wonderful experience. You only have to look at the faces arriving at the cathedral or waiting in line at the pilgrim office to get confirmation that walking the camino is still an amazing achievement.
Whether it's different than it was 20 years ago
Eventually the "outdoor"and the "spiritual" trends will end, and maybe the Cathedral will ... never mind, for the last part.Fundamentally though, the Camino persists, irrespective of whether you're the only pilgrim for miles around with doubtful prospects of finding somewhere to sleep indoors or whether you're one among a throng of thousands in a well-developed infrastructure of dedicated services, or any intermediary between these extremes.
Yes, that's the way it could have been. Too late now. However, I did get her to go to England with her daughter.
which associate nuns and monks with a rather cynical simony
Actually it is also the buying or selling of a spiritual office, act, or privilege I think we got away with the LemonadeSimony is the sale of indulgences or Sacraments -- monks and nuns have never had the power to engage in it.
Actually it is also the buying or selling of a spiritual office, act, or privilege
Yeah, I know it's possible, but now she also can't walk.If your friend really wants to do part of the Camino, have her talk to her dialysis center. Dialysis is available all over the world. The big cities all have dialysis centers. Granted it would take tons and tons of coordination but sections of the Camino are close enough to larger cities that it just might be possible to do a portion. It would also be financially challenging
Well said!I walked the Camino Frances May 2016. It was a very busy May and almost all of the alberges were full every night, yet the roads were not packed with walkers. I was able to walk alone whenever I wanted and during those times I daydreamed, said prayers for loved ones, meditated, and took note of, and appreciated my surroundings. When I walked with people, I found most of them were there for spiritual, if not religious purposes. Even those who weren't were walking for a some reason, even though some couldn't quite put their finger on what it was. Some were walking simply because they enjoy trekking and the Camino is a Unesco World Heritage site. Aside from seeing shells or postcards in shops, I didn't notice a lot of commercialism until I got to Santiago. That being said, an even higher level of consumers and commercialism can be found at other religious sites (Rome, the Vatican, Florence) and they are able to retain their spiritual core. At first, I was a bit upset about the souvenir shops, but came to realize that some who do the CF, or any other Camino, may only have the opportunity to do this once in their lifetime. If they want to buy something that brings back Camino memories, who am I to judge? Salespeople overselling to people who are planning for a Camino is another matter, although I'm not sure that is strictly a Camino issue as that type will oversell regardless of what people are shopping for. I would like to see more appreciation for the hospitaleros. I think at the end of the day, some people are just tired and go into auto-pilot pilgrim mode. Not really rude, but a bit oblivious or indifferent to others. In the end, even if the number of pilgrims drops for some reason, the Camino excitement will continue for those who are drawn to the community and the connection - religious, spiritual or cultural.
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