Has anyone ever considered a Camino "round trip"?

[pgsilva]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

 

[Kathor1]

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

I know that's not your question but I just can't help it. Not necessarily. First of all, I very much doubt that he walked. Secondly, medieval kings had to travel around a lot, with holding court in various places throughout their kingdom, so he may have well been on some kind of (business) tour before, during and/or afterwards. I'm not even sure what is actually known about this trip or whether it's a "tradition has it".

In general, I share your idea, ie a pilgrimage is "there and back".

 

[ksam]

Having walked the route recently....yeah I don't think he walked!! But yes, I've often thought about a return walk. The family might have other thoughts!

 

[pgsilva]

I know that's not your question but I just can't help it. Not necessarily. First of all, I very much doubt that he walked. Secondly, medieval kings had to travel around a lot, with holding court in various places throughout their kingdom, so he may have well been on some kind of (business) tour before, during and/or afterwards. I'm not even sure what is actually known about this trip or whether it's a "tradition has it".

In general, I share your idea, ie a pilgrimage is "there and back".

Having walked the route recently....yeah I don't think he walked!! But yes, I've often thought about a return walk. The family might have other thoughts!

True, I guess I didn't mean to imply that he physically walked. I picture more of an 874 AD version of a line of black limos with flags flying from the fenders!

But he clearly went home, and certainly thought about what he had experienced, and took action to build a second temple there (again, not implying that he actually picked up stone and mortar!)

So the thought of a return trip is intriguing, although I'm not sure what impact, physically, emotionally, spiritually, it would have. Just a coffee-thought for now.

 

[ksam]

walked. I picture more of an 874 AD version of a line of black limos with flags flying from the fenders!.

Priceless!! LOVE that image!! LOL!!

 

[pgsilva]

All I can think of is other pilgrims coming through on the Primitivo waving at me and yelling "You're going the wrong way!" as I go back to Oviedo.

 

[mspath]

October 2015 while walking towards El Acebo slowly from the distant horizon appeared a figure walking towards me; tall, tanned, wearing a beret and bearing packs on both his chest and back he strode smoothly along. When I said "Hola" he graciously greeted me in several languages and explained that early in summer he had walked from his home in Germany down to Saint Jean Pied de Port and on to Santiago. Now he was walking back towards southern France, Italy and eventually Rome. What an itinerary! What determination!

After a short pause sitting on a rock while sharing a few cookies as well as several camino confidences we shook hands and sincerely wished each other Ultreia and Adieu. Each of us moved towards our different horizons but strangers no more. ...He to continue his long distance way and I to go only a short distance further.

 

[jsalt]

All I can think of is other pilgrims coming through on the Primitivo waving at me and yelling "You're going the wrong way!" as I go back to Oviedo.

Yes, they do tell you that you are going the wrong! I reply that it depends on where you are going .
Jill

 

[Jo Jo]

I've seen gobs (a technical term) of people walking back on the CF. Maybe only one percent of the west-bound crowd, but usually I'd see one or two every other day or so.

 

[pgsilva]

October 2015 while walking towards El Acebo slowly from the distant horizon appeared a figure walking towards me; tall, tanned, wearing a beret and bearing packs on both his chest and back he strode smoothly along. When I said "Hola" he graciously greeted me in several languages and explained that early in summer he had walked from his home in Germany down to Saint Jean Pied de Port and on to Santiago. Now he was walking back towards southern France, Italy and eventually Rome. What an itinerary! What determination!

After a short pause sitting on a rock while sharing a few cookies as well as several camino confidences we shook hands and sincerely wished each other Ultreia and Adieu. Each of us moved towards our different horizons but strangers no more. ...He to continue his long distance way and I to go only a short distance further.

Wow. That certainly IS dedication. I bet he accumulated so many experiences on that walk.

 

[Leibniz]

It certainly is “a thing”. I met a few walking back from Santiago on the CF.

 

[pgsilva]

It certainly is “a thing”. I met a few walking back from Santiago on the CF.

Glad to hear I'm not completely bonkers! Now to figure out if it's something I'd like to do......

Jerry

 

[Kathor1]

It certainly is “a thing”. I met a few walking back from Santiago on the CF.

I never know whether to stop and start a conversation or just smile and say "buen camino" or similar. I figure that they've heard "Wrong way!" or "Are you on the way back?" more than enough times.

 

[Leibniz]

Glad to hear I'm not completely bonkers! Now to figure out if it's something I'd like to do......

Jerry

I think it sounds like a wonderful thing to do - I’d be really tempted if I had the time. The cons I can think of are:

- the waywarking won’t be as good as it’s designed to be noticed coming from the other side
- it must get a little lonelier as you won’t keep bumping into the same people (thus making connections) like you do when going towards Santiago
- as you say I’m sure it can get somewhat tedious to hear “you’re going the wrong way” 10,000 times a day

 

[pgsilva]

...

- the waywarking won’t be as good as it’s designed to be noticed coming from the other side
- it must get a little lonelier as you won’t keep bumping into the same people (thus making connections) like you do when going towards Santiago
- as you say I’m sure it can get somewhat tedious to hear “you’re going the wrong way” 10,000 times a day

Good points all. Especially the lack of markings. That may be enough to deter. If it wasn't my first Camino I'd be tempted. I mean, time wouldn't be an issue if I replaced a one-way CF with a two-way Primitivo. But I'd definitely fear getting lost!

 

[C clearly]

Yes, people do it, and I assume it was the norm before modern times.

@JabbaPapa has done it and is planning another one - see this thread.

 

[Kiwi-family]

1) just because others have done it, does not mean you are not bonkers;-)
2) even if no one had done it, you could - someone needs to be first
3) if getting lost is the only concern, then use maps.me and download the track to it - then you’ll always be able to check

 

[Dinkumdigger]

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??[/QUOTE]

After I walked CF,Muxia,Fisterra the last time,I had time to spare so I walked back on the Norte as far as Ribadeo.
I did it without a map or any electronic devices,if I met a local person or a peregrino coming towards me I would ask for directions and managed to not stray too far off route.
I walked in April and in 7 days I met fewer than 40 peregrinos and not one asked me if I was going the wrong way,in fact one asked me if he was going the wrong way!
I really enjoyed walking alone,especially after the CF,and in the evenings there was usually people at the albergue to chat or go out for a meal with.

 

[pgsilva]

I walked in April and in 7 days I met fewer than 40 peregrinos and not one asked me if I was going the wrong way,in fact one asked me if he was going the wrong way!

That's hilarious! I'm going to give it serious consideration. Just changing my mind from the CF to the Norte made me feel like a contrarian, but I'm getting over that.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Walking from home to home, starting in the beginning of January.

Been at some level wanting to do so since the 1990s ...

 

[JabbaPapa]

Yes, people do it, and I assume it was the norm before modern times.

@JabbaPapa has done it and is planning another one - see this thread.

No -- walked from home twice, two different homes, but never so far there and back again ...

But the OP is quite right that the return home should properly be understood as the last stage of any pilgrimage, regardless of the means of transport --- I always suggest to people that they would best turn it into a proper journey, not just transport

 

[JabbaPapa]

I never know whether to stop and start a conversation or just smile and say "buen camino" or similar. I figure that they've heard "Wrong way!" or "Are you on the way back?" more than enough times.

The proper greeting is "buen Camino" -- the a revès is still the Camino

I have seen that a great number of people that you meet on the "other" way, from my previous experience of shorter walks backwards, seem to be a bit shy about how to engage with you ...

 

[pgsilva]

The proper greeting is "buen Camino" -- the a revès is still the Camino

I have seen that a great number of people that you meet on the "other" way, from my previous experience of shorter walks backwards, seem to be a bit shy about how to engage with you ...

Perhaps the greeting should be "como les fue?" How did it go?

 

[J F Gregory]

I met several Pilgrims on our 2017 Camino from Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland that started their Caminos from their front doors and were walking back. I gentleman 69 years old has walked the Camino annually from his home in Northern Germany 7 times in 10 years. Attached is a photo of Rinehart and me at breakfast before we parted ways after walking together for 3 days.

 

[Hansel]

Furthest travelled perigrino was a French lady who we met just before Leon, on the CF, she had been walking for three months , since the beginning of May, and had walked from her home outside Paris to Santiago , along the Norte and onto Muxia, . We chatted to her outside the albergue waiting on it opening, I was pretty impressed, she just followed the pilgrims going the other way which in August was not a problem .
She still had a fair way to go, she had sold all her rabbits except one which her husband was looking after.
Did anyone else meet her, May to October this year ?
Bill, I can't remember her name !

 

[Hansel]

Perhaps the greeting should be "como les fue?" How did it go?

Reply would be fenomenal,

 

[marjude]

I met four pilgrims walking and riding back along the Frances in 2016 and I always stop and have a chat with them as they have some interesting stories to tell about what and why they are going back along the Frances.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Didn't Bilbo Baggins write a book "There and Back Again"?

Met a Dutch Pilgrim while I was working at Rabanal in 2002 who walked from Amsterdam to SdC and back home again - at 83 that was one tough lady!

 

[MinaKamina]

"Pelgrim zonder God"is a book by Dutch author Herman Vuijsje who walked fron Santiago de Compostela to Amsterdam in 1989.

 

[nycwalking]

Glad to hear I'm not completely bonkers! Now to figure out if it's something I'd like to do......

Jerry

If you have time and all else, I say do it.

Buen camino: home, Santiago-Fisterra/Muxia, home!

 

[jsalt]

- it must get a little lonelier as you won’t keep bumping into the same people (thus making connections) like you do when going towards Santiago

Certainly one point for @pgsilva to consider.
See this thread:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/are-you-lonely-going-backwards.55585/
Jill

 

[Stroller123]

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage?

My original plan was walking from Italy to Finisterre and back, but the more I look into it the more I find places I want to pass through, so a ring walk won't do it.
At the moment my plan is more open and includes at least 2 points in which I'll decide once there which way to take. But I won't write it here as it's gonna be OT.

 

[caminka]

I think it sounds like a wonderful thing to do - I’d be really tempted if I had the time. The cons I can think of are:

- the waywarking won’t be as good as it’s designed to be noticed coming from the other side
- it must get a little lonelier as you won’t keep bumping into the same people (thus making connections) like you do when going towards Santiago
- as you say I’m sure it can get somewhat tedious to hear “you’re going the wrong way” 10,000 times a day

all good points.
- the waymarking in spain is tricky, even on CF. it helps greatly to know the route. but if you are returning on CF, there are more then enough people till october to 'show' you where to go. I got lost only once, in a tiny village in galicia, when, for some reason, there was not one pilgrim in sight. going back from muxía to logoso was even more tricky as I didn't know this part.
- I quite like walking by myself so I wasn't bothered by loneliness. it is a bit odd sometimes, yes, knowing that you will not meet the same pilgrim(s) again. but you meet plenty and you get many a good advice first hand.
- I don't actually remember anyone asking me if I was going the wrong way. I did say 'buen camino' a lot. really a lot. sometimes there were lovely short conversations with pilgrims that were curious why I've been walking backwards.

I walked back the whole of CF (fisterra from muxía) and CF (frances) in 2012. the reason was that when I got to muxía I discovered that somehow I miscalculated the days and ended with a whole month extra. I've no idea how that happened but what better way to spend that time then to walk back on CF? (I started at home in slovenia so I've been on the route for five months already.)

in 2009, somewhere around airexe in galicia, I met a german girl with a little trolley who was making a walking tour of europe. she didn't do pilgrimage specifically but it certainly was an intriguing idea.
in 2012 I met two french girls with packing horses on voie du piémont pyrenéen that were doing a several months long round trip around france. again not a pilgrimage per se, but the idea was similar.

certainly most of the pilgrims before the time of the train and the bus and the car and the plane had to return on foot. the rich ones had the privilege of horses and sometimes ships. but all needed to plan for the journey there and back.

so I say, go for it!

 

[Hurry Krishna]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

In 2014, we met a couple in

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

Intersting! It seem a small number of people do return-trips. In 2014 (I was still on Camino L Plate) we met a French couple who had walked over 5000 k. They had started from their home (I can recall where), had walked to Santiago via del Norde and were walking back home via Camino Frances. I was mesmerised. I would have sat up all night listening to their stories - except that my French is non-existent and their English was only a little better.

 

[MaineSally]

I actually plan to start my walk from Lisbon to Santiago at the tail end of March and then turn right around and head back to Lisbon! 45 days/900 miles. Will do an alternate route on the return.

 

[IngridF]

I would be hopelessly lost. 2017 I walked from Sahagun back to Moratinos. I made one wrong turn and went way of course. With the help of GPS I walked across fields and got back on track. Lol never again

 

[Simon B]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

Personally no but in 2016 when I walked the the CF I met two Swiss girls and their dog going East. They said they had walked from Switzerland to Santiago and were now walking home!!

 

[Former member 69452]

October 2015 while walking towards El Acebo slowly from the distant horizon appeared a figure walking towards me; tall, tanned, wearing a beret and bearing packs on both his chest and back he strode smoothly along. When I said "Hola" he graciously greeted me in several languages and explained that early in summer he had walked from his home in Germany down to Saint Jean Pied de Port and on to Santiago. Now he was walking back towards southern France, Italy and eventually Rome. What an itinerary! What determination!

After a short pause sitting on a rock while sharing a few cookies as well as several camino confidences we shook hands and sincerely wished each other Ultreia and Adieu. Each of us moved towards our different horizons but strangers no more. ...He to continue his long distance way and I to go only a short distance further.

What a story!! I love it!

 

[pgsilva]

Didn't Bilbo Baggins write a book "There and Back Again"?

As a LOTR fan, I LOVE the reference!

"Pelgrim zonder God"is a book by Dutch author Herman Vuijsje who walked fron Santiago de Compostela to Amsterdam in 1989.

I'm going to look for that one. Thanks!

Certainly one point for @pgsilva to consider.
See this thread:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/are-you-lonely-going-backwards.55585/
Jill

Thanks! I'm on it!

I have absolute respect and admiration for those that trek 1K+ Kms on their pilgrimages. I'm only considering a round trip Camino Primitivo that would "only" add up to 650 km or so! Great to see that it seems to be a normal thing to do, particularly for pilgrims originating in Europe. I'm going to run it by my daughter/Camino companion and see what she says.

Thanks for the great feedback all!
Jerry

 

[MinaKamina]

As a LOTR fan, I LOVE the reference!



I'm going to look for that one. Thanks!



Thanks! I'm on it!

I have absolute respect and admiration for those that trek 1K+ Kms on their pilgrimages. I'm only considering a round trip Camino Primitivo that would "only" add up to 650 km or so! Great to see that it seems to be a normal thing to do, particularly for pilgrims originating in Europe. I'm going to run it by my daughter/Camino companion and see what she says.

Thanks for the great feedback all!
Jerry

The pilgrim to contact might be @LudoPeregrinus. He is on this forum though I don't know if he is very active, if ever. He is also on Twitter with the same name and posts pictures there - you'll have to dig in his timeline to find his trip from the CP via el Norte through France and back home.

The funny detail about Twitter is that the last entry comes first, and if you are not aware of that, you'll read the diary of a reversed Camino the wrong way.

 

[Phil71]

Not totally relevant but a short memory I want to share. I walked the Norte from Santander this June. 3 weeks of the best times with the best people. I walked alone and met so many wonderful friends. I walk faster than some, usually 35km a day so I left a few behind. I had 1 day in SdC then walked back to the airport on the Camino route. And met nearly everyone that I had left behind. Every meeting was a happy surprise and a blessing. Hugs and smiles all round. This one day was the cherry on top of this Camino. A wonderful wonderful experience. Buen camino all.

 

[Leibniz]

Not totally relevant but a short memory I want to share. I walked the Norte from Santander this June. 3 weeks of the best times with the best people. I walked alone and met so many wonderful friends. I walk faster than some, usually 35km a day so I left a few behind. I had 1 day in SdC then walked back to the airport on the Camino route. And met nearly everyone that I had left behind. Every meeting was a happy surprise and a blessing. Hugs and smiles all round. This one day was the cherry on top of this Camino. A wonderful wonderful experience. Buen camino all.

Love this story, Phil!

 

[Marie Helene Maguire]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

When I was doing the CF Sep/Oct I was at a table with an Irish journalist who was on his 4th lap! It is done

 

[colossalsquids]

When I got to the lighthouse at Finisterre, I met a man who was just starting his camino there. He had traveled by train and bus there, and was planning a "reverse Camino" to walk back to Paris. No idea if he did so, but I think it's a great idea!

 

[Tandem Graham]

I have two stories on this topic.
In 2011 my wife and I took an independent camping holiday in the Spanish Basque country. We had a few nights near Puenta de la Reina and heard about pilgrims passing through the town. We'd heard of the Camino but knew little about it.
Decided to walk a stage to find out some more. But bus timetables only really worked if we walked to Pamplona from Puenta - the 'wrong' way. It was a very happy accident. In one day, we met a full cross section of the Camino community, perhaps 300 in total of whom we must have talked to at least 100. It piqued our interest, and we have since tandem cycled several caminos and .......

I walked the Via Podiensis in April this year. I'm English but the lingua franca of that way is French. It's a quiet route, with sometimes only two or three other pilgrims encountered each day. Somewhere after Aire sur l'Adour I met a relatively young pelegrina coming the other way with a very distinctive bell-shaped hat. We shared the obvious joke in French: 'Santiago is over there! Yes I know, I've been. On your way home? Yes. Well done, good luck!'
Then, a few days later a very fit 40km per day Swiss pilgrim caught up with me on the trail. I mentioned that I'd met very few British pilgrims. He said that he'd shared a gite d'etape with an English girl, heading the 'wrong' way. We worked out it was the same person. She was English but we had spoken only French. But more impressively, she had walked from home to Santiago but had looped down the Portugese Way then back north through central Spain (VdP I assume) and was heading home on a different route through France. A round trip literally.
I don't think my wonderful wife would tolerate such a time away, but what a trip that must have been!

 

[Ernesto.IT]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

NO, what would drive me on, was the thought that James was waiting for me to get there. Nobody was waiting for me back home to rush for.

 

[pgsilva]

NO, what would drive me on, was the thought that James was waiting for me to get there. Nobody was waiting for me back home to rush for.

All of my friends and family are excited for us to experience this adventure. And they’ll all be waiting for us to get home and convey our thoughts and experiences. As I’m sure the court of Alfonso II eagerly anticipated his return with tales of his experience seeing St James.

 

[Gcmacrae]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

On my CF this last summer I encountered 4 people returning to their homes.

 

[michael]

Are returning pilgrims still entitled/allowed to stay in Albergue on production of a Compostela?

 

[JabbaPapa]

Are returning pilgrims still entitled/allowed to stay in Albergue on production of a Compostela?

Just a credencial is fine, including if for example you might have wanted to send your Compostela home by post from Santiago rather than risk damaging or losing it on a return hike, but it's true that it can help to get you a better, perhaps more respectful, welcome in some places.

Apart from that, the conditions are simply identical, though you do get a bit more benefit from doubt than on the way in, and often a more lively interest from the hospitaleros.

 

[lovingkindness]

Are returning pilgrims still entitled/allowed to stay in Albergue on production of a Compostela?

Hi @michael

I've never had a problem staying in albergues when following a trail in the opposite direction to others...

 

[SafariGirl]

Are returning pilgrims still entitled/allowed to stay in Albergue on production of a Compostela?

I did the return route from Muxía to Oloron Saint Marie in France on the CF in the Summer. It’s (un)officially called ‘The Camino Retorno’ and you can get a specially designed credencial for the journey. I never had problems staying in albergues (most Hospitaleros were intrigued by the credencial, which they hadn’t seen before); people coming the other way were very friendly and many were keen to stop and chat about the experience; it was easy to connect with people in cafes and albergues each day (regardless of which way they were going); and I even met up (purely by chance) with a Spanish ‘bicigrino’ who I met on the Norte last year...and he was also ‘going retorno’.
It was my 7th Camino...the only one I’ve done in reverse...and I loved every minute of it

 

[jsalt]

Are returning pilgrims still entitled/allowed to stay in Albergue on production of a Compostela?

Not always:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...0-km-from-lisbon-cathedral.40372/#post-626065
Jill

 

[Walking Lover]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

Many do.

 

[vanrobin]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

 

[vanrobin]

A number Forum members will know this but there is an "American Camino" that covers a lot of the Camino Frances backwards! It all be gan with John Adams, the 2nd US President, who during the War of Independence was travelling to France to beef up the alliance between the (still) colonists and France. HIs ship out of Boston at the end of 1779 began to take on water in a dangerous way and put in at El Ferrol. It was going to take a lot of time to get her back into sailing shape and so he decided to finish the journey to Paris overland which is why in December 1779/January 1780 he set off across northern Spain along much of the Camino route - in reverse. He visited Bezantos, then crossed the Norte into Lugo and then cut south to the Frances to pass through O Cebreiro, Astorga, Leon and Burgos before heading north to finish off in Spain along some of the Norte. A winter Camino was not much fun. Adams wrote that he regretting making an actual visit to Santiago de Compostella to pay his respects to St. James. He was very critical of the priests in the various pueblo along the way. He felt they were living too rich while most people he saw as being terribly poor.

 

[oldchieft]

I seem to recall Captain Henri Sebastian in the film 'The Way' walked the way to the Atlantic, there and back three times.

 

[Stephen F.]

I'm planning to do the Norte/Primitivo next April, so I've been doing some historical reading about King Alfonso II who walked the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. And it struck me...

He must have walked back home at at some point, right?

The Oxford dictionary defines "pilgrimage" as "A journey to a place of particular interest or significance." No definition I could find talks about the journey back home.

Has anyone ever considered reversing their path as part of the same pilgrimage? Maybe not the CF or the Norte, but as I think about the Primitivo, it's reasonable to consider the walk from Oviedo to Santiago and back, right? 25-30 days?

Has anyone ever thought about this? Or did I just wake up strange this morning??

Jerry

A few years ago, while walking the Portugués, I met a Spaniard at an albergue north of Porto who was walking to Fatima (away from Santiago). He said that he lived entirely on the Camino, walking from Fatima to Santiago to somewhere (I don't recall exactly) far East on the Frances, then turning around and walking in the other direction. The hosts at the albergue confirmed that he passed that way often.