The Passport - #2

[bill deutschman]

From: "Jeff Jacobs" <jeffjjaTDS.NET>
> To obtain the passport with only 100 km for walking
> or 200 for cycling, does it have to be the last segment
> before Santiago de Compostela or can it be any 100/200
> km segment on the total trail from the French border?

Jeff;

I'm not sure what the church at Santiago will accept but the real purpose of
the pilgrimage is between you and your conscious, god or whoever you have to
live with.  My wife and I are not religious and initially I worried what we
would say to the clergy at Santiago when they asked us why we made the
pilgrimage.   Several weeks into the pilgrimage I realized that I didn't
care if they didn't give us a certificate.  God, Saint James (if they exist)
& I  knew that I had traveled about 1500 miles and it didn't matter what the
locals at Santiago decided.  They didn't even question our motives.

 We met many groups that I considered to be "cheaters" along the camino.
(How's that for being judgmental)  One group were on a commercial tour and
told us how they started at Pamplona and would "complete" the required 100
km by the time they reached Santiago.  For example, they were dropped off a
mile below the Iron Cross, hiked up to it and then down a mile or so where
the vans picked them up and then drove on to the next "interesting" section.
They even told us how they had walked the meseta for an hour to "experience
it".

Please don't "do the Camino" to get the certificate,  become a pilgrim for
the experience.  We were lucky that we could spend 10 weeks on the Camino
and I now wish I had walked from Le Puy rather than cycled but we decided we
didn't have the time to walk it. However we met many pilgrims who were
walking the whole way and several that were walking back to their homes.  I
am now starting to think about a walking pilgrimage from Paris to Santiago
since I talked to other old (62yrs) people who did it.

bill deutschman
olcbillafireserve.net