Walking back

[pastorsharon]

My husband, Jim, and I have walked the Camino Frances twice from SJPP to Santiago, in 2014 and 2023. We are now retired in our mid-60's and would like to pilgrimage again in 2026. However, this time we are seriously thinking about going in reverse: beginning in Santiago and ending in southern France. We realize that by pilgrimaging this way, we will miss out on the Camino Family aspect of the walk. But we love the idea, not only of the different perspective of a familiar route, but of completion, of "returning home". If you have walked the Camino Frances heading East instead of West, I'd love to hear your perspective and advice!

 

[Tincatinker]

I've walked contrariwise on a few Camino routes over the years. Never for long. If you're seriously planning to walk the Frances against the tide I think you'll need to plan carefully. You'll need to carry your packs as there's no reverse luggage transport. You'll need a large placard bearing the slogan "No we're not! We're walking home": preferably translated into all known Camino languages and Klingon just in case.

If you want to use any of the Municipal, Paroquial and other exotic Albergues you'll need copies of your Compostela.

Apart from that.... It'll be a great opportunity to get a suntan on the other side of your face

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

If you want to use any of the Municipal, Paroquial and other exotic Albergues you'll need copies of your Compostela.

Which presumably first you would have to obtain by walking at least 100 kilometers towards Santiago. I doubt they would consider a Compostela from 2023 appropriate.

Oh, if you want to translate "we're going Home" into Klingon, there's the 'learn Klingon' group on Facebook:

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[Rebekah Scott]

I have walked eastward, from Moratinos to Najera. I thought I knew that stretch of Camino well, but was surprised at how often I lost the trail!

 

[Gavala]

Do It

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I thought about this today. If you are walking in reverse in high season, don't ask to stay at the traditional pilgrim albergues. If you are not walking to Santiago, you are not a pilgrim any more. Leave the low-cost beds for the people on their Way. (If there are plenty of spare beds, no problem..)

 

[ShoshTrvls]

Which presumably first you would have to obtain by walking at least 100 kilometers towards Santiago. I doubt they would consider a Compostela from 2023 appropriate.

Oh, if you want to translate "we're going Home" into Klingon, there's the 'learn Klingon' group on Facebook:

Log into Facebook

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www.facebook.com

So this is where I get to say that for a brief period of time I dated a linguist who was the founder and Director of the Klingon Language Institute, and was instrumental in the development of Klingon as a real language.

I’ve known many really smart people in my life, but only two truly brilliant ones. He was in the later category.

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

Read the book Clear Waters Rising by Nicholas Crane. He walked from Finisterre to Istanbul, a remarkable journey along the chain of mountain ranges in the early 1990's. The Camino was not so well populated in those days. It's one of the best travel books I've ever read.

 

[susanawee]

I thought about this today. If you are walking in reverse in high season, don't ask to stay at the traditional pilgrim albergues. If you are not walking to Santiago, you are not a pilgrim any more. Leave the low-cost beds for the people on their Way. (If there are plenty of spare beds, no problem..)

Just wondering WHY you wrote that walking the other way, precludes you from being a pilgrim?

 

[pastorsharon]

I thought about this today. If you are walking in reverse in high season, don't ask to stay at the traditional pilgrim albergues. If you are not walking to Santiago, you are not a pilgrim any more. Leave the low-cost beds for the people on their Way. (If there are plenty of spare beds, no problem..)

Rebekah, please explain your thought process a bit more. Don't pilgrims have to return home? If someone chooses to walk for only a week or two without actually arriving in Santiago (say, from Pamplona to Burgos), does that mean they are not a pilgrim? I take The Way quite seriously, never treating it as simply a "walking vacation" but as a time to connect with God. Please help me understand why walking back from Santiago might make me less than a pilgrim than those walking west?

 

[pastorsharon]

I think you'll need to plan carefully. You'll need to carry your packs as there's no reverse luggage transport. You'll need a large placard bearing the slogan "No we're not! We're walking home": preferably translated into all known Camino languages and Klingon just in case.

Not a problem! We have always carried our own packs. I thought about having t-shirts made saying "We're walking home!" but I hadn't thought of Klingon.

 

[Tincatinker]

Rebekah, please explain your thought process a bit more. Don't pilgrims have to return home? If someone chooses to walk for only a week or two without actually arriving in Santiago (say, from Pamplona to Burgos), does that mean they are not a pilgrim? I take The Way quite seriously, never treating it as simply a "walking vacation" but as a time to connect with God. Please help me understand why walking back from Santiago might make me less than a pilgrim than those walking west?

Reb's well able to respond and may. Meanwhile I'll shove my opinion in. It is true indeed that way back in the good old days, and this year too, pilgrims walked from their front-door to Santiago and then they turned around and walked home. Right up until the Wright brothers; Richard Trevithick and Carl Benz walking, or sitting on an horse, was how every body got about.

You are not actually walking home are you. You are planning to utilise the pilgrim network to have a bit of an adventure in Spain.

I'm fine with that. I've used and abused the pilgrim network for decades (Pagans on Camino ). Many hikers and adventurers and curious holidaymakers use and abuse it every year. More so than ever every year that passes. The possibilities even get advertised in the international press https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/the-guardian-discovers-the-de-la-plata.89307/

And all that said, I wish you well. Enjoy your venture. Onimac Neub

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

@pastorsharon , at the risk of breaking rule three I personally consider somebody who seeks the tomb of Saint James by bus, plane, train or automobile more of a pilgrim than I.

However as I understand it the Municipal and Donativo Albergues are set up to serve those pilgrims who walk towards Santiago, although they also (quite rightly) welcome the handful of pilgrims who have received their Compostela and are returning home.

As I mentioned in post#3 above, I doubt they would consider a Compostela from 3 years prior appropriate. As a Hospitalero myself, in your situation whilst I would like to welcome you it would depend very much on the rules of the individual Albergue I was serving in at the time, and the availability of beds.
Without a recent Compostela, should bed availability be low I fear I would be forced to turn you away in favor of somebody walking in the direction of Santiago.

Naturally you will not have this issue with private Albergues, hotels etc.

I wish you well.

 

[Scott Sweeney]

My husband, Jim, and I have walked the Camino Frances twice from SJPP to Santiago, in 2014 and 2023. We are now retired in our mid-60's and would like to pilgrimage again in 2026. However, this time we are seriously thinking about going in reverse: beginning in Santiago and ending in southern France. We realize that by pilgrimaging this way, we will miss out on the Camino Family aspect of the walk. But we love the idea, not only of the different perspective of a familiar route, but of completion, of "returning home". If you have walked the Camino Frances heading East instead of West, I'd love to hear your perspective and advice!

It will be a new walk for you.

 

[dick bird]

I thought about this today. If you are walking in reverse in high season, don't ask to stay at the traditional pilgrim albergues. If you are not walking to Santiago, you are not a pilgrim any more. Leave the low-cost beds for the people on their Way. (If there are plenty of spare beds, no problem..)

Technically speaking, this is correct. Starting from Santiago is not the same as walking to Santiago and then walking back to your home or your starting point. I doubt if many albergues will refuse admission though, and all the reports seem to be saying that it is bookable accommodation that fills up and public albergues usually have places, but give it some thought.

Your main problem will be navigating. It isn´t much help when you arrive at a crossroads with a bold yellow arrow pointing the way you have just come. So you will need a GPS, even a simple one like Wikilocs will do the job. Good luck.

 

[trecile]

So you will need a GPS, even a simple one like Wikilocs will do the job

For wayfinding on the Camino a Camino specific app like Wise Pilgrim or Buen Camino is easier to deal with. Or mapy.cz which has all the major Camino routes built in.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Just wondering WHY you wrote that walking the other way, precludes you from being a pilgrim?

A pilgrim has a particular destination. The Santiago pilgrim is going to Santiago. When he's going back, he's going home, hopefully a changed person. When conditions are crowded, he'll give the low-cost beds to the people still on the forward journey -- he's had his turn.
There are tons of accommodation options on the camino nowadays, and it's rare to run into this issue. But in a world where everyone bends the rules and blurs the lines to suit their desires, it's important to have some clarity now and then.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

As a Hospitalero myself,

Peter, I never realized that you were a hospitalero in a municipal albergue, but anyone staying where you were overseer would most likely been blessed to have met you.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Rebekah, please explain your thought process a bit more. Don't pilgrims have to return home? If someone chooses to walk for only a week or two without actually arriving in Santiago (say, from Pamplona to Burgos), does that mean they are not a pilgrim?

There are a few possibilities.

1) You are not walking to and have not walked to Santiago.

2) You are returning from Santiago having made pilgrimage there.

3) You are on pilgrimage to another shrine, Lourdes, Rome, Fátima, wherever.

Some in the situation 1) may not be pilgrims, though if they made a religious pilgrimage to the shrine and then are walking in return, then they would be. I guess it would depend on motive in this case.

Though really, for a project like this, it is better to walk to Santiago first, even if it's just 100K to 200K.

 

[dick bird]

This is veering dangerously close to what is or is not a pilgrim.

Every albergue and every hospitalero (I´ve been one too) has the right/responsibility to decide whether or not to admit anyone who asks to stay. There are no universal rules.

 

[pastorsharon]

Thank you to everyone for all for your input. I will ponder it carefully. I admit that I am a bit surprised that completing one's pilgrimage by walking back (even if it is done in stages) seems to be an oddity. Oh well! There's joy in the journey, whether walking easy or west. Blessings!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I admit that I am a bit surprised that completing one's pilgrimage by walking back (even if it is done in stages) seems to be an oddity.

On my own latest walk back, that I needed to do in stages from health issues, I found that many more pilgrims than previously are doing so.

I used to come upon a handful of pilgrims either walking back to Roncesvalles or SJPP on any given Camino of mine, and the rare bird walking back home, but this year I encountered dozens who were heading back from their pilgrimage to Santiago. Not quite a daily occurrence, but several each week.

Honestly I lost count, and it seems that both the pilgrimage from home and the pilgrimage back home are becoming a lot less unusual or exceptional than they once were.

But really -- if you want to do a return Camino, it's a really, really good idea to go there first in the same Camino, so : go to Santiago, then walk back.

It's hard to describe, but there's a deep benefit that comes from walking back from Santiago after having walked there in the same pilgrimage.

My advice from experience -- walk to Santiago, even if just from Sarria or Triacastela or O Cebreiro or Ponferrada ; or from the Portuguese or wherever ; then walk back to Roncesvalles or SJPP or Saint-Palais or Lourdes. An arrival in Santiago and then walk back makes a huge difference.

 

[pastorsharon]

On my own latest walk back, that I needed to do in stages from health issues, I found that many more pilgrims than previously are doing so.

I used to come upon a handful of pilgrims either walking back to Roncesvalles or SJPP on any given Camino of mine, and the rare bird walking back home, but this year I encountered dozens who were heading back from their pilgrimage to Santiago. Not quite a daily occurrence, but several each week.

Honestly I lost count, and it seems that both the pilgrimage from home and the pilgrimage back home are becoming a lot less unusual or exceptional than they once were.

But really -- if you want to do a return Camino, it's a really, really good idea to go there first in the same Camino, so : go to Santiago, then walk back.

It's hard to describe, but there's a deep benefit that comes from walking back from Santiago after having walked there in the same pilgrimage.

My advice from experience -- walk to Santiago, even if just from Sarria or Triacastela or O Cebreiro or Ponferrada ; or from the Portuguese or wherever ; then walk back to Roncesvalles or SJPP or Saint-Palais or Lourdes. An arrival in Santiago and then walk back makes a huge difference.

Thank you for this input. Since we have already walked the Frances twice, we are thinking about walking the Ingles to Santiago, and only then walk back on the Frances. Because of health issues, this may be my final Camino and I feel compelled to "return home" as the ancient pilgrims did.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Thank you for this input. Since we have already walked the Frances twice, we are thinking about walking the Ingles to Santiago, and only then walk back on the Frances. Because of health issues, this may be my final Camino and I feel compelled to "return home" as the ancient pilgrims did.

I think that is a wonderful idea.
IMHO, the terrible "post-Camino blues" people suffer is due to the sudden whipsaw motion of modern travel. Back in the days when this pilgrimage developed, it was very much a long-term, once-in-a-lifetime odyssey for the people involved, and a lot of them never made it home. Getting to Santiago was huge... and then you had to turn around and shlepp the whole way home! And that gave the pilgrim a whole 'nother long trip to process what had happened to him, and integrate the changes into his daily self. It's a like a book - front and back, bound in the middle.
But nowadays, it's 30 chapters in 30 days, the arrival.... and ZOOM you're on the plane back home, and BAM, you're back at home and work and family. No slow savoring, no talking it all through with fellow travelers over many miles. No wonder people feel so discombobulated!