Gerald Kelly - Camino de Santiago: Practical Preparation and Background

www.CaminoGuide.net

CAMINO DESANTIAGO
Practical Preparation and Background

updated January2020

GeraldKelly

Iremember the first time I heard of the Camino...

My then girlfriend and I had driven down in blazing sunshine fromher house on the river Lot only to find the Basque coast, as itoften is, shrouded in misty rain. We then spent the entire weekendbickering.

On the Sunday afternoon, in Jean Pied de Port, we stood on a bridgeover the river Nive and looked at each other and laughed for thefirst time that day. Because both of us knew we were thinking aboutshoving the other in. It was shortly afterwards we saw some peoplein hiking gear with backpacks and she told me, 'People still walkfrom here to Galicia, it's an old pilgrimage route.' I don'tremember my exact reaction but it was something along the linesof:

Why the hell would anybody want to do that?

Ten years later I still haven't found a simple answer to thatquestion. But, I've had a lot of fun looking! Because, despite myinitial cynicism, the seed of an idea planted in me that day hasgrown to be something of an obsession. This book is the product ofthat obsession. I hope you'll find it informative and helpful andthat it will see you safely to your earthly destination.

Gerald Kelly

Dont forget to download our free guides to accommodationand services on the Caminos with all the information youll needwhile walking:

• www.caminoguide.net for the Camino Francs

• www.viadelaplataguide.net for the Va de la Plata

Also for more detailson packing for the Camino see www.caminoguide.net/packing

The Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St James, is anetwork of pilgrimage routes which brings pilgrims from all cornersof Europe, across Spain to the city of Santiago de Compostela,believed by many to be the final resting place of Saint James (theGreater) the Apostle.

These routes have existed for about a thousand years andall through those centuries thousands of people each year have setout from their homes to travel to Santiago on foot or onhorseback.

The CaminoFrancs , or French Way,from the pintoresque French village of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port toSantiago, was always the busiest of these routes. Its whereCaminos from all over Europe converge to cross northernSpain.

In the last thirtyyears the Camino Francs has once again become very popular with pilgrims due inpart of the film The Way . It isnow walked by thousands of people every year. The full CaminoFrancs is almost 800km long and most people take about thirty daysto walk it. However, many other people chose to just walk the last100km from Sarria, which usually takes about five days.

Other routes (and thereis many otherroutes) such as the Va de la Plata, from Seville, and the Caminodel Norte, along the north coast of Spain, have also become morepopular, but not to the same degree as the CaminoFrancs.

This book is intended for people planning to walk a Caminofor the first time. It contains detailed, practical, impartialinformation and advice to help you prepare. It is based on theauthor's personal experience gained over fifteen years walkingCaminos and on the experiences of many other pilgrims.

Rather than trying to reduce Camino preparation to acheck-list it tries to assist you in making informed decisions andhelp you avoid pitfalls. It covers (among others) the followingareas:

• Money: How muchwalking the Camino costs

• Travel : How toget to your starting point

• Physicalpreparation : Getting tothe required level of fitness

• Packing :Equipment you need and what you don't need

• Whichsection and when : Whento walk, which part to walk

• What toexpect : The Caminoexperience

In addition, there's anintroduction to both Spanish and Camino History , a Spanish Language Phrasebook with vocabulary chosen to cover Caminonecessities, and background information of all sorts to help youplan and prepare.

This book is acompanion to the books Walking Guide to the Camino de Santiago and Walking Guide to the Va de laPlata (also availablefrom Amazon in Kindle and printed formats), which contain theinformation you'll need about accommodation and services, etc.while walking the Camino Francs and the Va de la Plata. However,since this book is all about preparation, it can be used entirelyindependently of any walking guide.

Although much of theinformation in this book could be useful for any Camino, some partsof it referspecifically to the Camino Francs .

This is aself-published book. Please accept my apologies for any mistakes.You can help by sending corrections and any comments about contentor omissions to caminoguidecontact@gmail.com . Because a new copy of the book is printed everytime somebody orders one, corrections and additions can be madeimmediately, without having to wait for a new edition.

This book was firstpublished in 2012. Since then it has been updated regularly to takeaccount of changes on the Camino. This edition was publishedin January2020 .

All distances are givenin the metric system (kilometres and metres) and all times are given inthe 24 hourclock (09:00 = 9am,18:00 = 6pm).

Temperatures aregiven in Celsius. Celsius temperatures are easy tounderstand:

0C = freezing point of water, 10C = cold, 20C = warm

30C = hot, 100C = boiling point of water

There's a handyconverter here www.celsius-to-fahrenheit.com

The format forwriting amounts reflectsthe most commonly used format in Spain. eg. One euro = 1, fiftycents = 0,50, one thousand euros = 1.000.

As I'm not particularly religious in any conventional sense, ittook me years before I came to see myself as a pilgrim, and to usethat word unselfconsciously. Now, I call myself a pilgrim when I goon the Camino, and I regard all of the other people there aspilgrims too. I no longer see this word as being uniquelyassociated with organised religion, and I use it inclusively inthis guide to refer to everybody who sets out from their home onthe open road looking for something (meaning, answers, solace,purpose, etc.)

Roisn Cuddihy, Dalande Bri, Ana Beln Molina, Sofa Montes de la Riva, Philip Ceallaigh, Robbie Turner, Dr Hans Weber. Everybody who'scontributed to www.CaminoGuide.net and to this book.

Wherever you see (G) after a word it means there's anexplanatory note about it in the Glossary.

Everybody prepares in their own way, everybody packs in their ownway and everybody walks the Camino in their own way. The followingare suggestions to help you prepare.

If you're unsure about your physical preparedness, trywalking your target daily distance with a full backpack.

If you struggle, you need to either set yourself anexercise regime and work your way up to your target. Alternatively,you could reduce your daily distance target for the first week orso until your fitness level improves. Accommodation is plentiful onthe Camino and it can be taken at an extremely leisurely pace ifyou so desire. The key is finding a pace that suits you.

Walking long distances every day is different from doing itoccasionally because your body doesn't get a chance to recover andheal. It takes about a week to find your rhythm, so set yourselfmodest goals for the first few days.