VOLUNTEERING ON THE CAMINO

SO YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER TO BE A HOSPITALERO ON THE CAMINO??

Many pilgrims who have walked the camino find volunteering as a hospitalero (caring for pilgrims in an albergue) a wonderful way to give back to the camino.
Some pilgrims volunteer regularly at the same albergue: others put their name down on a register and are asked to go where the need is the greatest: many like a particular albergue so much whilst walking that they offer to stay and help out for a while.
There are many privately owned, small albergues where you can do this as well and they will welcome your free labour!

You pay your own traveling costs to France or Spain. You are given a bed but you pay for your own meals (unless it is an albergue where youcook for the pilgrims).

Besides greeting and registering pilgrims, a hospitalero works an 18 hour day making beds, sweeping floors, scrubing toilets, showers, and kitchens: doing the shopping, might have to cook for up to 40 pilgrims every night, sorts outs disputes and locks up after lights out at about 11pm at night.

Most stints are for 15 days and working for longer than 30 days is discouraged. Longer than that and you might want to shoot somebody!!

The Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Road to Santiago in Spain, the Confraternity of St James in the UK, the American Pilgrims and the Candadian Company of Pilgrims and similar organisations in France and Italy run special workshops and courses for volunteer hospitaleros. In South Africa we have trained over 60 pilgrims to serve in Spanish albergues.
http://southafricanhospitaleros.blogspot.com/

The Spanish Federation (HOSVOL - Hospitaleros Voluntarios) criteria is that you have walked the camino and have done a training workshop. However, they will make exceptions for people who have walked the camino but who live in countries far away and cannot attend a workshop and would like to volunteer by allowing them to reside at an albergue with a hospitalero for three days to observe how the albergue is run.
As yet, there are no courses availabe to people living in Australia, or New Zealand .


You can also offer your help directly to the refuge - a list of refuges can be found at Jacobeo.net/refugios/

Here are some other sites which will assist you in becoming a volunteer:

Confraternity of St James - UK
Rabanal: Refugio Gaucelmo
Rabanal del Camino, León
Chairman: Paul Graham, Somer House, The Street, Chilcompton, Somerset BA3 4HB, p.
graham2712@btinternet.com
Coordinator: Graham Scholes 56 Chapel road,
Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, Durham

Miraz – Camino Norte:
If you are interested in serving as a warden at Miraz (we still have a few vacancies for 2008, and will be glad to sign you up for 2009), please contact the Miraz Wardens' Coordinator.
Miraz, Galicia
CSJ Hospitalero coordinator:
Alan Cutbush, 35 Waltham Close, Ipswich IP2 9DJ
alan@cutbush35.fsnet.co.uk

Caminosantiago.org
Click on Federation and then Hospitaleros Voluntarios:
http://www.caminosantiago.org/cpperegrino/hospitaleros/hospitaleros.asp
E-Mail: hosvol@caminosantiago.org
Hospitaleros Voluntarios del Camino de Santiago. Aptdo. 315 26080 - Logroño (La Rioja)
This is the Federation of Associations on the Camino volunteer form.
Sevilla - Logroño – Vizcaya – Madrid etc


The association Hospitaleros Volunteers supported by the Spanish Federation of Associations of the Way, coordinates shelters in Arres (Camino Aragones), Navarrete, Najera,  Grañón, Belorado, Saints Day, Villalcazar of Sirga, Barna's Camino Real, el Burgo Ranero, Leon, Ponferrada, O Cebreiro, Triacastela, Samos and Ribadiso, among others. More information on the mail caminosantiago@caminosantiago.org


Logroño
Los Amigos del Camino de Santiago de La Rioja coordinates the care of pilgrims in the shelter of Logrono. You can contact through the mail - ruavieja@asantiago.org

American Pilgrims
Go to Join, scroll to volunteer.
American Pilgrims have their annual gatherings which include a training workshop for future volunteer hospitaleros.
http://www.americanpilgrims.com/events_national.html

Acacio da Paz
To volunteer for the Albergue at Villoria, write to Acacio da Paz at voluntarioscamino@ yahoo.es


Read an Article written by a first time volunteer:
http://www.csj.org.uk/bull-arts/c-jones-art.htm

Blog – with an honest report on volunteering:
http://innkeepersguide.blogspot.com/


…………………………………………………………………………………………
FRANCE

Information for those interested in becoming hospitaleros in the Grand Palais albergue or the pilgrims welcoming center in SJPP:

St Jean Pied de Port

Les Amis du Chemin de Saint-Jacques des Pyrenees-Atlantiques
39 rue de la citadelle
64220 Saint Jean Pied de PortFrance
http://www.aucoeurduchemin.org/
caminopa@hotmail.com

Vézelay route
Amis et Pèlerins de Saint-Jacques de la Voie de
Vézelay
www.amis-saint-jacques-de-compostelle.asso.fr
24 Rue Saint-Pierre - 89450 Vézelay
Tél. : 0033 (0)3 86 32 38 11

Le Puy route
Conques Hospitalité Saint-Jacques
www.amis-st-jacques.org/pages/hospitalite
Contact Pauline Dobon, Abbaye Sainte-Foy,
F12320
Conques tel 0033 5 65 69 85 12
email acceuil-conques@mondaye.com

From - http://www.jacobeo.net/hospitaleros/index.htm

To all who receive this information and want to participate in courses and assist in the hospitality during the ongoing campaign of 2008 we ask you to send us an e-mail, letter or call us by phone to send you the necessary information.

The Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Road to Santiago explains here what is needed from our Hospitaleros Volunteers and its operation.

In recent years a large group of people of all ages and status, it has been proposed to renew one aspect of that hospitality thanks to the work of volunteers and cultural hospitaleros the Camino de Santiago. These are former hospitaleros pilgrims who spend part of their holiday to meet on a voluntary and unpaid, shelters for pilgrims, and to cooperate in the dissemination of the contents artistic, cultural and spiritual Path.

For us, the only requirement is necessary to be hospitalero is that you have done the pilgrimage to Santiago and want to devote your time and skills to the reception of pilgrims at the albergues. We believe that in order to perform this task well, it is very important that the new hospitaleros make preparation for a workshop to know in advance what they will find on the other side of the road, which is hospitality and that is often a tough job, nothing like a vacation alternative.
Normally, at the beginning of the year, between February and June, we organize a series of preparatory courses for people who have contacted us with the intention of working as a hospitalero during the year. These people have sent their personal data and any information that might be interesting for further work. These courses take place over the weekend, starting on Friday night and end on Sunday after dinner and is COMPULSORY. In very exceptional cases and for those people who find it physically impossible to attend a workshop for instance, because they reside outside of Spain, we also offer the opportunity to be three days in a shelter to become familiar with the work before joining the Hostel being assigned.

The normal time of stay in a shelter is 15 days, the first or the second half of each month. We would like to draw attention on this issue. It is very important to comply with this period fortnightly, you are advised to confirm in advance the time that you can have, making sure of the dates we say that you assign a destination. Similarly, if there are any changes, it is important for us that you communicate this as soon as possible, since it makes it very difficult for us which we can then not comply with what you have said and we believe gaps in shelters with so little time, we can not find a solution, because at the end, there are no shelters hospitaleros possibly could have had someone else to have known in advance. In some cases, and if they so desire, time spent as hospitalero may be wider, not being desirable stays of more than one month.

What is expected of the Hospitalero?

The following is from the CSJ of UK Hospitalero Workshop for 2008:

Gaucelmo General Policies:

1. True Pilgrims are those who are travelling on foot, by bicycle, or on

horseback and moving on the next day

2. Groups – no groups of more than seven people admitted

3. Length of Stay – pilgrims are only allowed to stay for one night

4. Bookings – It is not the practice to accept bookings of any description

Rules:

1. No smoking anywhere on the premises

2. Keep mobile ‘phones on ‘silent’

3. The main entrance door locked at 22:30

4. Total silence applies after 23:00

5. All pilgrims leave before 08:00

6. There is no fixed charge for staying

The 11th Commandment

• Getting rucksack ready the night before

• Not using alarm clocks

• Not putting boots on in the dormitory

• Not putting any lights on

• Not talking until well clear of the building

 

A Typical Day at Gaucelmo

• Get up at 05:30 (If serving breakfast at 06:00)

• Prepare and serve breakfast for the pilgrims

• Ensure all Pilgrims have left by 08:00

• Enjoy your own breakfast in peace

• Count and record the donativo money

• Re-make all the bunks in the dormitories and barn

• Clean the sinks and toilets in the servicios

• Sweep out and mop each room floor

• Clean the kitchen work surfaces and oven

• Sweep outside in the square, if necessary

• Sweep the entrance, patio and garden paths

• Take rubbish and glass bottles to the bins

• Drop off any stale bread at Oblines

• Listen out for the Bread Van

• Grab a bite of lunch

• Open the Refugio to Pilgrims

• Sign each Pilgrim into the register

• Explain the rules of the refugio

• Show the Pilgrims to their bunk

• Be available at all times for the Pilgrims

• Make afternoon tea and biscuits for the Pilgrims

• Go for dinner at Antonios/Gaspars

• Record sales of CSJ publications

• Ensure all Pilgrims are in the Refugio by 22:30

• Ensure lights out by 23:00

• Add Pilgrim numbers to the statistics sheet

• Total the CSJ publication sales

• Note number of meals taken on the Diary Sheet

• Prepare the kitchen for breakfast

• Get to bed – you’ve earned it!

 

Qualities of a Hospitalero/a

• Greeting and welcoming

• Listening and accepting

• Tending to physical and emotional needs

• Cultivating one’s own responsiveness and flexibility

• Setting a good example of patience and care.

THE BACKPACK AND OTHER MYTHS

 

The Backpack Myth

I feel really sorry for our modern day walking pilgrims.  Unlike their medieval counterparts who left their material baggage at home and carried only the barest of necessities, today’s pilgrims feel compelled to carry a change of clothing as well as laundry wash, pegs and a wash line; extra shoes and socks, or sandals, waterproof rain gear, fleece jackets and sleeping bags.  They carry toiletries, medicines and a first aid kit.  Many have a computer, tablet or smart phone with internet access and GPS. Most pilgrims have a camera and need chargers for their equipment. To carry all of this stuff they need to have a backpack.

Not only do they have to endure the weight of heavy backpacks they often have a smaller bag around their waist to carry other modern conveniences like credit cards, money cards and cash, as well as important documents like their passport, return air ticket, guide books and itineraries.  As a result, they often suffer tendonitis, stress fractures, blisters and back ache and, in some cases, have to cut short their pilgrimage. 

 

The worst thing about all of this is that pilgrims have been led to believe that this is a normal part of the pilgrimage tradition and that without their full backpacks they will be judged as less than worthy, un-authentic pilgrims, or will have a less meaningful Camino.  (Cyclists and those on horseback are exempt from this guilt trip as they don't have to carry backpacks.)  Medieval pilgrims would have been amazed to see today's pilgrims slogging across the Camino with huge packs on their backs!
 

 

Don't despair if you can't or don't want to carry a pack every day.  Saint James won’t judge you; the Pope won’t judge you, and when you arrive at the pearly gates St Paul won’t judge you.  The Pilgrim Office in Santiago won't judge you either because they don’t care how your backpack reaches Santiago. You can send your pack ahead in a stretch limo and you will still earn the Compostela, as long as you have walked or ridden the required mileage to Santiago.  It is only the pilgrim fundamentalists who will judge you!  It is they who have this unwritten rule about carrying a backpack.

In fact, there are only three rules for walking the Camino as a ‘pilgrim’.

1.    If you want to stay in the pilgrims shelters – private or traditional – you will need to have a pilgrim passport or ‘Credencial’.

 

2.   Credenciales are for pilgrims who walk, cycle or horseback ride the Camino to Santiago.

3.   If you want the Compostela, you have to walk the last 100km, cycle or ride the last 200km to Santiago with a religious/spiritual motive.  If you profess to walking for any other reason, you can request a different certificate;

 

 

 

That's it - no other rules.  Nothing about having to walk a certain distance each day, or having to walk 800km, 1200km, 5000km; nothing about having to sleep in the most basic pilgrim hostels or eating frugal meals, and nothing at all about having to carry a backpack.

NB:  Although there is no rule about carrying a backpack, a few traditional pilgrim albergues won’t accept a pilgrim who doesn’t have a backpack.  A friend whose pack didn’t arrive with him on a flight from South Africa was refused entry to the Church albergue of Jesus y Maria in Pamplona because he didn’t have his backpack.  (I wondered what Jesus y Maria would have thought about that!)  He eventually found a bed at the Paderborn albergue run by the German confraternity.  So if you decide to send your pack ahead and walk with just a day-pack, aim for the private albergues.  On the other hand, the albergue in Grañon doesn't turn away any pilgrim - even if they arrive in a bus with no credencial.  This basic albergue in the bell tower of a church, with vinyl covered mattresses on the floors, is one of the most popular on the Camino.

When pilgrim 'refugios' were first mooted at the 1987 conference in Jaca to cater for the 'pilgrim revolution' predicted by Don Elias Valiña Sampedro (father of the modern Camino) the idea was that only pilgrims should stay in the refugios.  The idea was never that pilgrims should only stay in the refugios foregoing all the established hospitality B and B's, pensions, hostales etc.  The only way to tell between a pilgrim and a tourist was the credencial and the backpack. A few albergues won’t accept you if you have sent your backpack ahead – that is their prerogative.  But, there really is no rule about having to carry a backpack. 

So where did this myth begin? It's not a tradition and it doesn't come from medieval pilgrims - they didn't carry backpacks.  The only medieval pilgrim who carried a heavy load was the criminal - sent on a long journey lugging a large load as punishment. Walking to Santiago was enough.  Only the purist would weigh themselves down with a hair shirt or extra load.

Many historical and cultural books and websites on the Camino have photographs of statues, sculptures, stained glass windows and other works of art depicting pilgrims from the early 12^th century to around the 18^th century.  I have never seen an example of a pilgrim carrying a large backpack - have you?  If you have, please send me the source!

 

Other Modern Myths:
There are medieval myths and modern myths about the Camino.  Modern myths include those that quote the numbers of people that walked the pilgrimage roads to Santiago in the middle ages - ranging from 500 000 to 1 million pilgrims a year, depending on which website you read.  That would represent half the population of Europe in the 14th century.

There is the one that claims that Goethe said, “Europe was built on the roads to Santiago”.  The Goethe Foundation states that there is no evidence that this is a quote from Goethe, but like all urban legends, once it was written and repeated ad infinitum by successive writers, it ended up in the annals of fact.
 

The First Guide Book:  It is repeatedly claimed that the Codex Calixtinus with the Liber Sancti Jacobi was the first guide book written for pilgrims to Santiago.  Think for one moment about that.  Look at the size of the book in the wrapping.  That is the Codex found in the garage of the cathedral electrician who stole it a few years ago.  It is a monstrous book, far to heavy for any pilgrim to carry with them. 

Think about the value of a codex, painstakingly written by hand, only a few copies made of the original.  Think about literacy in the 12th century.  How many pilgrims could read?  There are many theories about the Codex.  One is that it was written for the Duke of Acquitane who was planning a pilgrimage to Santiago.  The guide was rediscovered in 1886 by P. Fidel Fita after it had been lost for 750 years. 

Types of pilgrims:  Another myth is that all pilgrims were poor, mendicant, penitential miscreants footslogging alone to Santiago with nothing but the rags on their backs.  The fact is that there were as many different types of pilgrim then as there are today, maybe more.  There were lords and ladies with their entourages, kings and queens with their servants and slaves, ecclesiastic pilgrims journeying with their clerics, knights travelling with their ladies. Servants would walk ahead and secure the best accommodation and source the best eateries for their masters.
Some poor wretches had to carry the lords and ladies in litters much of the way.  Many pilgrims went on horseback; others had donkeys or mules to bear their loads. There are historical accounts of caravans of pilgrims on the roads to Santiago. Most of the classic pilgrim stories that have come down to us were written by pilgrims on horseback - like the Codex Calixtinus and the diary of the 17th century pilgrim, Domenico Laffi. 
 

Yes, there were more ordinary pilgrims than wealthy pilgrims.  Some were penitential pilgrims, others were paupers and vagabonds, but there were also adventurers, merchants, artists, stone masons and craftsmen, musicians, and travellers who were merely interested in visiting new lands.  The majority of pilgrims did not walk alone but walked in groups for safety sake. 

You should not walk with a group: (This only applies to pilgrims to Santiago.  If you are planning on a pilgrimage to Rome, Guadalupe or the Holy Land, you can go with an organised group).  
Most large towns and cities had guilds that organised guided group walks to Santiago.  It was much safer to travel this way and, like the tour groups of today, pilgrims walked with like-minded people and supported each other on the journey. 
St Bona of Pisa led 10 such groups of pilgrims from Italy to Santiago in the 12^th century and was made an official pilgrim guide by the Knights of Santiago.
 

Those that could afford it had their baggage transported on horseback, donkeys, mules, carts, carriages and so on.  They probably delighted in shopping along the way for exotic items of clothing and souvenirs to take home to their friends and families.  The rest of the raggle-taggle carried no more than a bundle over their shoulder or a scrip – a type of satchel strapped across their torso - in which they might have just enough money for their sorry needs, a letter of safe-passage from their church and a scrap of bread to have with their gruel or broth at night.  No self-respecting pilgrim would have risked carrying a large backpack bulging with his worldly possessions.  Such gross displays of material wealth would have seemed obscene to his fellow pilgrims and tantalising to the robbers on the way.

  Today, the modern day pilgrim has no option but to carry this heavy load unless he can afford to have some of it transported each day.  Many pilgrims who can afford it do this walk with a small daypack containing their necessities for the day, their rain gear, a jacket, first-aid kit, food and water, a guide-book, camera, and maybe sandals to change into when they reach their overnight stop.  The rest of their stuff is sent ahead each day by baggage transfer companies.

Pilgrim fundamentalist accuse them of ‘cheating’.  Cheating whom?? 
A recent post on a Forum commented that people who send stuff ahead should not have beds in the albergues:  “they should keep beds vacant for the pilgrims who have exhausted themselves carrying their possessions.”  Why - that is their choice?  
One pilgrim remarked, "I saw many pilgrims with small backpacks.  I carried 12 kg and walked at least 30 km every day." 
Why?  Why did they do that, and why do they infer that they are more worthy than those with smaller packs or who walk shorter distances?
 

It is entirely up to you how many possessions you carry on the Camino. You can’t expect special treatment just because your pack is over sized and you are exhausted at the end of the day.  You won’t earn extra Brownie points with the Pilgrim’s Office in Santiago either.  Besides the Compostela certificate, there are no rewards for walking the Camino.  (If you are a Catholic you can earn an indulgence just by visiting the cathedral and fulfilling laid down requirements but you don't have to walk there.)

Walking a pilgrimage for a reward (a heavenly reward) was a Catholic, medieval invention, intended for an illiterate and superstitious population.  By the time of the Reformation the whole concept had been challenged and debated to death – and caused not only a split in the church but Religious Wars and the slaughter of thousands.  Pilgrimage for reward became an unsavoury concept connected as it was to the sale of indulgences, the trade in false relics and the fraud and corruption that went with it. 

I am not a mendicant pilgrim.

Today pilgrims once again trek the pilgrimage trails to Santiago de Compostela.  Are they mendicants?   99.9% are not.  I am a pretty average pilgrim.  I'm not wealthy but it costs me at least €800 to fly to Europe from South Africa.  I need to budget between €30 and €40 a day whilst on the Camino (another €600) plus the hiking gear, boots, clothing, pack, sleeping bag etc.  So I am not a poverty stricken pilgrim.
 

I am not a Catholic penitential pilgrim.

How many pilgrims walk because they hope to earn time off purgatory and earn a place in heaven?  Not many.  Purgatory is a foreign concept to most non-Catholics and even modern Catholics are not that familiar with it.  According to theopedia.com it was invented in the early 12^th Century: “One of the first documents to mention purgatorium was a letter from the Benedictine Nicholas of Saint Albans to the Cistercian Peter of Celle in 1176”.   
Martin Luther wrote:  “Nor have we anything in Scripture concerning Purgatory. It too was certainly fabricated by goblins.” Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper as found in Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings.

I do not walk the Camino for rewards.

Do pilgrims believe that they will earn some sort of reward by walking the Camino?  And, if they do, will the reward be greater if they carry a backpack the whole way?  Once again, I doubt it – so I don’t understand why they have allowed themselves to be duped by the backpack myth.  Perhaps the pilgrims who walk with no reward in mind is the ones to be most admired.  They face all the hardships of a long trek far from their homes with no enticing reward in sight!
 

I do not judge my fellow pilgrims.

I don't believe that pilgrims who do not carry backpacks or who carry small packs and send their excess stuff ahead are less worthy than those who choose to carry a heavy backpack.  I do not believe that they are any less of a pilgrim, any less worthy, or that their Camino will somehow be diminished because they prefer not to carry all their possessions on their back every day on the Camino.

You are a pilgrim to Santiago - with or without a backpack.  What is in your heart is much more important than what is on your back -  don't let anyone tell you differently!

For more myths read:  http://pilgrim.peterrobins.co.uk/santiago/lsj.html  

ANSWERING THE CALL - PLANNING THE NEXT GROOT TREK!!!

Here begins the journey
now begins the day
with one step upon the path
my soul is on its way!
© JS Selfe

Chemin du Piemont Pyreneen
http://vppyr.free.fr/vpp_cartes.php
http://www.ariege.com/cheminstjacques/etapes/index.html
http://vppyr.free.fr/vpp-index-etapes.php3
http://www.chemins-compostelle.com/voie-du-piemont.html
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/vtt.compostelle/piemont.htm
http://www.pyrenees-pireneus.com/RANDO-CheminPiemont-Etapes.htm

Decisions, decisions.
el camino calls and we dream about returning but we are like curious, sentient beings searching, trying different paths, different routes, all to the same destination - ourselves?? I couldn't resit the call and am planning to walk the Chemin du Piemont Pyreneen from Narbonne - on the Mediterranean coast - to Pamplona in Spain via Lourdes and St Jean Pied de Port. Well, maybe that route - maybe not!

Perhaps I will walk the first half of the Piemont and then swing left at Oloron St Marie to the Somport Pass and over the Pyrenees onto the Aragones route which joins the camino frances at Puente la Reina.

This is, by all accounts, a stunningly beautiful route and it would be a pity to miss it. After the Somport Pass and Jaca, we will visit the monastery of San Juan de la Péna with it's massive overhanging rock (that gives it its name). Here is a legend about San Jaun.

"One day in about 732 a noble Mozarabic youth from Saragossa went hunting deer in these mountains and he chased a steer until it fell over the cliff. The young man almost fell over as well but he was able to rein in his animal. Looking over the edge he saw the dead steer lying next to the entrance of a deep cave. Inside the cave was a tiny shrine and on the ground, lying dead with his head on a stone was the venerable hermit Juan de Atarés. The youth buried the hermit, sold all his own wordly goods and with his brother came to live in the cave. Before they diedm, they handed over the hermitage to two disciples and thus the fame of this saintly place reached the outer world. In this tiny sanctuary was born the Kingdom of Sobarbe which gave birth to the Kingdom of Aragon." (Walter Starkie - The Road to Santiago)

http://www.monasteriosanjuan.com/monasterio-san-juan-de-la-pena.php?L=en

As there are no English guide books for the Piemont section, I have bought the French Guide - Le Chemin du Piemont Pyreneen: de la Mediterranee a Roncevaux.
I have also downloaded about 32 Google Maps as well as a couple of profile and stage maps. I have received the brochures I sent off for the Languedoc Roussillo region and also for the Midi-Pyrenees.

EARLY STAGES OF PLANNING
For now, it is my two old walking buddies Val and Marion who will be joining me and perhaps Linda, who hasn't done any long distance walks but is a good walker and who we have known for many years.
In 2001 Val, Marion and I walked the Wainwright's Coast to Coast in England. In 2006 we walked the Via Francigena from Switzerland to Rome.. Marion and I walked the Camino Frances from Roncesvalles to Santiago in 2007.

TIPS FOR WALKING THE CAMINO

READ A BOOK ABOUT THE CAMINO
If you only read ONE book about the camino (other than guide books and pilgrim's stories) please make it THE PILGRIMAGE ROAD TO SANTIAGO - The Complete Cultural Handbook by David Gitlitz and Linda Davidson. This is THE authoritive book on the history, folklore, saint's lives, arcihtecture, geology, fauna and flora of the camino Frances. Understanding what you see on the camino comes from what you KNOW - so let David and Linda enlighten you and enrich your experience. The camino isn't just a long distance hike - it a journey back in time, through history and folklore and your walk will be that much more rewarding if you know a little more about the places you will pass through than the average tourist.

LEAVE YOUR 'EGO' BEHIND (Or - STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE)
Walk the camino as a pilgrim - not as Mr/Ms Jo Soap. Keep an open mind about where you sleep, what you eat, who you meet. Seek out the smaller, basic, atmospheric refuges. If you only want to stay in the 'nice, up-market' modern albergues, you might as well go to a hotel. Be open to what the camino can teach you. Don't be put off a place if your guide book says "Basic albergue, no electricity, running water or toilet". Sleeping on a matress on the floor inside a stone barn beats camping anytime. These refuges are usually small, intimate, friendly places with communal meals and pilgrim blessings. In his book on the camino, Prof. Conrad Rudolph (Chair of medieval art and art history, University of California) describes the albergues as the 'soul' of the camino. If you don't try them here, on the camino, where will you ever have an opportunity to try them? If you leave your 'EGO' behind and become 'as a child' you might just find a new, deeper, more attractive self!

DON’T TAKE TOO MUCH STUFF
(Nobody listens to this one!)
“I’m packing an extra pair of shorts – they weigh next to nothing: or a little black jacket for eating out at night – it hardly weighs a thing: or a sarong to wear when I come out of the shower – it’s as light as a feather."
Don’t be fooled – everything weighs something and when you add it all together, you find that you have another kilo or two in your backpack. Weigh everything and choose the lightest – not the most flattering! If you do take too much stuff, you can post it to yourself in Santiago where they will keep it for up to two months.
DO SOME TRAINING
“I’m fairly fit and spend most days on my feet so I don’t need to do training for the walk.” Famous last words of a pilgrim who ended up with tendonitis after 5 days hiking and had to pack up and go home. (She also walked too fast and carried a very heavy backpack.) Wear in your boots: try out all your clothes: buy the most comfortable backpack and hike with it packed with at least 5kg. TRAVEL IN OLD CLOTHES
Wear old, throw-away clothes to travel in to Spain. You can donate them to a shelter or leave them in your hotel room.

TAKE YOUR PACK INTO THE CABIN
To be safe, keep your backpack with you in the cabin. Luggage does go astray and you could be delayed for days if your backpack doesn’t arrive with you. Most airlines allow 10 - 15kg as cabin luggage. The dimensions are usually 25cm X 45cm X 56cm. These are so that the bag will fit in the overhead compartment.

DON’T RUSH – IT’S NOT A RACE
We met an Australian pilgrim in Roncesvalles in August who had walked from St Jean Pied de Port. “A friend told me about this walk,” she said. “He is a good walker and he told me that he had walked from St Jean to Roncesvalles in 6 ½ hours. I made it in just over 6 hours and can’t wait to let him know!” ‘What can she possibly have seen along the way in 6 hours?’ I thought. I know that you have to constantly look at the path, checking where you put your feet. If you don’t stop every now and then to look at the view, you don’t see the beauty of the view back into France. You'll also be too tired to do any sightseeing, so take it slow!
USE A WALKING STICK
Most of the camino paths consist of rocks, pebbles, gravel, mud – more mud - and (in Galicia) mud and cow shit! Some asphalt paths run parallel to the road but there is very little road walking. If you have joint problems – ankles, knees, hips etc – walk with a stick or two. There are some pretty steep hills and it’s not the going up that is a problem, its coming down!

TAKE GOOD RAIN GEAR

Some people like ponchos, others prefer rain trousers and jackets. I highly recommend a hiker's raincoat made by ALTUS that covers you and the backpack - no need for a pack cover. It is lightweight, sealed seams, unzips down the front and has added Velcro, has air vents on the chest, has a rain hood with a peak and, best of all, it has a ‘hump’ at the back so that you can put it on over your backpack. You can buy them online for about €20 from http://www.barrabes.com/

SHOES OR BOOTS? In 2007 I walked almost the whole Camino in hiking sandals. All-terrain running shoes are popular although some pilgrims swear by boots for ankle support, especially in winter – you don’t need heavy mountain boots. Take an extra pair of sandals or slip-ons to wear around the albergue.
A SLEEPING BAG OR LINER IS ESSENTIAL
Most refuges insist that you have a sleeping bag (so that you don’t sweat all over their mattress covers!) In summer you will get away with a liner – silk or fleece – but in winter and spring you will need a warmer bag. Buy the lightest one you can find – mine weighs 540gr but you can also get mummy bags that only weigh 350gr.
A SPIRAL IMMERSION HEATER

Take a little spiral immersion heater, plug for Spain, and a camping cup. Most of the refuges have electricity but they don't all have kitchens. We were the envy of other pilgrims when we boiled water for tea/coffee in the morning or made cup-of-soup for supper at night and we often had a queue waiting to use the heater.
SECURE A BED AWAY FROM THE BATHROOM
Close to the bathroom is always the noisiest place to be with pilgrims opening the door and flushing toilets at all hours of the night.

WASHING AND DRYING CLOTHES
8 Plastic pegs and a 2m nylon cord to use as a wash line. Useful when it rains and you can string it across the bars of the bunk beds to dry wet socks etc., also when the lines are full.
8 large safety pins to pin damp clothing onto the backpack so that it can dry during the day whilst walking. Nobody cares if your knickers flap on your backpack as you walk along

EMERGENCIES
112 is the Europe-wide emergency number. It works even if you have no money in a pre-paid mobile phone or even if your supplier has no network. It works 24/7 365 days - and the operators speak many languages. The number for the Guardia Civil in Spain is 062.

THE CAMINO DEVIL
Don’t take any notice of the little ‘Camino devil” who will sit on your shoulder and say:

“You don’t have to do this. It’s only a long, hard hike – not a search for the Holy Grail.

Who are you trying to impress?

You are - too old, too unfit, too tired, too cold – give it up.”

Ignore him dear pilgrim and when you reach Santiago give the saint a hug and thank him for watching over you.

None of us can believe that our walks are over

We are now in Pamplona and have just walked down the street where the bulls run during the St Fermin running of the bulls. At Santo Domingo do Silos, we attended the 13h45 session of the Gregorian chants and Finn was a little disappointed because it only lasted 15 minutes. However, we went to Vespers at 19h30 and heard a full session of prayers in Gregorian chants. Now we know why the monks at Silos are famous for their chants - it was absolutely beautiful. We decided to stay for the 9am mass as well and that too was a special treat. The Benedictine church has amazing acoustics and the gentle chanting echos through the aisle into the vault of the church. There is no ornamentation at all in the church. One large wooden Christ on the cross behind the altar is all that breaks the stonewalls. The altar is a grey granite with a simple white cloth cover. There were no chalices, cups or jugs on the altar. During the mass one of the monks collected the cups used for mass from a side granite server and these were returned straight after communion. There were about 24 monks at mass - 12 in white robes and 11 in black robes with one ‘new recruit’ in civvies. Finn and I decided to visit the museum and the cloisters - the most amazing 'narrative pillars' with biblical stories in stone on every pillar. One set of pillars are curved and when I asked the guy in the museum why he could not answer. The floors are a mosaci of pebbles and the ceilings beautifully pained. It is also a double storied cloister with a later structure built over the earlier one. We left Santo Domingo at about 10h15 and drove mostly along the N120 - the Camino road route - towards Pamplona. It was quite exciting to see peregrinos walking alongside the road on the asphalt trail and also when we stopped at Los Arcos we felt quite envious of the pilgrims walking through. We then followed the main roads up to Roncesvalles where we spent the night at the Casa Sabina Inn. The sun was shining, there were only 19 pilgrims registered at the albergue when we visited it to show Finn where we had slept the first night. The Dutch hospitalera told us that the refuge is closed from the end of October until May. We had a pilgrim menu at the Inn and then attended the pilgrim mass. We all went up to the altar for the peregrino blessing. It rained during the night and was very misty when we awoke this morning. We felt quite sorry for the pilgrims that were setting off down the trail in the rain. By the time we left the mist had cleared and the sun broke through. We drove over the Ibenta Pass to St Jean Pied de Port where we walked up a rather quiet and deserted Rue da Citadelle, visiting the pilgrim centre and having coffee at a restaurant next to the river. We did some sightseeing and left St Jean at mid-day.

We stopped once more in Roncesvalles (Finn can’t pronounce it properly so he calls it Rondebosch!) before driving on to Pamplona where we dropped off the car and checked into our hotel in San Nicolas, just around the corner from Plaza del Castillo. We walked around Pamplona for a couple of hours before having a picnic dinner in the hotel’s sitting room. We have tomorrow and Sunday free in Pamplona before we head off for the airport at about 6pm. None of us can believe that our walks are over - the last 7 weeks seem to have flown by so quickly. We will return to this internet cafe before we leave to give you the ‘last post’ from Spain.

Love to all,
S A M & Finn