(FRENCH) WAY OF SAINT JAMES

I was here: from March 17 to April 17, 2011.
Number of days needed: less than 15 is cheating.
My score 4/5.

The oldest multiday hiking route (originated in the tenth century) and most popular in the old continent is the one that follows the different roads that lead from multiple points of Europe to the Catholic Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where this apostle is supposedly buried. Whether for religious, recreational, or both reasons, the combined number of walkers, cyclists and riders who perform it totally or partially was higher in 2017 than 300,000, and continues to increase. The most traditional and well-known route is the 750 km long between the Navarrese Pyrenees and the cathedral, but there are many others; some of them from such distant places as Poland or the United Kingdom.

The Camino is a rewarding and interesting experience both in the physical and intellectual aspects. The day to day of the pilgrim becomes a pleasant routine consisting of getting up early and walking all day, passing through remarkable cities and tiny villages, fields of broad Castilla that seem to have no end and steep mountains, which make the body suffer but pacify the mind, and so on for a month. Although it may seem monotonous, little by little you’ll be getting the point, and it seems that one’s life is just to walk west through these towns and rural areas, as if there had never been anything else. It must be special for a reason because the Camino hooks; This can be affirmed on the basis of two facts: the high number of people who repeat (by the same route or by another) and that hardly we may find someone who says they regret having gone. Like so many other things, it can not be understood if it is not done.