Old School

[scruffy1]

I am an Old School Pilgrim, too set in my ways, I can understand and accept the Cell Phone priorities sweeping today's Pilgrim community back in the good old bad days coin-fed albergue computers working as fast as bicycle pedals were good enough for a daily message. I can understand that many Pilgrims these days cannot devote too much time to the Camino and prefer to fast-track it in from Sarria or Porto while losing the camaraderie built over days and days of walking with other pilgrims . My only real regrets concern the certificate you receive in SdC. The Better Half won't allow me to display all my certificates so I will present only my displeasure, see here one Old School Certificate from a Holy Year, the other, the modern version now in fashion. Happy with both not hard to see which one I prefer

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

I am an Old School Pilgrim, too set in my ways, I can understand and accept the Cell Phone priorities sweeping today's Pilgrim community back in the good old bad days coin-fed albergue computers working as fast as bicycle pedals were good enough for a daily message.

Computer's!?!? DAILY messages?? Hardly old school!

What happened to a postcard every few weeks or so, or even ( rainy evening in an empty Hostel) a letter !

 

[cecelia]

Speaking of old school.... on my first two caminos in 2003 and 2005, I would buy a phone card at a Tabac shop for 7 Euros. It gave me 200 minutes to phone home from Canada from the local phone booths (which were then everywhere).
No other phones, almost no guidebooks and, I now wonder when the cement guideposts were installed because it seemed to me that the route was mostly defined by painted yellow arrows on rocks, trees, and on the sides of buildings. Does anyone know when the cement posts were installed? I do think there were some back then.

 

[babikeski]

I can appreciate what everyone is saying. I wish my situation were more like yours. If not for technology I would not have been able to walk three full Caminos in the past 2 years. And, another this September. I have a business that requires me to be available sometimes. I even need to carry the lightest laptop I could find.
I did not use a trail app on the first one but was grateful I did on the Norte. Maybe in a few years, I'll be able to leave most of the technology behind.

 

[Bradypus]

Computer's!?!? DAILY messages?? Hardly old school!

What happened to a postcard every few weeks or so, or even ( rainy evening in an empty Hostel) a letter !

My first Camino was the year before the World Wide Web reached the general public. And also the year before the first GSM digital phone network. For all practical purposes no internet, no mobile phone service, and no email. When I reached Zubiri I bought 30 stamps for postcards to friends and family. I collected post from the Lista de Correos in a couple of towns along the way and phoned back to the UK from payphones three or four times. Hard to remember it here and now without sounding like the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch or the marvellous "Capstick Comes Home" monologue. "Old school? Luxury!"

 

[WayWalker]

I cherish my old school compostella!

 

[Grousedoctor]

I can understand that many Pilgrims these days cannot devote too much time to the Camino and prefer to fast-track it in from Sarria or Porto while losing the camaraderie built over days and days of walking with other pilgrims .

Today or even when I did my first Camino, the ability to develop this camaraderie with other pilgrims seems essential to the spirit of the pilgrimage. Seeing those familiar faces day after day in the trail, breaking bread with them at pilgrim dinners, or just sitting in the town square chatting at the end of the day adds IMHO that human component for why many of us walk. So although technology has changed many aspects of the Camino experience, some of the core ingredients are still alive and well.

 

[scruffy1]

Computer's!?!? DAILY messages?? Hardly old school!

What happened to a postcard every few weeks or so, or even ( rainy evening in an empty Hostel) a letter !

My first Camino was 2008 phone cards and wonky computers, does qualify me for Old School, on a later Camino there was some guy with a satellite phone something he size of a shoebox/ also could not relate

 

[grayland]

Phone cards and phone booths....a much simpler and relaxed era.
I miss it!

 

[gordon1]

My first Camino was 2008 phone cards and wonky computers, does qualify me for Old School, on a later Camino there was some guy with a satellite phone something he size of a shoebox/ also could not relate

 

[gordon1]

Well Sure it's great the latest phones.But you know mobile technology was around when I had an Eriksson tri band 900/1800/1900 flip top which allowed me to connect global with my laptop. The year 1986..Really I prefer the no contactable solitude and chance to just chat with fellow folk. Yes the odd one out.

 

[Mzlaidlaw]

My first Camino was the year before the World Wide Web reached the general public. And also the year before the first GSM digital phone network. For all practical purposes no internet, no mobile phone service, and no email. When I reached Zubiri I bought 30 stamps for postcards to friends and family. I collected post from the Lista de Correos in a couple of towns along the way and phoned back to the UK from payphones three or four times. Hard to remember it here and now without sounding like the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch or the marvellous "Capstick Comes Home" monologue. "Old school? Luxury!"

Luxury... In my day we slept in a lake...

Love a Four Yorkshiremen reference.

 

[Bradypus]

Luxury... In my day we slept in a lake...

Love a Four Yorkshiremen reference

In 1981 I had a room in the annexe of a student hall of residence known to its inmates as "the shoebox". Of course there was a little pastiche of the famous sketch....

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

My first Camino was 2008 phone cards and wonky computers, does qualify me for Old School, on a later Camino there was some guy with a satellite phone something he size of a shoebox/ also could not relate

Umm - I was thinking of the 1980's/90's in order to qualify as 'old school' - definitely pre millennium (2000). Before internet cafes became widespread for example (the 1st of which opened in 1994). Phone boxes that took actual coins.... .

Not, I hasten to note, that I qualify as an 'old school' Pilgrim.

I was most definitely an old school traveller though - reading guide books in the library, going to visitor information centres in the touristic areas, collecting ideas from fellow wayfarers as to destinations, places to stay etc in a notebook ( the paper kind); figuring out how to get to my destinations with a few words of the local patios & sign language - whilst always hoping for that one friendly local who spoke English to come along. Always trying to be one step ahead of the person who was writing the 'Lonely Planet' before they ruined our hidden getaways by telling the world about them. Always carrying food/coffee, a sleeping bag and perhaps even a sleep mat, hoping to find a cheap hostel or pension, but being prepared to sleep in the railway station, in an abandoned building, or under a bridge if necessary. (A disused goat kennel is still my favourite memory)

Much I imagine as the 'old school' pilgrims walked in the 1980's & 90's, with the pilgrim refuges, school halls etc. that some mention from time to time in these threads.

Had I known of the camino back then I would have walked it in a heartbeat.

 

[Mzlaidlaw]

In 1981 I had a room in the annexe of a student hall of residence known to its inmates as "the shoebox". Of course there was a little pastiche of the famous sketch....

I'm a high school teacher and can straight faced deliver lines from it to confused pupils haha

 

[jsalt]

 

[steve392]

View attachment 172890

Love it.

 

[JennN]

This may not qualify for old school exactly but during my first Camino in 2001 we had a primitive version of WhatsApp to get messages to new friends we met along the way. Most refugios (aka alberges) had guestbooks where we’d leave a note for people we’d lost track of. This worked well if they had fallen behind so you could say where you anticipated being on a certain date and time. For those that were ahead we’d rely on one of those fast pilgrims to keep their eyes out for friends to pass any messages on. The Camino grapevine. Somehow it all worked out. I wonder if any of those books are still around, they could be an interesting read!

 

[Flog]

I was most definitely an old school traveller though - reading guide books in the library, going to visitor information centres in the touristic areas, collecting ideas from fellow wayfarers as to destinations, places to stay etc in a notebook ( the paper kind); figuring out how to get to my destinations with a few words of the local patios & sign language - whilst always hoping for that one friendly local who spoke English to come along. Always trying to be one step ahead of the person who was writing the 'Lonely Planet' before they ruined our hidden getaways by telling the world about them. Always carrying food/coffee, a sleeping bag and perhaps even a sleep mat, hoping to find a cheap hostel or pension, but being prepared to sleep in the railway station, in an abandoned building, or under a bridge if necessary.

This sounds like my own travels around Europe in the '80's and '90's.. difficult as it was then, having to deal with multiple currencies, traveller's cheques and paper maps, phrase books and depending often on the kindness of strangers, phoning home with a fist-full of coins every few weeks to let them know I was still alive..

It was a glorious time before the internet and the smartphone!

 

[AJoy]

My first Camino was the year before the World Wide Web reached the general public. And also the year before the first GSM digital phone network. For all practical purposes no internet, no mobile phone service, and no email. When I reached Zubiri I bought 30 stamps for postcards to friends and family. I collected post from the Lista de Correos in a couple of towns along the way and phoned back to the UK from payphones three or four times. Hard to remember it here and now without sounding like the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch or the marvellous "Capstick Comes Home" monologue. "Old school? Luxury!"

My first Camino was in the autumn of last year. I did carry a mobile phone but did not contact anyone but those I met along the Way to maybe coordinate for a meal together or to book accommodation for the next night. I brought postcards and stamps along the way to write home to family. I felt this left me with the head space to immerse myself in the experience, challenges and joys.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

This may not qualify for old school exactly but during my first Camino in 2001 we had a primitive version of WhatsApp to get messages to new friends we met along the way. Most refugios (aka alberges) had guestbooks where we’d leave a note for people we’d lost track of. This worked well if they had fallen behind so you could say where you anticipated being on a certain date and time. For those that were ahead we’d rely on one of those fast pilgrims to keep their eyes out for friends to pass any messages on. The Camino grapevine. Somehow it all worked out. I wonder if any of those books are still around, they could be an interesting read!

Albergues still keep Pilgrim Guestbooks, but they have evolved from Information Exchange boards into "thank-you" notes for the hospitaleros. Gratifying for a few, but not very compelling reading!

 

[oursonpolaire]

During those golden hours of vermut artisinal in cafés before the evening mass, I was accustomed to write letters -- this attracted the notice of pilgrims then and now, and I began a few friendships by explaining this acitivity. And I still do, although I have developed a practice of devising letterhead from obscure places along the del Norte. I still use address labels for my postcards so as to avoid spending too many hours copying out addresses, time better spent lounging and watching tired pilgrims stream into the place.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Be careful with the older form of credential. My 2001 issue has faded to a pale yellow on the artwork and the 2003 and 2012 ones look like they are heading the same way - it's a bit like Marty McFly's photograph in Back to the Future! The signature on the 2003 is almost gone already.
And, no, they've never been hung in direct sunlight.

As an aside I found my Nokia 5110 from the 2001 Camino the other day, charged it up and it works fine, as does the 3410 from the 2003 walk . . . I collect clutter!

 

[Bradypus]

The signature on the 2003 is almost gone already

My 1990 Compostela was stored folded in half inside a hard-cover A5 notebook and the signature still managed to fade to near- invisibility!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I was (and still am in many ways) an old school walker on the Camino. On my first Camino in 2015, I only had my Brierley guidebook. Other than booking my first night, I never made any reservations, even a day ahead. I did discover this forum thankfully for a few additional tips. I contacted home every few days by email only when I could find a way to connect at a bar.
I have still never purchased a sim card for my phone and booking.com has been my friend since 2019 when I started doing some research online. I use Whatsapp occasionally since 2022, and only started using Gronze in 2023.
Compared to many on this forum I think I am still quite Old School.

 

[Silvermomma]

Pretty soon not blogging, vlogging, flying a drone, or TikTokking will qualify anyone as old-school.

 

[VNwalking]

Pretty soon not blogging, vlogging, flying a drone, or TikTokking will qualify anyone as old-school.

Meant as a joke, I assume, but sadly it's probably ¾ true.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I am Old School to my bones. That's why I joined FICS, a group of crabby old arrow-painters and map-makers dedicated to keeping the Camino austere, affordable, and challenging. Their WhatsApp group is a daily dose of "Bah Humbug!" in the best way.
(I am a parvenue, having only discovered the Camino in 1993...)

 

[Raindrop]

This may not qualify for old school exactly but during my first Camino in 2001 we had a primitive version of WhatsApp to get messages to new friends we met along the way. Most refugios (aka alberges) had guestbooks where we’d leave a note for people we’d lost track of. This worked well if they had fallen behind so you could say where you anticipated being on a certain date and time. For those that were ahead we’d rely on one of those fast pilgrims to keep their eyes out for friends to pass any messages on. The Camino grapevine. Somehow it all worked out. I wonder if any of those books are still around, they

Albergues still keep Pilgrim Guestbooks, but they have evolved from Information Exchange boards into "thank-you" notes for the hospitaleros. Gratifying for a few, but not very compelling reading!

Can you look at the pilgrim guest books? Or are they confidential? Can you see if someone has arrived?

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Can you look at the pilgrim guest books? Or are they confidential? Can you see if someone has arrived?

You can look at the guest books, but NOT the actual registrations. Those are covered under the new privacy laws.

 

[David Tallan]

I am an Old School Pilgrim, too set in my ways, I can understand and accept the Cell Phone priorities sweeping today's Pilgrim community back in the good old bad days coin-fed albergue computers working as fast as bicycle pedals were good enough for a daily message. I can understand that many Pilgrims these days cannot devote too much time to the Camino and prefer to fast-track it in from Sarria or Porto while losing the camaraderie built over days and days of walking with other pilgrims . My only real regrets concern the certificate you receive in SdC. The Better Half won't allow me to display all my certificates so I will present only my displeasure, see here one Old School Certificate from a Holy Year, the other, the modern version now in fashion. Happy with both not hard to see which one I preferView attachment 172853View attachment 172853View attachment 172854

I'm not so sure I prefer the design of the "old school" Compostela certificate to the new design. The old school one is designed to look like an 18th century print (or or less) and the newer one to look like a medieval manuscript page. Since the Camino was in decline in the 18th century and at a height of popularity in the middles ages*, the latter actually seems more appropriate. Your mileage may vary, of course.

* I used to say "the height of popularity" in the middle ages, but I think current numbers are giving medieval numbers a run for their money, if not exceeding them.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

View attachment 172890

No thanks. The wifi-free zone does not bother me -- I'm not here to freeload on anyone's bandwidth. I carry my own hotspot for a cost that amounts to decimal dust.
But there's a similarly sanctimonious sign in a local cafe where I would *like* to do work (reading and note-taking), and I do *not* want WiFi so I don't care that they don't have it, but the sign in the cafe says "no laptops or devices to be used here. Talk to people."
So fine.
I no longer go there at all as it does not offer me a Wifi-free zone in which to think and read and take notes. Nope. It asserts that I have to blather away with people at the table beside me.
How did ordering people around about how much, when, and where to interact with others become "OK"?
I'm an adult and I will choose when and where I want to talk to people.
Like... thanks but no thanks to having a chat with people like the woman from the UK whose first words out of her mouth to me were to snipe that I was "fancy, wearing the *posh* athletic tape..."
I could not escape that scenario fast enough. Gulped down my cafe con leche and dumped my Aquarius into my water bottle and was *gone*.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

I'm not so sure I prefer the design of the "old school" Compostela certificate to the new design. The old school one is designed to look like an 18th century print (or or less) and the newer one to look like a medieval manuscript page. Since the Camino was in decline in the 18th century and at a height of popularity in the middles ages*, the latter actually seems more appropriate. Your mileage may vary, of course.

* I used to say "the height of popularity" in the middle ages, but I think current numbers are giving medieval numbers a run for their money, if not exceeding them.

I tend to agree with you about the aesthetics here. What follows is just a riff on the post.
Percentage of world population though? raw numbers vs. relative...
But I *am* concerned about over-tourism environmental impacts in some areas. I noticed on this recent walk that many of the fountains from Astorga to Palas de Rei (where I stopped walking) had been capped... maybe it's drought, maybe it's local cost issues... but clearly it's more than the locals can handle giving away anymore.
There are places where we seem to be a bit like locusts... going through and eating all the cheese, drinking all the wine (the big corporate suppliers may like this, but truly: there's only so much DOP Bierzo wine, Esplette pepper, Queso Tetilla, etc that can be produced in a very small region...).
Just some thoughts as I ponder numbers...
Walking at odd hours I did find even the Frances from Sarria could provide solitary time... BUT being out of my nightlines, doesn't change the impact of 2000 sets of feet travelling the path each day.

 

[David Tallan]

I tend to agree with you about the aesthetics here. What follows is just a riff on the post.
Percentage of world population though? raw numbers vs. relative...
But I *am* concerned about over-tourism environmental impacts in some areas. I noticed on this recent walk that many of the fountains from Astorga to Palas de Rei (where I stopped walking) had been capped... maybe it's drought, maybe it's local cost issues... but clearly it's more than the locals can handle giving away anymore.
There are places where we seem to be a bit like locusts... going through and eating all the cheese, drinking all the wine (the big corporate suppliers may like this, but truly: there's only so much DOP Bierzo wine, Esplette pepper, Queso Tetilla, etc that can be produced in a very small region...).
Just some thoughts as I ponder numbers...
Walking at odd hours I did find even the Frances from Sarria could provide solitary time... BUT being out of my nightlines, doesn't change the impact of 2000 sets of feet travelling the path each day.

I think it is a fine balance. At the same time that these rural areas are being asked to support a lot more pilgrims, they are also needing to support a lot fewer locals. The depopulation of rural parts of Spain as the younger generation moves to the cities is a real thing in Spain. We can be like locusts, but we can also be the difference between the village having a little tienda that is open every day or the village seeing a van coming through once a week, between the village having a bar (which we know is much more than just a bar in Spain - more of a social centre) and not. We can provide opportunities that bring some people back or keep them in these areas.

Overall, I think more pilgrims are probably on balance, good for the area - if they are spread out somewhat over space and/or time. The more we spread ourselves out, the more the area can sustain us and the more the area will benefit from us. And I'm not only saying that because my next Camino will be in November.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

I think it is a fine balance. At the same time that these rural areas are being asked to support a lot more pilgrims, they are also needing to support a lot fewer locals. The depopulation of rural parts of Spain as the younger generation moves to the cities is a real thing in Spain. We can be like locusts, but we can also be the difference between the village having a little tienda that is open every day or the village seeing a van coming through once a week, between the village having a bar (which we know is much more than just a bar in Spain - more of a social centre) and not. We can provide opportunities that bring some people back or keep them in these areas.

Overall, I think more pilgrims are probably on balance, good for the area - if they are spread out somewhat over space and/or time. The more we spread ourselves out, the more the area can sustain us and the more the area will benefit from us. And I'm not only saying that because my next Camino will be in November.

I wish things were more spread out... talked to a bar owner and taxi driver who offered to me that whether there are too many walkers or not is a view influenced by what side of Sarria you live on if on the Frances. A similar observation may apply to the other 100 km points soon enough.
I certainly appreciate the economic viability that a significant tourist/pilgrim population can bring to a village; however, I was shocked by the new hotel going into Villatuerta and the number of hotels that have opened in Torres del Rio since I was last there a decade ago and Spouse was there 6-ish years ago. Torres seems to have more people living in it. The hotel in Villatuerta is going to be a day job for young people who will drive in from Logrono as there's nowhere for them to live in Villatuerta.
So... is that a Navarese village? or just a heap of blow-ins piled into some buildings and served by a displaced population?
I don't know... and it's not for me to decide... but I worry about being part of the problem -- a kind of mobile Barcelona problem...