Camino de Santiago--Some Background

This Thursday (3/6/08) I will be heading to Spain for a month to walk the Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James). For me, it will be about a 465 mile walk across northern Spain which ends in Santiago de Compostela, the purported resting spot of St James the Apostle (Santiago). Long story short: James the Apostle reportedly preached in Spain during his lifetime. Later after he was martyred around 42 AD in the Holy Land, his body sailed to the West coast of Spain on a marble ship.
Hundreds of years later, in the
9th century, a hermit found the remains of a body in a field. It was determined to be the body of St. James and a church was built. Soon this place, Santiago de Compostela, became a major pilgrimage site with people walking hundreds of miles from all over Europe. The pilgrimages continued several centuries more before dying out.
When I lived in Spain, in the early 1990s, I never head about modern day pilgrims walking the Camino. I visited many of the towns and cities along the route. I visited historic churches, pilgrim lodges, bridges, etc. built during the heyday of the pilgrimage but I never saw, nor heard of, any modern day pilgrims. During the last 15 years, however, the Camino de Santiago, has enjoyed a great resurgence in popularity and each year, more and more people walk the Camino. Last year, nearly 100,000 walked all, or a portion of, the Camino. Like most of them, I too, will walk the Camino Frances (French Way)--so called as most of the routes from France merge into this one main route at the French/Spanish border.
Much like the Appalachian trail, the Camino de Santiago is just there for the walking. You do not have to start at one particular point. You can walk it in phases or all in one go. You can walk with a group or on your own. There is no set amount of mileage that you must cover each day. There is no start date nor finish date. Weather dependent, you can walk the Camino any time of year that you choose. Unlike the Appalachian trail, the Camino passes through many villages, small towns, and larger cities. Hostels are spread along the trail for the pilgrims. Most pilgrims sleep in these hostels and eat meals at restaurants and cafes along the way. Each night they have a hot shower and a bed to sleep in.
Several years ago, when I first heard that people had started walking the Camino, I was interested. It wasn't until a couple of years ago though, when my Australian friend, Philip, walked the Via de la Plata (a longer, less traveled, and presumably more difficult route to Santiago starting in Southern Spain), that I began looking at it as a reality. Most of the pilgrims walk in the summer when it can be terribly hot. Due to the large numbers walking in the summer months, it can be difficult to find a bed to sleep in at the end of a long day's walk. I didn't think I'd be able to endure the heat and a 16 mile daily walk and hours of looking for accommodation so I've opted for spring. It could be quite cold but certainly will be less crowded.
I bought new hiking boots several months ago and have been doing long walks fairly regularly. On weekends I try to get in about 12-18 miles each day and during the week I try for 5-8 miles a few times a week. I probably should have been walking with a pack more than I have and I should have walked more hills but other than that I feel pretty prepared. I'll have to walk an average of about 16-17 miles per day in order to arrive in Santiago. Although I'm starting out on my own, my Spanish friend, Marisol, plans to meet up with me for a bit and my friend Catherine will walk the last week with me.
I'm NOT very computer savvy and have never done a blog and wasn't that keen to do so but several people have expressed interest in keeping up with my
journey and I thought this might be the easiest way. I figure that after walking 16 miles each day I won't have a lot of energy to write witty nor well written descriptions of my day so it will likely be more of a log--a boring log but we'll see.