YOU can be a Camino Ditch Pig in 2020!

[Rebekah Scott]

You can't keep a Ditch Pig down, not even in a world put on hold by a pandemic!

We won't have the usual Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup crew this year, as most of our volunteers are locked down or face quarantines on their return home... and large swaths of the Camino are off-limits as well. BUT... We've decided to EXPAND WORLDWIDE. So you too can be a Ditch Pig this November, right where you are!

The plan is thus: The Pigs usually cover 20-25 kilometers of trail each day, for four or five days of November.. which translates to about 5 km of trash per day per person. We challenge every Forum member to put on some garden gloves and your mask, pick up a trash bag and salad tongs, and head out into the fresh air of your favorite park, trail, or track... and pick up all the trash you can! Take it to an appropriate bin, and Voila! Cover 5 km. per day for four or five days... and you're a Ditch Pig of the 2020 kind. (if you can't do quite so much we understand.)

When you've done your part, post a picture of yourself in action here on the thread, along with your location, so we can celebrate your work. (we enjoy good before & afters, too!) The Camino is wherever you are, and there's plenty enough trash out there for us all. What an opportunity! (We already have 2020 Pigs working in Williamsburg, Virginia, and elsewhere... and if enough of us Spain residents can and are willing, we still can do a strip of Camino de Madrid this year -- get in touch!)

 

[VNwalking]

Global pigs unite.
Pigs good, trash bad!
I'm in...pics coming later.

 

[Priscilla NC]

What a wonderful idea! I'm a Ditch Pig wannabe, so I guess that means I'm in. Thanks for putting this out there.

 

[mette]

I’m in, in Denmark - love the idea

 

[RRat]

A bunch of us retired guys and gal go out on the lake, early Monday mornings. We make sure trash bags reels have bags and pick up trash that people leave behind.

 

[wisepilgrim]

I can handle the last leg into Santiago along the Camino Portugués. But I will certainly miss doing it with a crew!

 

[Tincatinker]

I'll be trying to make some of Sussex a bit more shiny. Lockdown has created a lot more hikers, perhaps not all yet Pilgrims. I have the Downsway and some local stretches of The Old Way that could do with a little tinkering

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I can handle the last leg into Santiago along the Camino Portugués. But I will certainly miss doing it with a crew!

A live crew may well be forming anyway, Michael...

 

[marilyn van graan]

I too am going to be a "Ditch Pig" - love the idea - a great way to clean up the neighbourhood and my walking routeXXX - I am from Cape Town South Africa

 

[MarkyD]

You can't keep a Ditch Pig down, not even in a world put on hold by a pandemic!

We won't have the usual Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup crew this year, as most of our volunteers are locked down or face quarantines on their return home... and large swaths of the Camino are off-limits as well. BUT... We've decided to EXPAND WORLDWIDE. So you too can be a Ditch Pig this November, right where you are!

The plan is thus: The Pigs usually cover 20-25 kilometers of trail each day, for four or five days of November.. which translates to about 5 km of trash per day per person. We challenge every Forum member to put on some garden gloves and your mask, pick up a trash bag and salad tongs, and head out into the fresh air of your favorite park, trail, or track... and pick up all the trash you can! Take it to an appropriate bin, and Voila! Cover 5 km. per day for four or five days... and you're a Ditch Pig of the 2020 kind. (if you can't do quite so much we understand.)

When you've done your part, post a picture of yourself in action here on the thread, along with your location, so we can celebrate your work. (we enjoy good before & afters, too!) The Camino is wherever you are, and there's plenty enough trash out there for us all. What an opportunity! (We already have 2020 Pigs working in Williamsburg, Virginia, and elsewhere... and if enough of us Spain residents can and are willing, we still can do a strip of Camino de Madrid this year -- get in touch!)

I live in Madrid, so where and when can I start?
My local park is pretty tidy, as they have teams of park workers who regularly maintain the park.
The Camino de Madrid I could get to while there aren't any movement restrictions. Which sections are the filthiest?

 

[Tincatinker]

Which sections are the filthiest?

@MarkyD welcome to Ditch Piggery. Reb will maybe have an answer to your direct question but I'll drop a bit of philosophy into this - anywhere that is littered deserves cleaning, even a little bit littered is still littered. The Ditch Pigs have dealt with some absolute middens occasionally but sometimes we've managed a healthy speed over the ground removing that odd offending object every 100m or so. Pick a bit of trail, leave it cleaner, you're a Ditch Pig.

But experience also says that the greatest accumulations will be in the 2k after a refreshment / shopping opportunity 'cos once that bocadillo has been eaten and that beer drunk there is no point in carrying the empty wrap or the can

Happy Pigging

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I live in Madrid, so where and when can I start?
My local park is pretty tidy, as they have teams of park workers who regularly maintain the park.
The Camino de Madrid I could get to while there aren't any movement restrictions. Which sections are the filthiest?

Marky, I am told the part from Coca to Simancas is pretty bad, and the areas going into and out of Segovia. We have a couple of Ditch Pigs who live in Madrid, one of whom is interested in covering the Segovia bit... shall I put you in touch? (Now with Castilla y Leon shutting its borders, we'll have to split up into teams)

 

[Bob from L.A. !]

Global pigs unite.

Love the concept !!!!!!!

Oink !!!!!

 

[forwardwego]

You can't keep a Ditch Pig down, not even in a world put on hold by a pandemic!

We won't have the usual Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup crew this year, as most of our volunteers are locked down or face quarantines on their return home... and large swaths of the Camino are off-limits as well. BUT... We've decided to EXPAND WORLDWIDE. So you too can be a Ditch Pig this November, right where you are!

The plan is thus: The Pigs usually cover 20-25 kilometers of trail each day, for four or five days of November.. which translates to about 5 km of trash per day per person. We challenge every Forum member to put on some garden gloves and your mask, pick up a trash bag and salad tongs, and head out into the fresh air of your favorite park, trail, or track... and pick up all the trash you can! Take it to an appropriate bin, and Voila! Cover 5 km. per day for four or five days... and you're a Ditch Pig of the 2020 kind. (if you can't do quite so much we understand.)

When you've done your part, post a picture of yourself in action here on the thread, along with your location, so we can celebrate your work. (we enjoy good before & afters, too!) The Camino is wherever you are, and there's plenty enough trash out there for us all. What an opportunity! (We already have 2020 Pigs working in Williamsburg, Virginia, and elsewhere... and if enough of us Spain residents can and are willing, we still can do a strip of Camino de Madrid this year -- get in touch!)

Salad tongs/face mask/plastic bag and tevas . Ready for the fun to begin! Mary

 

[Bob from L.A. !]

Sounds like fun to me...

 

[CaroleH]

Great idea.. I'm in... when it stops raining.... not complaining as it's far better than catastrophically hot fire days we had last summer in Oz. Buen camino ditch pigs.

 

[FamPed]

Count me in. I will clean some of the stretches walking from church to church outside my city. (Island of Trossö, Karlskrona, Sweden.)

 

[Rebekah Scott]

So encouraging to see people are taking this up and clearing up the trash around them!

Anyone in Castilla y Leon on 18 Nov. can join me and Father Danny from the Marists in Sahagun in our cleanup from Sahagun out to the big, messy crossroads at Calzada del Coto.

 

[pollyrjohnson]

This is a great call to action. I have a 5-8 km hike on trails in my neighborhood. I take bags with me to pick up trash. There are several of us that perform this activity. This is wonderful. I will continue doing my part in the US until I can return to the Camino hopefully late August to September.

 

[forwardwego]

This is a great call to action. I have a 5-8 km hike on trails in my neighborhood. I take bags with me to pick up trash. There are several of us that perform this activity. This is wonderful. I will continue doing my part in the US until I can return to the Camino hopefully late August to September.

I had to laugh @ my initial remote location ditch pig experience. I went backpacking this week. I actually found myself getting excied to see trash on the trail (didn't see that coming). That's twisted! I normally would quietly curse the careless yahoo(s) that leave/left the litter and hike on.

I laughed out loud b/c it dawned on me I wasn't happy to see litter but I felt a genuine connection and excitement to be a part of the global Camino Ditch Pig cleanup effort . My thought process at seeing the litter was something like... for the love of pete - Camino Ditch Pigs - ahh, I miss the Camino - the Camino - alright! an opportunity to contribute to the cause - just think Mary, other camino pilgrims in other parts of the world are doing the same...so it went. The thought crossed my mind to save my first collection of trail trash just because. I didn't and hiked it out.

Such a great idea Rebekah and just neat you make sooo many contributions to the preservation of the Caminos. Thank you for your example.

I'm a Ditch Pig convert . I'll never look at trail litter the same w/out feeling a responsibilty to do something about it.
When/where and if we can make things better, would be wise to do so.

 

[Theatregal]

I've started my Ditch Pigging along the mighty Fraser River - coastal area near Vancouver. Next few weeks I'll visit accessible areas of the river along a 30 - 40 km stretch, starting with an area just down the street from my house. One photo for now and more at the end of the month. Trails where I walk are generally clean but the river always needs attention every low tide!

 

[VNwalking]

post a picture of yourself in action here on the thread,

Ditch pigging where I live is not a song of the open road, but an ode to clearing ancient middens. I'm having an ongoing battle to organize trash around here so people don't just throw it where they feel like throwing it, and making incremental progress The other day I set about reclaiming the back part of an orchard, clearing one of the old 'unofficial' rubbish piles that someone left, even finding an old trash can for my trouble. It certainly came in handy.

I am amazed how plastic emerges unscathed when everything else has dissolved — so no matter how old it is, it will be a magnet for new deposits. Like those pesky discarded masks that are becoming as common as toilet paper on the Camino.

 

[Albertagirl]

I began my personal Ditch Piggery this year early in the month of August, when the beginning of compulsory mask use in Calgary saw used masks popping up all over my neighbourhood. Walking to the local Ctrain station, I scooped up masks with my tongs and dropped them in a bag to be deposited in a bin at the train stop. It is some time now since I have ceased this practice: few masks now; what there are is covered up by snow, and, three weeks after knee replacement, I can no longer walk to the local train stop. But it was satisfying while it lasted, reminding me of my one official term of service as a Ditch Pig. There is nothing so satisfying as being able to return my energy to the camino by a term of physical labour.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

The "official" Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup crew met early today in Sahagun and made it to El Burgo Ranero. The trail is remarkably clean, the weather was great, the company was fine... I worked with Marist Fathers Daniel, Angel, and Tonio. This year's team has a decidedly divine aura!
To finish off the day's work we rapaired the the Monastery/Albergue Santa Cruz in Sahagun (where they all work) for a celebration Mass in their sweet chapel, and a lunch of pasta with roast rabbit!

This is our 12th year, I think. So glad we have LOCAL Pigs, so even a provincial lockdown doesn't stop us!
(now if I could figure out how to get the photos from my phone to here..!)

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I am so pleased with the great response to the Ditch Pigs International Appeal this year! Word spread over social media, and so far Pigs have reported in from:
Sahagun, Logrono, Western Australia, Seattle, Ontario, Ottawa, Vancouver, Lake Erie, Santiago de Compostela, San Francisco California, Harrisburg Pennsylvania, West By God Virginia, Indianapolis, Victoria Australia, Astorga, Modesto California, Jamberoo New South Wales (Australia), Virginia, North Carolina, Denmark, Sussex UK, Cape Town South Africa, Madrid, Los Angeles California, an island off Sweden, and a Buddhist convent. Not bad for a world on lockdown! Pigs are awesome!

 

[peregrina2000]

Not bad for a world on lockdown!

I’ve been looking for a way to join in, but as I’ve been walking a lot more outside lately, I have seen that the forest preserves and parks in my area are essentially litter-free. But litter is never far away — I have been taking bike rides out into the country and have noticed many tossed beer cans on the side of the road. (little tidbit — apparently everyone out in the country drinks light beer, because those are the only cans I have seen). Not much, if any, general trash, just beer cans. Eureka! Though I have limited space, next time I head out I will bring an extra saddlebag and pick up cans along the way.

So add east central Illinois to your list!

 

[VNwalking]

Pigs are awesome

Anyone who has the ability to organize pigs is even more awesome.

Maybe we should have a contest for the most 2020 trash find from the drift of porkers.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

It's always fun to compare the weird things found. My best this year is one half of a pair of sunglasses.

 

[VNwalking]

For me so far it's been a scattered set of probably 15 or 20 lime green plastic cups. There was nothing wrong with them but somebody sent them to die in the corner under a pile of instant coffee and noodle packets, anyway.

 

[Theatregal]

Sunday morning clean-up along Iona Beach on the Fraser River. So much plastic and styrofoam!! Discovered there are special bins here for plastic beach trash! Most interesting thing...a little pink plastic shovel with sparkles.

 

[JillGat]

I don't know how familiar any of you might be with author David Sedaris, an American who lives in the UK. He's one of the funniest writers and speakers I've ever read/heard. When he isn't writing and touring, he walks through the UK countryside picking up trash. He walks FAR every day and picks up a LOT of litter. So much that he was acknowledged by the queen and also had a garbage truck named after him. I wish we could get him to join the Ditch Pigs on the Camino. GOD, would it be fun to walk and pick up trash with David Sedaris.

 

[peregrina2000]

Well, back to the drawing board. PIcking up trash while on a bicycle on untraveled country roads is very unrewarding and inefficient: Get on bike, ride about 30-45 seconds till you see a beer can. Get off bike, put on gloves, climb down into the ditch, pick up beer can, crush it and put it in your bag. Get back on bike and ride another half minute till you see another beer can. After about a half hour I had fewer than 10 cans. I did find a discarded for sale sign, but I couldn’t figure out a way to get it to the next town on my bicycle. So I propped it up against a road sign in hopes that someone would see it.

So I will have to keep looking for a place for trash pickup where I can walk. There is just not enough trash discarded in my area — how is that for a perverse complaint!

 

[danielle aird]

You can't keep a Ditch Pig down, not even in a world put on hold by a pandemic!

We won't have the usual Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup crew this year, as most of our volunteers are locked down or face quarantines on their return home... and large swaths of the Camino are off-limits as well. BUT... We've decided to EXPAND WORLDWIDE. So you too can be a Ditch Pig this November, right where you are!

The plan is thus: The Pigs usually cover 20-25 kilometers of trail each day, for four or five days of November.. which translates to about 5 km of trash per day per person. We challenge every Forum member to put on some garden gloves and your mask, pick up a trash bag and salad tongs, and head out into the fresh air of your favorite park, trail, or track... and pick up all the trash you can! Take it to an appropriate bin, and Voila! Cover 5 km. per day for four or five days... and you're a Ditch Pig of the 2020 kind. (if you can't do quite so much we understand.)

When you've done your part, post a picture of yourself in action here on the thread, along with your location, so we can celebrate your work. (we enjoy good before & afters, too!) The Camino is wherever you are, and there's plenty enough trash out there for us all. What an opportunity! (We already have 2020 Pigs working in Williamsburg, Virginia, and elsewhere... and if enough of us Spain residents can and are willing, we still can do a strip of Camino de Madrid this year -- get in touch!)

I'll be picking garbage in Kingston, Ontario starting this glorious sunshiny afternoon.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I don't know how familiar any of you might be with author David Sedaris, an American who lives in the UK. He's one of the funniest writers and speakers I've ever read/heard. When he isn't writing and touring, he walks through the UK countryside picking up trash. He walks FAR every day and picks up a LOT of litter. So much that he was acknowledged by the queen and also had a garbage truck named after him. I wish we could get him to join the Ditch Pigs on the Camino. GOD, would it be fun to walk and pick up trash with David Sedaris.

I will ask him to come along next year.