Background and Introduction

Buen Camino!

It means " Have a good way or walk"

The three most frequently asked questions (FAQ's) I had to answer since returning from my recent 500 mile Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain were: Where did you get the idea from? ; Why did you do it? ; and how did you get on ? In the following pages I will try to explain.

I had never heard of Santiago in Spain as a pilgrimage centre. I was in southern Germany in late 1997, partaking at a reunion of survivors of a certain POW camp in the Ukraine where my brother had also been and died there (news of him had only reached me that year after 52 years of waiting) that the small group of us attended Sunday service in the local Catholic Church. There stood an overlarge thurible or bo-ta-fu-me-i-ro (Latin), much larger than the one in Santiago, it turned out.

The thurible at Santiago

I first heard about that famous thurible in Santiago here and in addition there was an exhibition in the church hall about the well known (for Catholics) "Jakobusweg" or St.Jame's Walk, quite a common event in catholic Bavaria. But people actually WALK there, I thought to myself? Well, I more or less decided on the spot to do the same one day. It was a challenge I felt I could take on. I made enquiries. Daughter Marion wanted to walk with me, but she could not take 5 weeks off work. She knew of a Dorset farmer's wife (Judy Foot) who had done the whole walk (the French Route) recently and written a book about it. I got the book, it helped a lot. Other books I borrowed from the local library. But when Father Brian from my church, St.Saviours, decided to take a group to Santiago by plane and bus in June 2002, I made up my mind to walk it. Now June would have been too hot, so I decided for mid-April to mid-May.

Of course, this strenuous walk needs a lot of preparation and also a lot of training. At least that is what I decided would be good for me. So I started walking from the end of October 2001 in 2 or 3 lots of 5 miles daily, always carrying 10 kg (22 lbs.) in a suitable rucksack. I clocked up 1066 miles and had few problems, no blisters. Of course, the right equipment had to be assembled, partly bought new, partly borrowed from Markus, my son. I aimed for April 14th to start. It was a great adventure into the unknown.

Why did I do it? First, there was the challenge. Then came the idea (from Judy Foot) of sponsoring a useful charity. It was little known and called "Breakthrough Breast Cancer". And as my late wife Audrey died of this dreadful disease in 1975, it seemed fitting to make the walk in her memory. A pilgrimage walk, which is mostly done solo, gives one ample time to reflect, to repent, to pray and to meditate and I did all of that amidst nature and the stillness and beauty of the countryside.

On May 21st, 2002, a Tuesday, I flew back directly from Santiago to Heathrow, having completed the whole "EL CAMINO" in 32 days walking with no rest days, but with four days in this beautiful cathedral town. At no time did I feel like giving up in spite of very strenuous and lengthy uphill walking. I actually felt quite relaxed at the end, had no after effects, and I must admit that I feel bodily, mentally, and spiritually a lot better than before the walk. A walk, an effort to be recommended! I was hoping to avoid giving a chronological record of the walk, but it seems impossible. So, here we go!

I will refer to my pilgrimage as The Walk, The Way or El Camino, which is Spanish for The Way. All along The Way the locals greet you or wish you BUEN CAMINO, meaning 'have a good walk'. Pilgrims do it to each other also. A 'refugio' is our hostel for the night; a 'peregrino' is a pilgrim. Along the whole route of nearly 500 miles one has to look out for thick yellow arrows painted on walls, trees, and rocks or on the ground or various other places, as well as the famous shell sign. I counted on one day about 100 signs, sometimes fewer, sometimes more, so that on the whole stretch there may be 4-5000 arrows or shells. Even then there are places, especially at junctions or forks where one is left guessing as to where to go. I learned this on the very first day on leaving St.Jean Pied de Port still in France when a somewhat unclear description made me go the wrong way for half a mile, losing one hour. You rarely walk on a tarred road but often on a path alongside a road, but mostly on narrow paths over the hills, full of loose stones, through high grass, across small rivers with stepping stones or along the hot and dry high plateau with hardly any shade.

The path becomes a river!

Walking on tarred roads, if we sometimes had to, was detested by all of us because of the heavy lorry traffic. It was also quite dangerous. The most important item to wear was a sturdy and well run in pair of boots. I was advised to always wear two pairs of socks, because as you wear two pairs, it saves on blisters. In spite of that, I managed to develop a huge blister on my right heel on day 6, which was punctured for me by a Spanish medical assistant at the Logrono refugio, but as it closed up again had it punctured again by a fellow Spanish pilgrim on day 11. I don't think I had any other pains for the rest of The Way. Of course, my rucksack always felt about twice its weight of 11 kg by the time I reached the days resting place. These are called 'refugios', are fairly evenly spaced between 15 and 20 miles apart with sometimes others in between. I followed the list used by Judy Foot and had no problems at all, only deviating twice. All distances in Spain are in kilometres (km), hence my conversions to miles. I particularly enjoyed the spectacular scenery walking or climbing across the Pyrenees, completely on my own on my first day. I was briefly joined on that long and arduous day by Melanie from Germany and Alan from Australia and later by Tobi from Germany. They all pressed forward after a while being much younger and having longer legs. The absolute stillness up here was breathtaking and I rested briefly several times to absorb it all, also made a few spectacular photos. Later, on the Spanish side, I noticed on numerous days many cuckoos and even more storks. Storks could be found on every church, sometimes several nests, as the bell towers are built with convenient ledges to build their nests on. I never saw a cuckoo, of course, but I could hear them from long distances and have recorded them many times.