Sello "timing"?

[gschmidl]

Apologies if this has been asked, but I've not been able to find anything.

Is there a specific "time of day" requirement for getting two daily sellos on the last 100km? Or could you get one at 8:00 and one at 8:05 and be good? Or should the last one of the day always be from your hotel/hostel/albergue/whatever?

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

there is no specific time. if you only want to get the required two per day, usually one halfway through your stage and one where you are sleeping works.
however, many pilgrims get several every day as there are tonnes of places with stamps.
Buen Camino

 

[Bradypus]

Getting your two sellos for the day 5 minutes apart might raise eyebrows at the pilgrim office. Not really the point to have two from the same town/village as they are supposed to show your progress on the way.

 

[Iriebabel]

Typically you get one when you stop for coffee or lunch or a local church then one at the albergue at night and you will have your two for the day

 

[Dsavid Keyte]

Collecting sellos, is great fun more important to me than the compostela, done three caminos, and none ended up in Santiagoso no compostela, although I have got the San Salvador

 

[Desert Bruce]

The sellos in the credencial have been for me an excellent way to remember the places I've stayed and stopped for a while as well as a helpful reminder of the people along the Way. I created a log of my first Camino, using the credencial, nearly a year later.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

If you stick to the "standard" stages it'll take you 6 days to do the last 100k and there are dozens of places to get sellos - what's the rush? and don't forget it's at least two per day - there's nothing to stop you getting more (unless you run out of space on your credential!)

 

[David Tallan]

If you stick to the "standard" stages it'll take you 6 days to do the last 100k and there are dozens of places to get sellos - what's the rush? and don't forget it's at least two per day - there's nothing to stop you getting more (unless you run out of space on your credential!)

If it looks like you are going to run out of space on your credencial, there are places you can get another. We filled up two each on our 2016 CF. I picked up extras in Leon when it was becoming clear that just one wasn't going to cut it.

 

[Desert Bruce]

I took an extra credential on the Frances and filled both of them up.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Getting your two sellos for the day 5 minutes apart might raise eyebrows at the pilgrim office. Not really the point to have two from the same town/village as they are supposed to show your progress on the way.

I had a German "pilgrim" at the office who claimed to have traveled from Portomarin to SdC in one day and had multiple sellos to prove it.

 

[Bradypus]

I had a German "pilgrim" at the office who claimed to have traveled from Portomarin to SdC in one day and had multiple sellos to prove it.

94.5km according to the Godesalco planificador. Pretty impressive. Not completely impossible though. About 20 years ago I did a 24 hour sponsored walk in Scotland and covered 111km. And felt every single one the next day!

 

[dougfitz]

94.5km according to the Godesalco planificador. Pretty impressive. Not completely impossible though. About 20 years ago I did a 24 hour sponsored walk in Scotland and covered 111km. And felt every single one the next day!

A quick check of the Australian Ultra Distance Walking records shows:

1. Men, 12 hours, residential - 108.290 km
2. Men, 24 hours, residential - 194.490 km
3. Women, 12 hours, residential - 103.217 km
4. Women, 24 hours, residential - 190.984 km

My PB for 12 hours is 59.7 km - well shy of challenging the serious walkers, and not something I have any plans to better on a pilgrimage walk. So, @Bradypus, we are both well short of making the record books any time soon!!!

And the best 100 km times were 10:51:25 (men) and 11:36:29 (women). While some ultra distance walks have been conducted on public roads, these records were all set at track events.

 

[David Tallan]

I had a German "pilgrim" at the office who claimed to have traveled from Portomarin to SdC in one day and had multiple sellos to prove it.

I just finished reading Sunrise in Spain: Finding the Good Life by Hiking the Camino de Santiago, a memoir of her Camino by Theresa Fersch. In Chapter 35 she writes: "Speaking of Santiago, I got a text from Nikolai tonight. He made it to Santiago today! He hiked 107km in 22 hours!" Perhaps it is not impossible. Although, if you are hiking that long continuously, chances are that a bunch of it will be when all of the sello-providing places will be closed.

 

[Bradypus]

So, @Bradypus, we are both well short of making the record books any time soon!!!

I can live with that @dougfitz - never been all that competitive anyway. One of the few people ever to score less than 5 points in my school pentathlon

 

[Saint Mike II]

If it looks like you are going to run out of space on your credencial, there are places you can get another. We filled up two each on our 2016 CF. I picked up extras in Leon when it was becoming clear that just one wasn't going to cut it.

Hola: I was aware of this possibility so I did a cut & paste before leaving home. I joined two credencials together which gave me enough room for about 60 stamps. I think I have something like 40-45. Having started in St Jean with clear evidence of a stamp every day I was not overly religious in getting those two per day from Sarria. No one in the Pilgrim Office made any comment. But if I had started from somewhere like Leon I think I would ensure I had the required number. Cheers

 

[David Tallan]

We didn't start in Leon. We started in Roncesvalles. Leon was where it was obvious that our credenciales would end before our Camino did. So we found which albergue was selling them and picked up additional ones. When the first were full we started on the second. No cutting and pasting necessary. Then, in Santiago, we just showed them both to get our compostellae.

 

[Kiwi-family]

A quick check of the Australian Ultra Distance Walking records shows:

1. Men, 12 hours, residential - 108.290 km
2. Men, 24 hours, residential - 194.490 km
3. Women, 12 hours, residential - 103.217 km
4. Women, 24 hours, residential - 190.984 km

My PB for 12 hours is 59.7 km - well shy of challenging the serious walkers, and not something I have any plans to better on a pilgrimage walk. So, @Bradypus, we are both well short of making the record books any time soon!!!

And the best 100 km times were 10:51:25 (men) and 11:36:29 (women). While some ultra distance walks have been conducted on public roads, these records were all set at track events.

Interesting stats. I did one of those dratted sponsored events - 100km. Took me 26 hours and while it is well short of any record, it was 10 hours under the cut-off time and 7 hours faster than our team had aimed for. I remember feeling so alive and literally skipping along at the 55km mark - but was merely trudging thirty km later which happened to be in the middle of the very dark night!
I cannot fathom 190km. And hardly any slower than the 12-hour efforts!

 

[caminoagogo]

Apologies if this has been asked, but I've not been able to find anything.

Is there a specific "time of day" requirement for getting two daily sellos on the last 100km? Or could you get one at 8:00 and one at 8:05 and be good? Or should the last one of the day always be from your hotel/hostel/albergue/whatever?

As everyone else said, there are no specific times. I always tried to get mine at a church/cathedral somewhere during the day and then where I was staying that night. I didn't want a stamp from an albergue that I didn't stay at and I didn't want a random coffee shop. To me, for whatever reason, they weren't significant to me. Did anyone else impose these rules on themselves?

 

[dougfitz]

As everyone else said, there are no specific times. I always tried to get mine at a church/cathedral somewhere during the day and then where I was staying that night. I didn't want a stamp from an albergue that I didn't stay at and I didn't want a random coffee shop. To me, for whatever reason, they weren't significant to me. Did anyone else impose these rules on themselves?

I considered it, and where a church was open, would get a stamp there. But on my first Camino, it wasn't as often as I had expected it might be and I haven't made it a priority since.

On the other hand, I did try for some more interesting combinations when I walked on the CF in 2016, like collecting stamps at the panaderia leaving Estella and then at Irache.

And I thought carefully before declining to contribute to what seemed little more than a crowd-funding endeavour sometime after Sarria.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Apologies if this has been asked, but I've not been able to find anything.

Is there a specific "time of day" requirement for getting two daily sellos on the last 100km? Or could you get one at 8:00 and one at 8:05 and be good? Or should the last one of the day always be from your hotel/hostel/albergue/whatever?

They do need to be from different locations, so one at 8:00 and one at 8:05 clearly wouldn't do -- but you could get one at 8:00 then one at the next pueblo at 9:30 ; or one at 12 PM, then a second when you reach your albergue at 2-3 PM ... you don't technically need to get a stamp where you sleep, it's just easiest.

 

[JabbaPapa]

A quick check of the Australian Ultra Distance Walking records shows:

1. Men, 12 hours, residential - 108.290 km
2. Men, 24 hours, residential - 194.490 km
3. Women, 12 hours, residential - 103.217 km
4. Women, 24 hours, residential - 190.984 km

My PB for 12 hours is 59.7 km - well shy of challenging the serious walkers, and not something I have any plans to better on a pilgrimage walk. So, @Bradypus, we are both well short of making the record books any time soon!!!

And the best 100 km times were 10:51:25 (men) and 11:36:29 (women). While some ultra distance walks have been conducted on public roads, these records were all set at track events.

There's an ultra small group of the most insanely capable hikers who are capable of cross-Continent ultra-hikes averaging ~150 to ~200K/day ... they don't compete in "normal" ultra-hiking or track events, they're simply not challenging enough. They do insane stuff like the Barkley Marathons -- that only 15 people have completed since 1986.

Apart from that, Olympic walkers (not hikers) can routinely average 100K daily.

I've never been anywhere near that good, but in my youth in 94, the last 100K took me two days. 6 sounds really slow ...

Furthest I've walked in a day is probably a smidgeon over 65K ; nice thing about doing that on the Camino is that you can actually have cyclist compañeros !!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Hola: I was aware of this possibility so I did a cut & paste before leaving home. I joined two credencials together which gave me enough room for about 60 stamps. I think I have something like 40-45. Having started in St Jean with clear evidence of a stamp every day I was not overly religious in getting those two per day from Sarria. No one in the Pilgrim Office made any comment. But if I had started from somewhere like Leon I think I would ensure I had the required number. Cheers

Yep, that's my method -- my credencial for the ultra-long Camino I'm starting on Thursday (!!! ) is eight of them pasted into one.

 

[dougfitz]

There's an ultra small group of the most insanely capable hikers who are capable of cross-Continent ultra-hikes averaging ~150 to ~200K/day ... they don't compete in "normal" ultra-hiking or track events, they're simply not challenging enough. They do insane stuff like the Barkley Marathons -- that only 15 people have completed since 1986.

Apart from that, Olympic walkers (not hikers) can routinely average 100K daily.

I've never been anywhere near that good, but in my youth in 94, the last 100K took me two days. 6 sounds really slow ...

Furthest I've walked in a day is probably a smidgeon over 65K ; nice thing about doing that on the Camino is that you can actually have cyclist compañeros !!

I guess that my original point was that there will be that rare occasion where someone capable of some really long distances will appear on the Camino. There are many people who are prepared to challenge themselves in these longer distances, and some might also find the motivation to undertake a pilgrimage.

On a technical point, the Olympic race walking events are 50 km (men) and 20 km (women). I doubt many race walkers routinely competing at that level train at longer distances, only taking those up in retirement!

 

[JabbaPapa]

On a technical point, the Olympic race walking events are 50 km (men) and 20 km (women). I doubt many race walkers routinely competing at that level train at longer distances, only taking those up in retirement!

The only one that I've discussed this with told me that they do indeed train by walking longer distances than the Olympic ones.

There is (or was) a walking Tour de France, similar to the famous cycling one, and typical daily distances are (or were) in the 100K zone.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

94.5km according to the Godesalco planificador. Pretty impressive. Not completely impossible though. About 20 years ago I did a 24 hour sponsored walk in Scotland and covered 111km. And felt every single one the next day!

Under scrutiny from one of the senior Pilgrim Office administrators he admitted to using a taxi . . .

 

[Rainey]

Collecting sellos, is great fun more important to me than the compostela, done three caminos, and none ended up in Santiagoso no compostela, although I have got the San Salvador

What did you think of the San Salvador?

 

[gschmidl]

Thanks for the insight, everyone. We'll be using the "dual pilgrim" credencial from the Kumano Kodo, so I don't think joining others into it will be as simple, but calculating the maximum per day should be relatively simple

 

[Dsavid Keyte]

What did you think of the San Salvador?

Found it hard but stunning when we did it at the end of April 2015, the worst part was coming down off Pajares, very steep in parts

 

[susanawee]

I had a German "pilgrim" at the office who claimed to have traveled from Portomarin to SdC in one day and had multiple sellos to prove it.

More than a little 'Suss' I would say here!

 

[CharlieWart]

I ran the last part of the Via de la Plata in one day as an ultramarathon last summer (114 km, including going a bit wrong!). I thought the "two sellos per day" rule didn't really work in my case -- I could have got one in Ourense, one in SdC, and that would have been it, but I was sure that would be frowned upon. So in fact I collected maybe 10 stamps to be on the safe side, even though that slowed me down a fair bit. However, the pilgrims' office wouldn't let me have a distance certificate, because doing it one day "wasn't the way!". It would make more sense to do it in terms of distance rather than time (say every 20 km, not two per day), but that would be more difficult to check I guess.

My story and video here: http://www.wartnaby.org/running/camino/

 

[Bradypus]

However, the pilgrims' office wouldn't let me have a distance certificate, because doing it one day "wasn't the way!".

It would be helpful if the pilgrim office could be more pro-active and explicit in stating exactly what is required to receive a Compostela. On arrival in Santiago in November I was told that the final 100km must now be walked on an officially recognised Camino. The only place where I have seen this stated is on the most recent version of the cathedral's Credencial which a pilgrim office volunteer showed me. The one I had received from Ivar just weeks before did not mention this and I am sure that the majority of credencials issued by national confraternities do not state it either. The pilgrim office's own website makes no mention of this. I can see nothing on the website which says that there is a minimum time period in which to walk or run the final 100km either. Or a maximum daily distance to be covered by a pilgrim. If a cyclist covered the final 114km in a single day would they also be refused a Compostela? How does someone sitting behind a desk decide that another person's exceptionally long day automatically rules out a spiritual experience? Personally I would rather the minimum distance rules were abandoned altogether and a return made to the situation before the 1993 Xacobeo when the religious/spiritual intention of the pilgrim was the key question rather than some arbitrary distance walked. Since that is unlikely then I would reluctantly settle for clear and unambiguous rules with a clear and publicly stated rationale and consistently applied.

 

[CharlieWart]

It is a bit arbitrary, though I can't really complain as I did it in a completely non-spiritual manner, and so did not want the religious compostela certificate -- I am well aware the whole system was set up for genuine pilgrims, not athletes. For me it was just a bit of fun to go for it anyway, as a recognised challenge. For certain definitions of "fun" that is

 

[Camino2010]

Apologies if this has been asked, but I've not been able to find anything.

Is there a specific "time of day" requirement for getting two daily sellos on the last 100km? Or could you get one at 8:00 and one at 8:05 and be good? Or should the last one of the day always be from your hotel/hostel/albergue/whatever?

How would the volunteers at the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago possibly know if a pilgrim got two stamps for the day, five minutes apart, unless the pilgrim said so, or the volunteer could look it up in some kind of a sello database? Not likely, I think (even if such a database were possible), given the usual number of pilgrims waiting in line for their turn next, and the dozens and dozens of possible places to obtain sellos!

The two stamps per day rule is a bit of a pet peeve of mine because of the knots I've seen pilgrims tie themselves up into, worrying about it. A first-time pilgrim once tried to debate me on it, just outside Sarria, when I (wanting to reassure him) said I'd walked before and no one I knew of had ever had their stamps counted.

It's a bit tricky for me to relate to because I enjoy collecting sellos from various kinds of places and for different reasons, so I usually end up with more than two per day anyway (and two credentials to get from SJPP to Santiago).

But in all the times I've walked, seven so far, not once has my credential been looked at that closely. No one has counted my stamps. (If someone decides to in future, I'll watch with interest.)

To me it makes sense that the last stamp of the day would be from the place where you sleep, though I've often gotten sellos later in the day than that, from a museum or church or sometimes a shop.

But sellos don't have time stamps. (The photos I take all the way along do have time stamps though -- sometimes two or three minutes apart!)

Buen Camino! Have fun! And enjoy getting your sellos. I suspect you'll have plenty in the end.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

How would the volunteers at the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago possibly know if a pilgrim got two stamps for the day, five minutes apart, unless the pilgrim said so, or the volunteer could look it up in some kind of a sello database? Not likely, I think (even if such a database were possible), given the usual number of pilgrims waiting in line for their turn next, and the dozens and dozens of possible places to obtain sellos!

The two stamps per day rule is a bit of a pet peeve of mine because of the knots I've seen pilgrims tie themselves up into, worrying about it. A first-time pilgrim once tried to debate me on it, just outside Sarria, when I (wanting to reassure him) said I'd walked before and no one I knew of had ever had their stamps counted.

It's a bit tricky for me to relate to because I enjoy collecting sellos from various kinds of places and for different reasons, so I usually end up with more than two per day anyway (and two credentials to get from SJPP to Santiago).

But in all the times I've walked, seven so far, not once has my credential been looked at that closely. No one has counted my stamps. (If someone decides to in future, I'll watch with interest.)

To me it makes sense that the last stamp of the day would be from the place where you sleep, though I've often gotten sellos later in the day than that, from a museum or church or sometimes a shop.

But sellos don't have time stamps. (The photos I take all the way along do have time stamps though -- sometimes two or three minutes apart!)

Buen Camino! Have fun! And enjoy getting your sellos. I suspect you'll have plenty in the end.

If a clerk in the Pilgrim Office is being at all conscientious they will be counting the stamps and the spacing between them, you soon get to recognise where they're from - see my posting above about the man who caught taxis from Portomarin.
Of course if there are 100 pilgrims lined up to get their Compostela, unless there are flagrant violations, they'll get waved through on less than the minimum.
Why not just stick to the rules - "at least two stamps per day" for the last 100kms if you're walking and 200kms if on a bike?

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I guess that my original point was that there will be that rare occasion where someone capable of some really long distances will appear on the Camino. There are many people who are prepared to challenge themselves in these longer distances, and some might also find the motivation to undertake a pilgrimage.

On a technical point, the Olympic race walking events are 50 km (men) and 20 km (women). I doubt many race walkers routinely competing at that level train at longer distances, only taking those up in retirement!

Did you see THIS ONE Doug? 268 miles in just 83 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds and carrying her own kit!
That's like doing a Camino in 155 hours non stop!

 

[Bradypus]

Did you see THIS ONE Doug? 268 miles in just 83 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds and carrying her own kit!
That's like doing a Camino in 155 hours non stop!

I read about that a couple of days ago. An astonishing feat. As a Scot I also find this record very impressive: the entire 95 miles of the West Highland Way covered in 13 hours and 41 minutes. Took me the better part of a week https://westhighlandwayrace.org/2017/06/27/report-on-2017-race/

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I read about that a couple of days ago. An astonishing feat. As a Scot I also find this record very impressive: the entire 95 miles of the West Highland Way covered in 13 hours and 41 minutes. Took me the better part of a week https://westhighlandwayrace.org/2017/06/27/report-on-2017-race/

Good lord, what a waste of such beautiful countryside! Each to their own - I managed 3 miles in and hour and a half last week!

 

[BlaBlah]

Interesting stats. I did one of ...- 100km. Took me 26 hours. I cannot fathom 190km.

I do double day (part two in the afternoon) along the camino. Normal walking pace: 5.5-6 km/hr. For serious walking: there are still plenty of 100km/24 hr events. One of the most popular event in Europe is the Dodentocht.be of Bornhem - near 15 000 participate. I recommend IML for training(multi-day 25 mile events). For longer walks here is a training programme: http://makoni.dk/makoni-2016/traeningsprogram/traenings-forslag/ next in 2021). you could also join this walk on the Danish stretch of the Camino www.Fodslaw.dk and for this that are up to the challenge: 100 miles are called centurion http://centurionverenigingnederland.nl/08inenge.html

 

[BlaBlah]

I do double 'days' (part two in the afternoon) along the camino. Normal walking pace: 5.5 km/h (C2C in UK in 3d last year). For serious walking: there are still plenty of 100km/24 hr events. One of the most popular events in Europe is the Dodentocht.be of Bornhem - near 15 000 participate. I recommend IML for training (multi-day 25 mile events). For longer walks here is a training programme: http://makoni.dk/makoni-2016/traeningsprogram/traenings-forslag/ next in 2021). You could also join this walk on the Danish stretch of the Camino called Hærvejsvandringen http://www.fodslaw.dk/?pageid=41&menuid=46&languageid=0 for those that are up to the challenge: 100 miles are called centurion http://centurionverenigingnederland.nl/08inenge.html