Ralf Becker - The Road Less Travelled: Camino Primitivo -

Aman buys a pair of hiking boots and sets off on a journey toSantiago de Compostela on the practically deserted "CaminoPrimitivo" the oldest of all the St James pilgrimage routes.Delightfully tongue-in-cheek, Ralf Becker tells us all aboutpainful legs, clammy clothes, nocturnal snoring as well as remotefarming villages, primeval landscapes and authentic conversationswith his occasional fellow pilgrims. Read this book and accompanyBecker to the rhythm of his own improvised walking sticks on yourown pilgrimage to the moving finale in the cathedral and have acouple of cafs conleche along theway!

- Camino Primitivo

Ralf Becker

Published by Ralf Becker atSmashwords

Copyright 2010 by RalfBecker

Translatedby S.T. Paterson

Smashwords Edition ,License Notes

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I took the one less travel led by,

And that has made all thedifference.

By Robert Frost

* * * * *

The Planning

Arrival

Oviedo

Escamplero

Cornellana

Bodenaya

Tineo

Borres

Berducedo

Grandas de Salime

Fonsagrada

Cadavo-Baleira

Lugo

San Roman

Melide

Arzua

Monte do Gozo

Santiago de Compostela

The Planning

Sooner orlater it catches up to all of us. Not what they call wanderlust - Ive never much fancied chasing that particular passion -but rather the desire to drop out of day-to-day life for a whileand experience a totally new existence. Well, perhaps newexistence sounds exaggerated. It would just be a few weeks inwhich my life to date no longer has any relevance. But the desiregrew inside me to clear my overloaded head and see what was leftafterwards.

What route should I take? Whento start? How long would I need? What should I take with me?

Fortunatelythere is plenty of information on the Internet. Unfortunatelynobody can tell whether any of it is applicable to you ornot.

Just take theaverage speed s of 15 km or 30 km that youcan do on one day: The difference is 10 days over a distance of 150km. Practice walking is not particularly useful in this case,because an untrained person will probably have had enough by 15 kmand can barely imagine covering any more distance that day especially not with their backpack. Subsequent terrain and theclimate cant be simulated, either. The only thing practice walkingreally helps with is wearing in your footwear, and this issomething you should definitely do.

In the end, Iwent for the 15 km per day option andreckoned on about 420 km that meant I had 28 days time. Thatshould be enough!

My start date depended on Air Berlins flight plan- outbound flight 29 September 2009 from Frankfurt to Oviedo,returning on 27 October 2009 from Santiago to Frankfurt, eachflight via Mallorca.

After I hadbooked both flights on 4 September for approx. 130 Euros each way,I ordered my pilgrims passport from the Franconian Association ofSt. James in Wrzburg on the Internet.

The happynews of my passports arrival reached me by text on 23 September2009, which my wife sent to me at the beach. That was the startingsignal - there was no way back for me now.

As a novicepilgrim I immediately informed my girlfriend Karin that she wouldbe spending a month without me. I was quite apprehensive about herreaction; I hadnt thought it particularly urgent to tell her aboutmy plans beforehand. I had considered this trip last year, too, butwasnt able to go through with it for personal reasons, so Ithought it better to wait and see if it all went to plan this timerather than giving a false alarm.

But she boreit with equanimity and then announced to all her acquaintances thatI would be walking the Camino de Santiago. That triggered a seriesof questions: why, why now, what route, how many kilometres... Iwas able to answer the how long question to someextent.

The fact isthat I sometimes make spontaneousdecisions: at 17 years of age I hitch-hiked to Paris with twoschool-friends as soon as school was out for the Easter holidays(and after a drinking binge at the pub). I told my mother the truthwhen she asked where I was going. I took her answer Dont be latehome to mean that she didnt quite believe me, so I called heragain the next afternoon from Saarbrcken so that she wouldntworry unnecessarily. I did think about coming back, of course, butunfortunately I only had five Deutschmarks with me. It was my firstlesson in what hunger really was, and how you start to stink whenyou havent washed for 5 days.

I didnt wantto be quite so spontaneous this time, so over the next few days Itried to plan my route. The complete Camino Francs from theFrench-Spanish border was out for time reasons, plus it didntpromise me much originality. Only the Camino del Norte (NorthernRoute) or the Camino Primitivo were left to choose from and Iagonised over it until shortly before departure. I once read a wisesaying somewhere that went: It doesnt matter which way you go,the main thing is that you choose a route. I also found the quoteby Chuang Tzu: A path is made by walking on it veryhelpful.

In short, Iopted for the oldest of all the routes to Santiago, the so-calledCamino Primitivo. This was probably also to do with the fact that Ihave rather inexpedient tendencies: when my chiropractor Tomrecommended avoiding the mountains and taking the Burgos-Len routebecause the terrain was flat, the decision was clear. Mountains itwas, then! The higher the better! So I bought the Outdoor Guide tothe Camino Primitivo.

The next fewdays were all about arranging and purchasing the equipment. I founda recommendation for hiking boots by the company Lowe on theInternet, and after trying on about 10 different pairs I finallyfound some that didnt pinch. Admittedly they felt a bit on thesmall side, but for 120 Euros and being relatively comfortable, Icouldnt say no and decided to risk them. The unanimousrecommendation was to go for a pair one size too big because feetapparently swell on such a long hike. Last years waterproof redcagoule with built-in hood was also on the list, as well as asuitable 10-litre rucksack. I also thought the thin cotton sleepingbag was good for obstructing any insects, so in my opinion Ifina lly had everything Ineeded.

Far from it.There now began a race among my friends and acquaintances to get me everything I might possibly need underthe sun: I got plaster packs in triplicate containing pretty muchevery size you can think of. I got Hape Kerkelings book about theCamino Ich bin dann malweg ( I'moff for a bit, then) from my mother; atleast it taught me that the recommended thermal sleeping mats areunnecessary and so I did without these. But I couldnt get awaywithout the deer tallow skin cream; the only other things I tookwith me were rain trousers, mini compass, mini torch, clothesline,instructions on how to pack the rucksack, thief-proof wallet,pillow, sandals, 3 T-shirts, 2 long trousers, 4 pairs of underwear,2 pairs of new hiking socks from Falke, 1 tube of Aloe Vera gel, 1light sweater, mobile with charger, pen, sun glasses, ID, flighttickets, credit cards, spoon, knife and fork, Swiss army knife,0.75 litre aluminium drinking bottle, digital camera, 1 roll toiletpaper, hat, mini toothpaste tube, toothbrush, plastic cup, soap anddisposable razor, 1 pair contacts and my varifocals. Luckily I hadread that the rucksack should not exceed 8 kg if possible, so itwas onto the scales to check that the weight was okay.