Clarification on 100km

[LizzieW]

Has there been any clarification on the 100km rule for the Compostela? Wanting to verify,that as long as you walk 100km on the Camino, and end up in Santiago, it does not have to be a *continous* 100kms.

Is this what the understanding is?

Thank you.

 

[trecile]

No clarification on the new rule. You can be sure that someone here will post it when it happens.

 

[Tincatinker]

Has there been any clarification on the 100km rule for the Compostela? Wanting to verify,that as long as you walk 100km on the Camino, and end up in Santiago, it does not have to be a *continous* 100kms.

Is this what the understanding is?

Thank you.

No! There is no understanding

 

[SYates]

The situation continues to be confusing, so, for the moment:
If you want a Compostela walk the last 100km into Santiago AND get two stamps a day on these last 100km.
BC SY

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

I emailed the Pilgrim's Office last week and they have answered.

Their answer:

You must...

1. Walk 100 kms, which do not have to be continuous.
2. However, your last stage must be into Santiago. For some reason the person who answered considered Arzúa - Santiago to be the last stage. IMO, that's a long and not standard last stage.
3. Get two stamps per day, but still only on last 100 kms

That was it.

This answer fits the requirements as stated on the Pilgrim's Office's website. However, what remains unclear, at least for me, is what the Pilgrim Office considers as the last stage on each route. I am guessing that these would be Pedrouzo, Padrón, Sigüeiro and...

Happy New Year and Buenos Caminos in 2025

 

[Pafayac]

The difficulty for the Pilgrim Office will be the checking of the sum of kilometers which should reach 100km...

 

[Camino Chrissy]

The difficulty for the Pilgrim Office will be the checking of the sum of kilometers which should reach 100km...

Yes, it sounds to me like it will be a "headache" to sort out for those who work or volunteer in the Pilgrim office.
When I got my Compostela for walking the Sanabres last spring, I did not request a distance certificate, but they then asked me if I wanted one so I said "sure". The computer printout automatically showed that I had only walked from Ourense, but I'd actually walked an additional 160 km from Rio del Puente. I didn't really care, but the computer system apparently has only set distances on many routes. It seems the task of checking the sellos from "hither and yon" according to the new rule may be a nuisance. Many of the credentials will now possibly need to be scrutinized closer and entered manually for both the Compostela and distance certificate.

 

[GregorMc]

If the Pope is going to walk the final 100 km from Sarria this year then I suspect that, whatever the Canon says, his pilgrimage will reinforce the current understanding for most. However, the controversy will continue. And the week before July 25th is going to be mayhem on the Sarria to Santiago route!

 

[Bradypus]

If the Pope is going to walk the final 100 km from Sarria this year then I suspect that, whatever the Canon says, his pilgrimage will reinforce the current understanding for most.

I think you may have seen the same post on Facebook that I did this morning. Call me a cynic but I'm inclined to think it is fake news....

PS: Just spotted another slightly dubious one. The cathedral's plan to do away with tiraboleiros and fly the botafumeiro using drones. Today's date might be significant...

El Papa Francisco peregrinará a Santiago en 2025

Son muchos los personajes históricos que han recorrido el Camino de Santiago, entre ellos, ya conocemos a Alfonso II de Asturias, Alfonso III de Asturias, Santo Domingo de la Calzada y otros personajes ilustres. Una gran cantidad de personas influyentes han peregrinado por algunos tramos de la...

www.lascamisetasdelcamino.com

 

[AchimBerlin]

Frankly, this recurring discussion gives me a headache. All this sidestepping, bus-trecking, excuses to not walk certain stages.
Maybe we all should remember what the Camino is and ever was: a pilgrimage, an effort, a challenge, a way to find out about yourself - be it your faith, your perseverance, being alone or finding solace in nature or friendship with perfect and not so perfect strangers.
It’s not a picture perfect, planable holiday with a menue to choose from.
So if you’re religious, spiritual, sports-oriented, culturally interested or nothing of the above:
Just walk - and expect nothing but the unexpected.

 

[GregorMc]

I think you may have seen the same post on Facebook that I did this morning. Call me a cynic but I'm inclined to think it is fake news....

El Papa Francisco peregrinará a Santiago en 2025

Son muchos los personajes históricos que han recorrido el Camino de Santiago, entre ellos, ya conocemos a Alfonso II de Asturias, Alfonso III de Asturias, Santo Domingo de la Calzada y otros personajes ilustres. Una gran cantidad de personas influyentes han peregrinado por algunos tramos de la...

www.lascamisetasdelcamino.com

Ahhh, that’s a shame. I did think the shameless promotion of t-shirts and an AI generated photo was suspicious but the holiday spirit briefly melted my cynicism

 

[Pafayac]

The Pope intended to, but the Pilgrim Office was not ready to agree the Papamobile as a possible transportation means, like feet, bike or horse...

 

[jrewins]

Once again, in pursuit of , the tour operators are attempting to prostitute the Camino. The Camino is NOT an endeavor to be manipulated by bending or micro interpreting rules to “game” the system. And while the Pilgrim’s Office may be willing to collect and total non-contiguous segments of Camino routes, the intent of the 100 km requirement is to recognize those individuals who commit to, and complete, walking (not riding in a bus) a minimum distance with two cellos/day as documentation. If the piece of paper on your trophy wall is so important to you, then get out and do the work.

 

[Bradypus]

to recognize those individuals who commit to, and complete, walking (not riding in a bus) a minimum distance with two cellos/day as documentation.

Just checked my calendar again and breathed a sigh of relief to see that it is indeed 28 December. Not even the Santiago pilgrim office would make that a precondition of receiving a Compostela. At least I hope not.....

 

[trecile]

To clarify the posts commenting on today's date - December 28th is the Day of the Innocents in Spain, and is treated like April Fool's Day elsewhere with practical jokes.

What is Day of the Innocents? Why Spain celebrates its own April Fools' Day on December 28 - Olive Press News Spain

EVERY December 28, Spain marks the Dia de los Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents’ Day) which is somewhat similar to April Fools’ Day. It’s the day to look

www.theolivepress.es

 

[jungleboy]

I think you may have seen the same post on Facebook that I did this morning. Call me a cynic but I'm inclined to think it is fake news....

PS: Just spotted another slightly dubious one. The cathedral's plan to do away with tiraboleiros and fly the botafumeiro using drones. Today's date might be significant...

I also got briefly caught out by something this morning saying that from January the minimum distance for a Compostela would be increased to 200km, before realising that December 28 is an April Fools' Day type of thing in Spain.

 

[joramos]

The difficulty for the Pilgrim Office will be the checking of the sum of kilometers which should reach 100km...

When I volunteered at the Pilgrims Office in Santiago in 2023, I checked the starting point in the pilgrim's credencial then the last 100 kms (usually Sarria-116 +/-) followed by the "2 cellos" in each of the stages into Santiago. If this was satisfied, compostela was issued. Othewise, I referred to the permanent staff. The computer at the Pilgrims Office has a pretty accurate distance listings, particularly of the popular starting points; SJPdP, Roncesvalles, Burgos, Ponferrada, Oviedo, Porto, etc. The only time the permanent staff had to approximate distances are when pilgrims started their pilgrimmage in distant places like Austria, Germany, Hungary, Netherland, Slovenia, etc and they use Google Map. The corresponding pilgrims were immensely happy to receive a Distance Certificate crediting them with a pilgrimmage of several thousands of kilometers!

For those who completed the pilgrimmage in not "continuous" walk, in different instalments, say different years, I checked where and when the different walks started and ended, followed by when and where the pilgrimmage resumed, leading to the "last 100 kms" into Santiago, and the corresponding required "cellos".

I strongly agree with @AchimBerlin -

"Maybe we all should remember what the Camino is and ever was: a pilgrimage, an effort, a challenge, a way to find out about yourself - be it your faith, your perseverance, being alone or finding solace in nature or friendship with perfect and not so perfect strangers.
It’s not a picture perfect, planable holiday with a menue to choose from.
So if you’re religious, spiritual, sports-oriented, culturally interested or nothing of the above:
Just walk - and expect nothing but the unexpected."

Saludos y Buen Camino a todos.

 

[Kathor1]

I emailed the Pilgrim's Office last week and they have answered.

Their answer:

You must...

1. Walk 100 kms, which do not have to be continuous.
2. However, your last stage must be into Santiago. For some reason the person who answered considered Arzúa - Santiago to be the last stage. IMO, that's a long and not standard last stage.
3. Get two stamps per day, but still only on last 100 kms

That was it.

Thank you, @jefferyonthecamino!

This is the first time since the APO video interview with Canon Victor Suárez Gondar who is a member of the Cabildo of the Cathedral of Santiago that somebody has written to the Pilgrim Office and asked about this potential change for obtaining a Compostela and got a reply. And who reports about these feats.

The reply appears to confirm what transpired in the somewhat confusing Zoom interview which is published on YouTube.

Let us hope that the information in this PO email comes from the higher echelons in the PO or from the Chapter hierarchy and is not based on Facebook groups or what a pilgrim told them who had read it on Facebook ...

So we are really none the wiser other than:

• Up to now it was possible to walk some 25 km in England or in Ireland or anywhere else in the world and then walk the 75 km from Coruña to Santiago. This relatively new option made some sense as it was a nod to the medieval Santiago pilgrims who sailed over the sea from the British Isles or from Scandinavia and the northern parts of Europe, and who disembarked in Coruña which was a major port in the Middle Ages.
• Now it seems as if any combination of kilometres here and there are sufficient, supplemented by an "etapa" of unspecified length in kilometres that ends in Santiago, as long as the total adds up to at least 100 km, and this last etapa can be walked on the Camino Francés or on any other 'official' Camino path in Galicia. It is no longer confined to the Camino Inglés.

IF this is indeed so, then: Are there any plans to put this whole new thing in writing on the website of the Pilgrim Office and in the credencials, or do Camino pilgrims who wish to obtain a Compostela in the near future under such a new system have to continue to rely on information on social media and on word of mouth?

 

[Kathor1]

For those who completed the pilgrimmage in not "continuous" walk, in different instalments, say different years, I checked where and when the different walks started and ended

There is geographical continuity and temporal continuity.

Up to now, geographical continuity was a requirement for obtaining a Compostela. Temporal continuity had never been a requirement. During the last few decades, it has always been possible to stop on a given day and to pick up the Camino a week later, or 6 months later, or the following year but it had to been done at the same location. This has always been an option for the last 100 km and it has been and still is explicitly stated on the website of the Pilgrim Office.

The current fuss on social media and on this forum is about the potential end to the requirement for geographical continuity.

 

[trecile]

Since there is still nothing official clarification on the Pilgrim Office website I will close this thread which is purely speculative. I guarantee that as soon as it's official on the PO website that someone will post it here.

BTW, the language on the Spanish version of the site has changed, but it is still not entirely clear - it doesn't mention walking (or cycling or riding a horse) on the final stage, or what that final stage entails.

This is what it says in Spanish:

Requesitos para recibir la Compostela:​

• Peregrinación a pie o a caballo: haber caminado 100 km por cualquiera de las rutas reconocidas como oficiales por la S.A.M.I. Catedral de Santiago.
• Peregrinación a vela: haber navegado 100 millas náuticas y terminar el resto del Camino a pie desde el puerto en el que se haya desembarcado, con los correspondientes sellos en la credencial de las etapas que se hagan a pie.
• Peregrinación en bicicleta: haber recorrido 200 km por cualquiera de las rutas reconocidas como oficiales por la S.A.M.I. Catedral de Santiago.
• Peregrinación en silla de ruedas: por tratarse de un caso especial, contactar con el Centro Internacional de Acogida al Peregrino.
• En la credencial deberán figurar al menos dos sellos por día con la fecha correspondiente, obtenidos en cualquier establecimiento con la finalidad de acreditar la estadía en dicho lugar.
• Realizar la peregrinación hacia la Tumba del Apóstol Santiago con sentido cristiano: «devotionis affectu, voti vel pietatis causa» por cualquiera de los caminos oficiales reconocidos por la S.A.M.I. Catedral de Santiago.

Here's the Google translation to English:

Requirements to receive the Compostela:​

• Pilgrimage on foot or on horseback : having walked 100 km along any of the routes recognised as official by the SAMI Santiago Cathedral.
• Pilgrimage by sail : having sailed 100 nautical miles and completing the rest of the Camino on foot from the port where you disembarked, with the corresponding stamps on the credential for the stages you completed on foot.
• Bicycle pilgrimage : having traveled 200 km along any of the routes recognized as official by the SAMI Santiago Cathedral.
• Pilgrimage in a wheelchair : as this is a special case, please contact the International Pilgrim Reception Centre.
• The credential must contain at least two stamps per day with the corresponding date, obtained at any establishment in order to prove the stay at that place.
• Make the pilgrimage to the Tomb of the Apostle Santiago with a Christian meaning : "devotionis affectu, voti vel pietatis causa" by any of the official routes recognized by the SAMI Cathedral of Santiago.

There is also this:

Spanish:

• La meta del Camino es la Tumba del Apóstol en la ciudad de Santiago de Compostela, por tanto, se peregrina en este sentido. Cuando se emprende la peregrinación, se elige un camino oficial y se peregrina por la misma ruta elegida, sin alternar ni mezclar las rutas de peregrinación.

English:

• The goal of the Camino is the Tomb of the Apostle in the city of Santiago de Compostela, so the pilgrimage is made in this sense. When you set out on the pilgrimage, you choose an official route and you follow the same chosen route, without alternating or mixing pilgrimage routes.