WALKING TO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
WALKING THE PORTUGUESE CAMINO FROM PORTO TO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
The wind was blowing harshly in from the cold Atlantic Sea on my left as we walked north along the deserted beach leaving the historic city of Porto behind us. We were on the first day of the Portuguese Camino in late May and our destination was Santiago de Compostela which was 325km, or eleven walking days away. We were two couples, all experienced walkers, and happily our friends spoke fluent Spanish which was a great advantage.
The word Camino comes from the Spanish name for a path, but it has in recent years been used to describe the many pilgrim routes that converge on the city of Santiago de Compostela. Pilgrims of many nationalities walk to this elegant city where the remains of St James the apostle are said to be buried within the imposing cathedral.
Pilgrimages generally involve travel and perhaps hardship too. They usually have a shrine or some other place of religious significance as the destination. It is important that the pilgrim has to make some physical effort to get there for that gives the individual a sense of achievement which would not be the case if one arrived on an air-conditioned coach. It has been known that Buddhist monks in Tibet will walk to a shrine using prostration every three steps of the way. Another example of religious hardship would be when a Muslim fasts between dawn and dusk during Ramadan. In the third century, the Desert Fathers
believed that selling their worldly goods and living in poverty in the desert brought them closer to God.
Happily, modern-day Camino walkers have little hardship beyond the need to walk a long way each day. The various routes leading to Santiago, which is in Galicia in northwest Spain, come in from all directions. The English route is the shortest and starts in Coruna, the port where English pilgrims would arrive by boat, and runs for just 116km and takes 4 or 5 days, while the longest route is The Paris and Tours Way and Camino Frances, which stretches from Paris to Santiago. The full distance is 1,717 km and takes roughly 75 days to complete.
Santiago de Compostela has become a place of worship because of a medieval legend which relates that the remains of the apostle James, were brought from the Holy Land in a stone boat to Galicia for burial, where they were lost. Eight hundred years later the light of a bright star guided a shepherd, who was watching his flock at night, to the burial site in Santiago de Compostela. The shepherd quickly reported his discovery to the bishop who declared that the remains were those of the apostle James and immediately notified King Alfonso II. To honour St. James, the cathedral was built on the spot where his remains were said to have been found.
For this pilgrimage, we used a company in Ireland called Magic Hill to book our accommodation and part of the package was that our luggage would be forwarded each day to the next location. This allowed us to carry very light rucksacks during the walk. Breakfast was the only meal included and we made the most of that, even packing a piece of fruit and a bun from the breakfast buffet to eat at lunchtime. In the evening we would scout around for a restaurant serving good local food, often seafood, for our supper. The food and wines of Portugal and Spain were superb on this route.
The daily routine would be a relatively early start with breakfast at 7 and away on foot by 8. By mid-morning we would hope to find a café or a suitable place for coffee and a rest. Then we would continue until about 1 pm when we would look for a shaded spot, ideally with seating, to eat our meagre lunch. Although it was late April and early May the days were warming up and very dry. In fact, we had no rain at all during the 17 days we were in Iberia.
Our first 5 days were spent hugging the beaches and shoreline of Portugal but when we reached the river Minho, which marks the border between Portugal and Spain, we were forced to take a short boat ride across the mouth of the estuary to continue our route through Spain.
We were struck by the friendly greetings that the Camino pilgrims exchange as they pass “Buen Camino”, but it’s not just the pilgrims, even the locals on the streets or in the fields would also call out with a friendly greeting as we passed. At first, the numbers of pilgrims were not great but the closer we were to Santiago the more people we met on the trail, to the point that there would always be walkers in sight either in front or behind us.
To earn a Certificate of completion of the Camino we had to have our special Camino passports stamped at least twice a day. Many places offered this service but perhaps the most appropriate were the churches and chapels we passed. These gave us not only a stamp but the chance to sit in a cool place and to remember why we were there, perhaps to say a prayer and to think of family and friends.
On average, we were walking between 25 and 30km each day. These were long days, but we soon became used to it, and it was the short stops and interesting sights that made the distance speed by. One particular pleasure was not knowing what our accommodation would be like. It was pleasing that all of our hotels and B&B accommodation were first class and we realised we were fortunate not to be sharing the dormitory-style rooms where many pilgrims were staying.
The four of us were pretty fit before we started and did not have any significant pain or injuries, but we did come across pilgrims with awful blisters and others with typical walking injuries such as pulled muscles, sunburn and sprains. Having said that we did use a lot of paracetamol and ibuprofen to ease our aches and pains along the way.
Our tour company sensibly gave us a rest day after 3 days of walking. This not only allowed us to rest and refresh but it also gave us the opportunity to look around the local area. This was of course very much appreciated.
We arrived in Santiago after a particularly long and hot day on the route and found ourselves in a very busy university city with the streets and squares full of people which was such a contrast to the previous two weeks. It was late in the day, so we decided to visit the very grand cathedral the next morning. We were very pleased to have completed our pilgrimage and were happy to settle into our comfortable hotel.
Santiago is the capital of Galicia and the Cathedral, consecrated in 1211, has elaborately carved stone facades which open onto grand plazas within the medieval walls of the old town. The squares lead into attractive narrow streets that were bustling with pilgrims and students. On this last day we set off to the Pilgrim Bureau where, in return for showing our pilgrim passports and the stamps we had collected, we were presented with lavish certificates. Then we made our way to the great cathedral for the special eucharist service for pilgrims where the queue was long. A highlight of the service is the swinging of a giant thurible, or incense burner, which six strong men swing high until it reaches the ceiling of the nave. The cathedral was packed to the rafters with pilgrims of every country, the taking of the communion wafer, the singing and the spectacle of the soaring, belching thurible all made for a fitting end to our long Camino walk.
Alun Davies