Privratsky Privratsky - Every Step Together On the Camino De Santiago

Every Step

Together

on the

Camino de Santiago

Approximate Distances (in Miles)

Saint Jean Pied de Port to Orisson

Orisson to Roncesvalles

Roncesvalles to Zubiri

Zubiri to Pamplona

Pamplona to Puente la Reina

Puente la Reina to Estella

Estella to Los Arcos

Los Arcos to Viana

Viana to Navarrete

Navarrete to Njera

Njera to Santo Domingo del la Calzada

Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado

Belorado to Villafranca Montes de Oca

Villfranca Montes de Oca to Atapuerca

Atapuerca to Burgos

Burgos to Hornillos del Camino

Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz

Castrojeriz to Frmista

Frmista to Carrin de los Condes

Carrin de los Condes to Ledigos

Ledigos to Calzadilla de los Hermanillos

Calzadilla de los Hermanillos to Mansilla

Mansilla de las Mulas to Len

Len to Villar de Mazarife

Villar de Mazarife to Hospital de rbigo

Hospital de rbigo to Astorga

Astorga to Rabanal del Camino

Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca

Molinaseca to Cacabelos

Cacabelos to Ambasmestas

Ambasmestas to Fonfria

Fonfria to Sarria

Sarria to Portomarn

Portomarn to Palas de Rei

Palas de Rei to Arza

Arza to O Pedrouzo

O Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela to Negreira

Negreira to Olveiroa

Olveiroa to Corcubin

Corcubin to Finisterre

Finisterre to Lires

Lires to Muxa

Copyright 2018 by Ken and Kathy Privratsky

Print ISBN: 978-1-54394-757-1
eISBN: 978-1-0983549-3-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission by the authors in writing.

Printed by BookBaby

PENNSAUKEN, NEW JERSEY

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF

MATTHEW EDER, DAVID PIAZZA, AND DAVID IVERSON

CONTENTS

Preface

People have been walking the Camino de Santiago for over a thousand years, many for deeply held religious reasons. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela reportedly holds the remains of James, the son of Zebedee and a disciple of Jesus. James had sailed to Galicia after the crucifixion to minister to pagans. He was the first person to bring Christianity to this area and was not always met with open arms. Sometimes he was met with flurries of stones and had to seek refuge in remote caves to escape angry pagans. There are many accounts of Mary appearing during his ministry to encourage him onward. When James finally returned to Jerusalem around AD 42, he became a martyr when Herod cut off his head. Legend says his body was transported from there to Spain on a stone ship without oars or sails, carried by angels and the wind. Upon its arrival on Iberian shores, one of his followers found his body either buried or surrounded by scallop shells. Since then those shells have been associated with both Saint James and the Camino. He buried the body on a hill in general vicinity of present day Santiago. It remained there hidden for eight hundred years, until one night a hermit saw lights from stars dancing around that hill, investigated what was going on and discovered the burial site. A local bishop confirmed the remains were those of James. At this time, the Spanish were fighting for survival with the Moors. During one battle, James supposedly came down from heaven riding a white steed and bearing a mighty sword to rout the Moorish army single-handedly. He gained the title the Moor Slayer after that and became the patron saint of Spain, and the King of Spain decided to build a church in his honor. Construction of the Cathedral of Santiago commenced in 1075 and concluded fifty years later. Since that time, millions of pilgrims from all over the world have walked to Santiago de Compostela (literally Saint James of the Field of Stars) to pay homage to James.

We became a pair of these pilgrims, also known as peregrinos, in the fall of 2017. In the pages that follow we describe our journey. We developed a closed Facebook blog to share our experiences with others from start to finish. We were surprised to discover about two hundred friends and family wanted to follow our walk across Spain, and many urged us to expand our daily accounts of that pilgrimage into a book. Part of the reason we decided to do so was out of respect for them. Quite frankly, we were surprised that so many of our followers were getting up in the morning and anxiously following our next post. There were a few days when we posted updates late and friends let us know they were concerned! This by itself was quite inspiring, even though at times creating updates was tiring since the only electronics we took were our iPhones. We quickly learned typing updates from the small keypad of an iPhone was time consuming. The pictures we took along the way all came from those iPhones as well. We received much positive feedback about the pictures we posted and therefore wanted a medium where we could share some of them too, not just in black and white, like most books on the Camino, but also in color so those interested in the Camino could see it through our eyes and lenses. We decided to publish two editions, because we knew the price point for a book with colored pictures would be quite different.

Every one of our days on the Camino was remarkable. Each produced unbelievable sights and experiences for us. We debated whether to discuss our journey in segments or day-by-day as we did in our blog. We decided on the latter since that is the way our readers enjoyed our daily postings. We think it provides a more accurate portrayal of what it means to be getting up early each morning and walking, week after week, for over 500 miles across northern Spain. We knew some who were following us are planning to walk their own Camino. This also became encouragement for us to put our words and pictures in print. We had a marvelous experience ourselves. If we inspire others to take on this challenge, particularly those around our age, then we will feel gratified for sure. We have included much information about what we read beforehand, how we trained and traveled, why we selected certain equipment, what we might change if we were to do it again, where we stayed and more, all designed to help someone thinking about taking on this wonderful experience.

And finally, we wanted to write this book to honor the three guys in our backpacks who touched our lives immeasurably in years past. It is for them that this book is dedicated. The first is Matthew Eder, whose nickname was Sonny. He was my best friend since childhood in Spokane, Washington, where we were both born and raised. The second is David Iverson, Kathys nephew, a gregarious and loving young man with many interests. The third is David Piazza, very similar to Kathys nephew but a decade older, the son of our friends Roger and Joann Piazza. All three of these men died too early. We refer to them in following pages as the boys in the back. We carried them from Alaska across Spain to the Atlantic Ocean, where we cast their ashes into the surf on a beautiful sunshiny day. We miss them.