- Time of past OR future Camino
- Too many and too often!
My first Camino was slightly later in summer 1990. I walked from SJPDP to Santiago in 23 days - so not all that different from these younger people. That sort of time scale would not have been particularly unusual then. There were quite a few long stages between refugios. Private accommodation was also in very short supply. The daily pattern of walking then was often very different from today's norm. With no bed race and frequent long stages people would not normally stop at noon or 1pm as is quite common now. My own preference was to stop for my main meal at lunchtime if possible, rest for an hour or so, then carrying on walking until early evening. Others I met did likewise. As the menu peregrino did not yet exist restaurant meals were served at conventional Spanish hours with an evening meal rarely available before 9pm. Refugios were not usually staffed and there was no general 10pm curfew so eating later was not a problem provided you could stay awake for long enough! If I had found a substantial lunch on a given day then I rarely ate a full evening meal and more often had a bocadillo instead at an earlier time. I know that quite a few people chose to walk the final km or two barefoot though it was not a common practice even in 1990.In the same Peregrino edition, there'a also a report of 20 young Spanish guys, aged 15-18 years, who walked from Roncesvalles to Santiago in 21 and a half days. Their daily schedule (the times when they get up, when they eat, when they rest) is a bit different from today's Roncesvalles-Santiago pilgrims. Also, they proclaim one member of their group as the "king of the pilgrimage" at Monte del Gozo, and when they reach the town of Santiago itself, they walk barefoot through the streets to the Cathedral.
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