“Here again, the secret of happiness lies in knowing where to stop. A moderate allowance of travelling — enough to quiet, without satiating, a liberal curiosity — is very well.” CS Lewis, The Pilgrim’s Regress
We’ve heard several pilgrims say that making the Camino your Camino lends itself to the best experience. We met a Frenchman who has walked 10 days of the Camino every year for 6 years. He knew when to stop, and finally reached Santiago yesterday. Apparently, a lot of Europeans walk part of the trail only to pick up where they left off next time around.
We met an 74 year old Australian woman who is walking alone for the 3rd time. She says it’s always an emotional experience and we saw the connections she had made as she and a fellow pilgrim wept as they parted.
A Vancouver woman walked with her 3 girlfriends a few years ago and she has returned twice since, to travel partly by train and partly on foot.
Since the final 100 km is necessary to obtain the coveted Santiago de Compostela stamp, many pilgrims begin in Burgos or Ponferrada. For those who walk past the Monasterio de Irache, the reward is a free cup of vino from the spigot outside. And it’s top quality stuff — only the best for encouraging pilgrims on the Way.
On our arrival at Santiago de Compostela, the Cathedral is a must-see. The word on the street was to get an early spot for noon mass where a nun opens the service in song — the voice of an angel, we heard. From what I could gather from my minimal Spanish the sermon reminded peleginos that while life is a pilgrimage, our true home is in Christ. The service ended with the dramatic swinging of a 40 lb, sterling silver incense burner, wielded from a 3 inch thick rope by 7 men in burgundy robes. Astonishing, really.
Pilgrims from all over the world make this trek and the ambience of the city is one of quiet respect. But the city isn’t mile 0. We drove out to the coast, to the edge of northwest Spain to the 0 marker and found evidence of burned hiking shoes, hats, shirts, and books. As tradition has it, pilgrims burned their clothing at the end of their journey. In medieval times, disease and unsanitary conditions demanded it. Now it marks the end of a pilgrimage.
