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| Oct. 1 start St. Jean Pied de Port |
November 5, 2022, will go down as one of my most memorable days ever, and not just because it was my 70th birthday:
It was also the day I arrived in Santiago de Compestela, Spain, after completing the 780-kilometer Camino Frances hike from St. Jean Pied de Port, France.
Walking this Catholic pilgrimage route, an effort I started on Oct. 1, was my greatest and most enjoyable adventure ever, and I highly recommend it to all, religious believers and skeptics alike.
At least to some Catholics, by completing this trek to Santiago—where the remains of the apostle St. James are reputed to be buried in the magnificent cathedral—pilgrims earn a place in heaven. This explains why millions of pilgrims, or peregrinos, have hiked this route over the centuries.
Nowadays, some pilgrims hike the camino for a variety of secular reasons, including for the adventure and the physical challenge of it. I did it for the adventure, physical challenge and for spiritual reasons. The fact that at least part of my motivation was spiritual qualified me to receive a compestela certificate from Catholic Church authorities after I completed the trek.
My favorite sections of the hike were the climbs through the Pyrenees and the trek across the meseta—the 220-kilometer, mostly flat plains between Burgos and Astorga—where the views were particularly memorable and awe-inspiring.
I also enjoyed visiting many of the Catholic churches, monasteries and convents that the camino passes in virtually every trailside city and village.
Some of the churches offered special evening masses for pilgrims. Although I am not a Catholic, I attended these services regularly and appreciated the blessings offered by the presiding priests.
One of the most interesting peregrino masses I attended was in the small meseta village of Hornillos del Camino. There the priest blessed me three times, first with the sign of the cross on my forehead, followed by a sprinkling of holy water and then a palm on the top of my head. The priest’s fiery female assistant, who was wearing a medieval-looking homespun outfit, meanwhile, told the peregrinos that the Freemasons were the enemy of the Church and God, and that the cross was the llave, or key, to heaven. She also talked about how important she believed relics from Christ’s crucifixion were to the church.
I had the good fortune to drop by a trailside church on the approach to Carrion de los Condes, another camino village, just as an extremely talented peregrino tenor was singing from his pew, filling the cavernous stone dome with the sweetest of melancholy French hymns. To me, he was in the same league as Placido Domingo. It was an unforgettable performance.
The vast majority of the pilgrims and Spaniards I met during my trek were kind, courteous and helpful souls. Most wished me a “buen camino” as we passed.
I was especially impressed to discover that many women found Spain safe enough to walk the camino alone.
I was thankful that I learned some Spanish before starting my trek, because many workers in camino albergues, stores and restaurants do not speak English.
I walked each of the 1,114,000 steps of the camino in a pair of Chaco sandals, in daily installments of up to 19 miles.
Sandals might not work for everybody. In fact, the vast majority of my fellow peregrinos were hiking in boots and shoes.
For me, sandals are the more-comfortable option, however. With them, I avoided the blisters and tendonitis issues that seemed to plague many of my shoe-wearing fellow travelers.
One attractive feature on the Camino Frances is that there is a vast array of inexpensive places to stay and eat along the trail. I tried to avoid the cheapest alburgues for fear of bedbugs (my friend James picked some up somewhere) but still rarely paid more than 15€ a night for a bunk.
On many evenings, I dined at restaurants serving pilgrims’ specials. The standard pilgrim’s menu consists of a starter, entree and dessert, with bread and wine, for anywhere from 11€ to 15€. The pilgrim-friendly restaurants usually offer several choices for each course. Only one of the pilgrim’s meals I had—in Astorga—was truly wretched. Most were at least wholesome and filling. A few were truly excellent. I had the best luck finding great meals and albergues by relying on the recommendation of albergue hosts.
The greatest camino-survival advice I received during my trek was offered by a young member of a commune-like farm that was providing snacks on a donation-only basis to peregrinos along the route one gray day. It was raining and my hiking companion was complaining.
“It’s a beautiful day,” the young man said, however.
“Don’t fight it. Go with the flow.”
Seemed liked the best attitude to me.
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| Bridge site of legend that inspired Cervantes' Don Quixote |
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| Photo: Alfredo R |
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| Pyrenees |
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| One of many great group meals |
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| Sandals not great in mud |
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| The meseta |
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| Gandalf? |
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| She's crying |
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| Cruz de Ferro, where peregrinos unload pebble representing the burdens they've carried with them |
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| Dropping my pebble |
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| Many ancient churches along the camino |
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| Santiago! |
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| Hiked much of way with James. UK. left, and Alfredo, Florida |
