There is no one Camino de Santiago, in fact there are six. But there is only one way to get your Compostella, that is the official certificate, to walk the last 100 km on your own two feet. That means one must start at Saria and walk the rest of the way to Santiago de Compostella. What you do before that, which route you take and how you take it is up to you.
The Camino Frances is our chosen route, and as noted at the start of this blog, it is traditionally started in St Jean Pied de Port, France. But you can start anywhere. In fact, a lot of Europeans do the walk over a number of years, a week here and a week there, as there is no time limit on the walk, you just have to do it. We even talked to one man who has done a number of weekends. There are some people who feel it is only real if you walk it all in one swoop, and carry your backpack the entire way. I am not one of those. But the prevailing belief is do it whenever and however you are able. That in fact is the true spirit of the Camino. Some people taxi or bus to skip sections, send their backpacks ahead, it's all good.
So, after all that, there was considerable discussion as to whether I should be walking at all today because of the groin issue. Initially I agreed to take a day off, but eventually changed my mind and sent my bag ahead to the alberque we reserved the day before. Off we went at 6 am, Mary Lou and the Freddy girls first, Nick, Judy and I shortly after, then the speedy Will about twenty minutes later. The walk of course started in the dark and ran along the paved road for about four kilometres until we hit an old Roman road that had been walked once by Augustus Caesar. Most of the road had been topped with gravel over the years but there were patches of the original foundation, and it was kinda cool for everyone.
Sunrise was absolutely spectacular with bright orange colour of the starting day to the east, and the purple hue from the bright moon on to the west. It was 17 km straight with not a single piece of food or water stop along the way. Everyone was on a mission and the pace was over 5 km an hour, which is great, but no one stopped. I never did catch the girls up front until they stopped for a snack in a field about 14 km out. After a decent rest, Will piped up that there was coffee, which no one had yet today, in Reliegos only two km ahead. Will !!! Are you nuts man. Creating an expectation in these women is a dangerous thing, particularly as they are NB women who would chase you down if you let them down. We told him, " if you are wrong, you better keep walking, and fast". The bad news, for Will, was it was about three kilometres, the good news was he had tables and chairs waiting for all when we got there. There we were, people from Toronto, New Brunswick, New York and London chatting like we were old friends, fitting I guess as it felt like we werew. Took over half an hour before we were able to move and finish that last five km.
The early finish to the walk allowed an afternoon and evening of food, drink and discussion. Tomorrow would be Leon, and a trip to the Dr for many of us.
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