camino Santiago de Compostela, skipping ok?
Posted on November 27th, 2011 by admin
Hi!
For people who have done it already, I’m preparing to take the Camino Norte by foot but have limited time to accomplish it: is it ok to "cheat"? Will skipping a stop or two on the way to save time disqualify us from having access to the pilgrim’s hostels and finally not grant us "recognition" for the pilgrimage itself on arrival at Santiago de Compostela?
T.I.A.
There is no such thing as ‘cheating’ on the Camino de Santiago. This is a pilgrimage and each pilgrim walks it in his/her own way. If you need to skip a stage or two, then that’s OK. You will still be accepted in the albergues, just make sure to get your pilgrim passport stamped regularly.
The only requirement to receive the Compostela certificate, once you make it to Santiago, is that you walk the final 100 kms. For this you must get at least one, preferably two, stamps per day (available from bars and churches as well as albergues), and not skip any part of the final 100 kms.
I’ve walked the Camino Frances twice, and skipped stages due to time constraints and injury. It’s your pilgrimage, so do it your way.
EDIT: Here is what the Pilgrim Office in Santiago says about the distance you need to complete:
"In recent times, the “Compostela” would be limited to those pilgrims who walk or go on horseback for at least the last 100 km or cycle for the last 200 km up to the Apostle’s Tomb in St. James."
November 27th, 2011 at 9:00 am
Sure you can cheat, but in the end you are only cheating yourself.
You don’t have to do it all in one go, you can come back next year/the year after and finish it properly if you want. As long as you have walked to a hostal they won’t turn you down, even if you have skipped a stop. It just means that you haven’t acutally completed that bit and therefore the distance wont’ count. So if you walk from A to B, skip walking from B to C to D and walk D to E, you will get the ‘miles’ from A to B and D to E. That is all they will look at- the total walked, and not in any special order.
You have to have the minimum number of "stamps"/verification when you get to Santiago in order to get official recognition. But doing the walk isn’t just about getting recognition, it is suppposed to be a spiritual cleansing and peace finding experience. You will get out of it what you put into it.
References :
November 27th, 2011 at 9:13 am
There is no such thing as ‘cheating’ on the Camino de Santiago. This is a pilgrimage and each pilgrim walks it in his/her own way. If you need to skip a stage or two, then that’s OK. You will still be accepted in the albergues, just make sure to get your pilgrim passport stamped regularly.
The only requirement to receive the Compostela certificate, once you make it to Santiago, is that you walk the final 100 kms. For this you must get at least one, preferably two, stamps per day (available from bars and churches as well as albergues), and not skip any part of the final 100 kms.
I’ve walked the Camino Frances twice, and skipped stages due to time constraints and injury. It’s your pilgrimage, so do it your way.
EDIT: Here is what the Pilgrim Office in Santiago says about the distance you need to complete:
"In recent times, the “Compostela” would be limited to those pilgrims who walk or go on horseback for at least the last 100 km or cycle for the last 200 km up to the Apostle’s Tomb in St. James."
References :
http://peregrinossantiago.es/eng/