kenwilltravel
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Portuguese Coastal (2018)
Portuguese Coastal, with Spiritual Variant (2019)
Hi all,
When my wife and I worked as volunteers in the Pilgrims Office issuing Compostelas earlier this year, an iron clad rule we had to follow was that nobody could receive a certificate unless they had walked the last 100 km (or biked the last 200 km) of their route. The one exception was the Spiritual Variant, which includes a 30 km boat ride. But even there, you had to prove you got your 100 km of walking in by starting either from Vigo (on the Coastal Portuguese) or Porriño or Tui (on the Central).
The reason I bring this up is that a few days ago, I got an email from a well-known Camino tour company advertising the "Xacobean Nautical Crossing." They described this as a 6-day sailing trip covering 90 nautical miles from Vigo up the Arousa estuary. The thing that caught my attention was it included only a 6-km walk, from O' Milladoiro to Santiago. 6 as in s-i-x. The company adds: "The Xacobean Nautical Crossing is the latest addition to the list of official routes eligible for the Compostela pilgrim certificate."
Is this a major change in the 100 km rule or just a one-time exception? Or am I missing something here? Just curious. Thanks.
When my wife and I worked as volunteers in the Pilgrims Office issuing Compostelas earlier this year, an iron clad rule we had to follow was that nobody could receive a certificate unless they had walked the last 100 km (or biked the last 200 km) of their route. The one exception was the Spiritual Variant, which includes a 30 km boat ride. But even there, you had to prove you got your 100 km of walking in by starting either from Vigo (on the Coastal Portuguese) or Porriño or Tui (on the Central).
The reason I bring this up is that a few days ago, I got an email from a well-known Camino tour company advertising the "Xacobean Nautical Crossing." They described this as a 6-day sailing trip covering 90 nautical miles from Vigo up the Arousa estuary. The thing that caught my attention was it included only a 6-km walk, from O' Milladoiro to Santiago. 6 as in s-i-x. The company adds: "The Xacobean Nautical Crossing is the latest addition to the list of official routes eligible for the Compostela pilgrim certificate."
Is this a major change in the 100 km rule or just a one-time exception? Or am I missing something here? Just curious. Thanks.