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Camino de Santiago - The Catholic Pilgrimage Route Across Spain, May 2017

I decided it's time for some active travel, and better sooner than later! But May is quite early in the season for scenic mountain treks in the northern hemisphere so the Alpine Haute Route, Tour de Mont Blanc, or GR20 in Corsica are out of the question. Most long walks for their own sake (rather than access to spectacular scenery) such as the Appalachian Trail or walking across the U.S. don't interest me all that much. One long walk that does interest me for its cultural and historical importance, though, is the Camino De Santiago, or "The Way of Saint James" in Spain, the world's best known religious pilgrimage route. The fact of the matter is that I'm not Catholic and I'm not even religious, but the Camino de Santiago is no longer undertaken only as a religious pilgrimage. There are actually many different routes across Europe and from different parts of Spain all converging on Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain which has been claimed since the early 800s A.D. to house the remains of Saint James the Great. The best known and most popular of these routes is the Camino Frances, the French pilgrims' route, which runs about 500 miles across northern Spain, a route that takes approximately 30 to 35 days starting in France at the northern base of the Pyrenees and ending in Santiago de Compostela. Many parts of the route are not considered all that scenic with long stretches of windswept open space on the Meseta, but it's not a trek done for sport or for scenery. Even for those who don't see it as a religious pilgrimage, the Camino is considered important culturally for the monuments along the way as a pilgrimage route since the Middle Ages. They say walking the Camino is good for all people looking for meaning in life. I'm not really at any particular crossroads that I feel I must find meaning now, but aren't we all always searching for meaning in life? The Camino trek was the subject of a 2010 movie named "The Way" directed by Emilio Estevez and starring Martin Sheen as a father who decides to walk the Camino de Santiago as a tribute to his son was killed in a blizzard in the Pyrenees while attempting it. Nowadays, several hundred thousand people undertake the Camino each year, although many of them only do the last 120 miles or so into Santiago de Compostela, enough to get their pilgrimage certificate. Some people on group tours just do a few of the most scenic bits. Being a purist I plan to do the whole thing and lose a few pounds of flab along the way. For the most part I plan to stay in hostels for pilgrims along the route but figure I'll break down occasionally and get my own room is a hostal or pension. I've chosen May as the month for most of the trek because it seems to have about the best weather, neither too hot or cold and after the winter rainy season, but also before the summer crowds which peak in July and August.
Planned Dates
2017-04-28 to 2017-06-14
Countries
3
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