10 good things about the Camino

There are many good things about the Camino, too many to go through in one post, so here's ten to start on.

Walking - you get to see so much more of a country when you walk through it, you get a better understanding of what it's like than if you take a car through and of course walking is great exercise!
Simplicity - you're concerns on the Camino become very simple as you go: finding a bed and finding food and that is all that you really need. Things just slow down to walking pace and your normal concerns can disappear and it givesyou a chance to work out what's actually important to you.
Sellos - I love collecting the stamps on my credential, afterwards you can look back and remember your Camino from just these
People - you meet people from all over the world and form a fellowship with them all where you help each other and everyone is at peace with each other. I also spend time with my family on the Camino and that's wonderful.
Arriving at Santiago - there is such a sense of achievement and happiness when you arrive,there is no other feeling like it.
Food - it's cheap and tasty and there is a chance to try the regional delicacies (is cakes, cheese and chocolate!)
Cost - life on the Camino is cheap, if you cook for yourself and stay in municipal lbergues then you will only spend about €10 a day (although I always allow €20)
Mountains - when you climb to the top and a mountain or a hill and look back over the view it's amazing (unless it's raining of course, then it's just misty!)
History - there are a lot of Roman remains and mediaeval Churches and buildings to see as well as the fact that you're walking where so many millions have been before
When you go on holiday any where else the hotel rooms always look massive!

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The Camino Primitivo

The Camino Primitivo (or the Original Way) is reportedly the very first Camino Way to Santiago in the 9 th century when most of Spain was under the control of the Moors and it runs from near the city of Ovideo in Asturias as it starts in Villavicosa (which also lies on the Camino Norte so many people follow this Way from Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun ( this route then hugs the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heads along the coast to Ovideo) before branching off onto the Primitivo which goes across the mountains and through the city of Lugo before joining the Frances at Melide. The route is 320km long. Image taken from https://viaalpina2013.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/camino-del-norte-camino-primitivo/

Symbols of the three main Christian Pilgrimages

The symbol of the Pilgrim to Santiago is the Scallop shell of which many can be found on the coast of Galicia and it is actually a symbol of the Pilgrimage (and has become a symbol of other Christian Pilgrimages too) partly because you could find the shell easily there and so could go back home and show it off as proof that you had done the Pilgrimage. It has also been included in carvings in some Churches.

Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

I have only walked two of the Camino routes (the Frances and Portuguese) and still want to try many of the others and yet I am also finding other Pilgrimage routes that I want to walk - I did the Pilgrims' Way in the summer which starts from Winchester which is also the starting point for the Pilgrims' Trail a 155 mile route that finishes at Mont St Michel in Normandy, France. The cult of saint Michel was popular in Britain from the 9th century and the Pilgrims walking this way were called Miquelots and many Pilgrims on their way to Santiago. The route is marked by green way markers in Hampshire taking walkers from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham to Southwick and then to Portsmouth where ferries are caught to France and Way markers become blue. Tradition says that, in 709 Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and told him to build a chapel in his honour on the island. The bishop obeyed and soon sent a group of monks over...

On the Camino

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