Curious, where and why did you get your Credential?

[linkster]

I know I can apply for a credential before my Camino, but is there any reason to get one ahead of time?
It may generate some excitement leading up to my Camino.
What if I layover for the night in Bayonne before SJDP?
It is one less thing to do in SJDP.

Do most pilgrims check in at the pilgrim office in SJDP?
Is getting your credential at the pilgrim office part of the experience?
Do you get your first cello at the pilgrim office?

I live in the US, but have dual citizenship US and Ireland.
American Pilgrims on the Camino, or Camino Society of Ireland
Is there a reason to get one over the other, or is it just personal preference?

Thoughts or is this already too much thought?

 

[Kanga]

I always get mine ahead of time from Ivar who runs this forum (see his link above "services in Santiago by Ivar"). I often get two so I can stick the second to the first when it gets full - as often happens on the longer routes. They are official credentiales issued by the Cathedral and Ivar is very efficient at posting them out. He also sells very handy protective plastic cases. It's just a small extra way of supporting this valuable forum.

 

[Tincatinker]

Too much thinking amigo Where? First time Peterborough Pilgrims, next time Albergue in Burgos, time after that from Ivar, then one from the Albergue in Leon, then Ivar again & then the Pilgrim Office and then..... dunno yet. Why? 'Cos I is a pilgrim. I may be a slightly stroppy anarcho-pagan pilgrim but I'm still a pilgrim and if I wish to stay the night in a municipal or parochial Albergue then a credential is required.

And that creased, greased and battered piece of paper or card will remind me where I was and when and will hopefully lead me to why.

Buen camino

 

[Bradypus]

Like @Kanga I ordered my credencials for my last Camino (Portugues) and the Olavsleden from Ivar. It meant I could begin walking without having to track one down on arrival. In both cases that would not have been a problem anyway.

 

[domigee]

Got my last one from Ivar but always check in the Pilgrims's office in St Jean anyway so could have got it there....
Got it in Sevilla for the VdlP and before that from a French Pilgrim's association...
As @Tincatinker said 'too much thinking amigo'

Oh and yes, first stamp in 'accueil St Jacques' in St Jean pdePort .

Buen camino

 

[Felipe]

A couple of times I requested my credencial beforehand from a place and association in Toulouse that I particularly like (and it has actually the first sello). Other times, I got it in my departing place.
I suppose that you consider arriving in the first train at SJPP and start walking right again. But a short walk in this very picturesque and little village is really worthwhile (you cross the historic main street in five minutes).
I guess that in the morning there will not be too much people at the pilgrim's bureau. They are very efficient, and give you an useful map and instructions. And its sello is quite nice.
A thing that the Camino has tought me is to slow down...Take it easy.
Buen camino!

 

[Older Guy]

Only done it once. I got mine from Ivar.

I wanted to have it ahead of time.

For me it was part of packing and getting ready. One more thing to cross off the list to make sure I forgot nothing. It was one more thing, I made sure I had, just like my ultra light weight gear, my sports drink tablets I took from home with me and my bedbug spray. The very, very few things I didn't take with me were things that the airline banned as carry-on luggage: a pocket knife with cork screw (for that great Spanish wine) and CO2 cartridges to help inflate a bike tire if it got flat. I made sure I got both very quickly, when I got to Spain.

 

[Purple Backpack]

Has anyone used the pretty Moleskin-type credential from Ivar's store?

 

[KinkyOne]

...and if I wish to stay the night in a municipal or parochial Albergue then a credential is required.

As much as I agree with other things you wrote in your post I don't think that's the rule although some albergues do request official pilgrim passport. As I know you have to present the "line" of sellos from the Camino you walk to stay in albergues. Credencial is a must only to be able (alongside with other requirements) to obtain a Compostela.

Am I wrong???

I walked few days on Madrid in 2014 without credencial (couldn't get it at the Santiago church in Madrid which was under some construction work at the time and noone answered my ringing the doorbell) and it was OK. Apart from the janitor at Cercedilla polideportivo which was solved after I explained the situation and showed the sellos in my guidebook.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

So much anxiety. Take a deap breath.

Got my forst from the local Camino Friends. A rop off as they "give it for free" to paying members, but as a non member you cannot purchase it.

Then on site, at the albergue in Pamplona.

After that at a local shop at home who sells them.

And finally fromthe Forum shop.

If you are looking for a particularly pretty one shop on line and see what they look like and who will sell you one.

 

[VNwalking]

I twice got mine from the APOC
www.americanpilgrims.org/credential-request
And once from Ivar.
It's nice to have it ahead of time--you get the first stamp at the SJPP pilgrim's office or the first albergue.
And I have to say that I like the American credencial better than the official Spanish one, partly for aesthetic reasons but mostly because the paper is better quality.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Appologies, you also asked why we got them where we did.

Local Club: didn't know there were other options.

Pamplona albergue: I had been there before and knew they had had them. It was convinient. And 10% of what the local club charges.

Local shop: super convienient. I was there, they had them for a bit more than the Forum, but they included a donation to the cathedral and shipping cost across the pond.

Forum: when I purchased guide books. They come free with the purchase of a guide book. I bought 2 books and expected 2 credenciales, but only one came ;0(.

 

[Dave2525]

I also got mine from Ivar to support the forum. I got my first stamp at the office in SJJP and checked in to see if there was any info that might prove useful later on.

 

[Kanga]

@KinkyOne as I understand it, the Credential is a requirement for staying in non-commercial albergues. Local practice may vary, and the rule may be falling into misuse, but it was always the means by which one was admitted into the pilgrim refugios, as they were set up - as set out in Sillydoll's post on another thread:

The minutes of the meeting held in Jaca in 1987 to re-establish the pilgrimage route to Santiago makes interesting reading. Those present at that meeting became the Spanish Federation of Friends on the Camino (Amigos).
Basically the discussions went like this:
"If 1000s of pilgrims come, where will they sleep? We don't have enough places for them all and not all pilgrims will be able to afford to stay in hotels."
"Perhaps we can establish shelters for those who can't find accommodation in hotels or pensions and for those who can't afford to spend many nights in hotels. We will look for school halls, parish houses etc. "
"Will they be charged?"
"No, we can make it donativo and they can give what they can afford."
" What's to stop tourists from wanting to stay in these donativo places? "
"The shelters must only be for real pilgrims, we can't have tourists staying in our donativo shelters."
"How will we know the difference between tourists and pilgrims?"
"We can devise a type of credencial - like those three guys in Estella used in in 1964 when they walked to Santiago. Pilgrims will have to have one of those."
"A walking pilgrim not travelling by bus or car will have to have a backpack."
(Don Elias Valina Sampedro, father of the modern Camino, of O Cebreiro parish, was put in charge of establishing refugios.)
"We must not compete with the established hospitality industry by taking business away from them. If there are lots of hotels, hostales and pensions in a large town then there is no need for more than one refugio in that town. The tourism offices must supply pilgrims with the names of all the places where they can stay, including rooms in private homes."

 

[KinkyOne]

@KinkyOne as I understand it, the Credential is a requirement for staying in non-commercial albergues. Local practice may vary, and the rule may be falling into misuse, but it was always the means by which one was admitted into the pilgrim refugios, as they were set up - as set out in Sillydoll's post on another thread:

Is it really the credencial as such or are the sellos important? Of course it helps if the sellos are in the credencial, I can understand that. What's the official about that if somebody knows? I kind of remember as already told that sellos are important for (non-commercial) albergues and credencial (with sellos) for Compostella.

But that's almost like the current situation with "some" (less than 0,000004%) of the immigrants in EU who were recognized/arrested as a terrorist threat. Everything OK with the documents but you never know what lies beneath. And in that light I understood janitor in Cercedilla that a dusty and sweaty guy showed up with just one sello per day in his guidebook might not be a true pilgrim who "deserves" a freeby for a night (in the ladies aerobics gym)

 

[SYates]

I got my first credencial in Roncesvalles upon arrival, since then I always brought a couple home from the Camino, just in case ;-) I don't care very much about what version/layout it is, as long as it is an authorised one. For my 'little walk across Europe' I had the idea to have the corresponding credencial for each country, but very quickly I didn't bother much and just changed them when they were full.
Buen Camino, SY

 

[Gailsie]

I got both my first and second one from the Canadian national camino organization, to support them for the information I had read on their website.

 

[linkster]

Thanks for the replies. No anxiety, and I did not mean to go down a rabbit hole ... just curiosity. I did not think about taking more than one to accommodate extra stamps. I think I will apply for one ahead of time that way I will have it if I layover in Bayonne on the way to SJDP. I will stop by the pilgrims office in SJDP to get my first stamp.

 

[linkster]

Only done it once. I got mine from Ivar.

I wanted to have it ahead of time.

For me it was part of packing and getting ready. One more thing to cross off the list to make sure I forgot nothing. It was one more thing, I made sure I had, just like my ultra light weight gear, my sports drink tablets I took from home with me and my bedbug spray. The very, very few things I didn't take with me were things that the airline banned as carry-on luggage: a pocket knife with cork screw (for that great Spanish wine) and CO2 cartridges to help inflate a bike tire if it got flat. I made sure I got both very quickly, when I got to Spain.

@Older Guy re: bed bug spray, do you mean you treated your gear and clothes, or you brought some kind of spray with you? I haven't seen anyone list a bed bug spray on their packing lists.

 

[movinmaggie]

Got mine through the Canadian Company of Pilgrims head office in Ottawa, before I knew Ivar had them. Oh my, that was just one year ago this week and how life has changed.

 

[Tincatinker]

I haven't seen anyone list a bed bug spray on their packing lists.

Bed bug spray is like 'Fight Club" - no-one talks about...... I don't think I would list 0.5g of Permethrin residue on my packing list.
Advice on that topic is available on the Bed Bug pages along with lots of opinion, theory and downright bunkum. Spray before you stray.

 

[Blastomatic]

Ours are from American Pilgrims On The Camino, but if I had at the time known I could get them from Ivar to support this forum, I would've gotten them from him!

 

[SabsP]

First three of the Flemish Confraternity. When you are a member the Credencial is given for free.
A simple yellow booklet with ,imho, not so neatly stapled paper.
Next two were the official ones from the cathedral bought through this forum.
Seems the Flemish Confraternity will also provide the official ones from the cathedral from now on.