Walking the Camino de Santiago

gymbunny1962

Would love to walk the Camino de Santiago - unfortunately, I don't think my boss would be too happy with me disappearing off to Spain for the best part of two months.

If you want a light-hearted account of walking the Camino de Santiago, I can recommend Spanish Steps by Tim Moore. Basically, it's a true account of Tim walking the camino with a rather stubborn donkey called Shinto. Here's the blurb from Amazon (UK):

Spanish Steps recounts Tim Moore's pilgrimage along the ancient five-hundred-mile route from St Jean Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, housing the remains of Spain's patron saint. His companion on the walk is a donkey called Shinto. Tim Moore derives bounteous amusement from his peculiar fellow travellers, an assortment of devout Christian pilgrims, new-age mystics and people looking for a cheap, boozy outdoor holiday. He also muses on pilgrims past, an illustrious crowd including Charlemagne, St Francis of Assisi and Chaucer's Wife of Bath. Tim Moore himself is untroubled by any religious belief, does not speak a word of Spanish and knows nothing about donkeys. But armed with the Codex Calixtinus, a twelfth-century handbook to the route and expert advice on donkey management from Robert Louis Stevenson, he sets out to master this most intransigent of beasts and to excise the cancer of cynicism from the dark heart of his sceptical soul. Hilarious and utterly original, Spanish Steps is an ideal balance of travel, anecdote and dry wit.

BecsBennett

It sounds great but read this first

http://francistapon.com/Travels/Spain-Trails/10-Reasons-Why-El-Camino-Santiago-Sucks

And the heat, omg, that would really be awful. OTOH, it doesn't seem that hard to do as far as walks go because you are never far from food. OTOH you are walking on pavement almost the entire way according to the link.

The Japanese ancient trail the Nakasendo which takes 12 days sounds great to me although I don't eat fish too often.

http://www.oxalis-adventures.com/walking-tours/nakasendo-trail/index.php

I think the camino is what you make of it and it really comes down to what you want to achieve. I somewhat disagree that 99% of the walk is on asphalt. Yes, there are times when you're passing through big cities or surburbia, but the landscape is different depending on the region you're in. I walked over metal paths, over mountains, rivers, bridges, countryside...it's all quite different.

In regards to food - some alburgues will provide a pilgrims menu, but majority of the time it will mean walking to a supermarket and buying something to cook in the communal kitchen. The walk is becoming commercialised...pro's and cons' with this.

This walk is not easy - I mentioned before in earlier posts that some of the fittest people didn't make it to the end and some of the overweight and older ones (I met a German man who is doing the walk for the 4th time and he's in his early 80s) did! That's because is more than being fit, it's about mental toughness as well.

I agree that this is not the most beautiful walk out there, but again I think the beauty comes from accomplishing a massive challenge of walking 800kms, as well as believing in yourself. It's hard to explain but when I did the walk I made lots of connections to life... the biggest one was believing in myself, having the faith that I could do it (especially when I had a lot of people, including my family tell me I wouldn't make it and that I was crazy) It was also amazing to discover that you can push through what you think your physical/mental limit is. Putting one foot in the front of the other should be easy, but it's not.

I can understand that for some people this walk might be disappointing...maybe it didn't live up to their expectations, or they didn't find what they were seeking. For me this this was a life changing moment.

Also, the red wine in Rioja is to die for

BecsBennett

I just realised, the photo on my ticker is my feet on the Camino! It must be admitted there was a certain amount of pain involved, especially as I was carrying 20kg of extra body weight.

^^Your pic brings back some memories! I lost a few toenails argh!

jiggy_gibby

I would like to camino one day.... one day!

I am thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail. It goes from Georgia to Maine- 2,000 miles.

If you do it all at once, it's called a hike thru and people do it sections over a couple or years or even decades.

I would do it over a couple of years and be a "sectioner". We'll see - the journey starts with the first step!

dillydally123

I've done it a couple of times. It's awesome and addictive. I'm not at a keyboard now but pm me any questions and I'll answer what I can.