I’m always up for doing the Time Warp again. I can’t count how many times I’ve watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s frightening that I know every line from a movie.
But that’s not what this post is about. I’m obsessed with something else just as much, if not more, than I’m obsessed with that fascinating cult movie from my youth. We’ll talk about the Roxy Theatre here in Toronto, and how they played The Rocky Horror Picture Show every week from 1976 to 1983 some other time. (-:
Let’s do the Camino de Santiago again!
Today’s post is about our upcoming pilgrimage! We have marked our calendar for September, 2025! That’s when we’ll make our way back to the Camino de Santiago in Spain!
A photo from 2019 and the first of our two shared arrivals in Plaza del Obradoiro…and the cathedral at the end of the Camino de Santiago. This was my second of three arrivals. In 2014 I did the walk with a group.
This time, we’ll begin our walk in LEON!
Tuesday, Sept 9th-Leave Toronto
START
END
KM
Wednesday, Sept 10th
Madrid
Madrid
Thursday, Sept 11th
Madrid
Leon
Friday, Sept 12th
Leon
San Martin del Camino
22
Saturday, Sept 13th
San Martin del Camino
Astorga
26
Sunday, Sept 14th
Astorga
Foncebadon
26
Monday, Sept 15th
Foncebadon
Ponferrada
27
Tuesday, Sept 16th
Ponferrada
Villafranca del Bierzo
28
Wednesday, Sept 17th
Villafranca del Bierzo
O Cebreiro
28
Thursday, Sept 18th
O Cebreiro
Triacastela
21
Friday, Sept 19th
Triacastela
Sarria
18
Saturday, Sept 20th
Sarria
Portomarin
22
Sunday, Sept 21st
Portomarin
Palas de Rei
28
Monday, Sept 22nd
Palas de Rei
Arzua
28
Tuesday, Sept 23rd
Arzua
Amenal
22
Wednesday, Sept 24th
Amenal
Santiago de Compostela
16
Thursday, Sept 25th
Bus trip to Finistere
Friday, Sept 26th
Santiago de Compostela
Madrid
Saturday, Sept 27th
Madrid
Toronto
There’s the whole schedule of our walk!
Michael, walking up the hill after leaving Portomarin, Spain, in 2019.
This time, I plan to draft a guide book of sorts. We’ll see how it goes. I think the world might actually need more guide books for those who don’t plan to walk the entire Camino. Not everybody can get the time off work needed to walk the entire Camino Frances from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. I’m going with the thought in my head to take notes and create something out of the experience. We’ll see if it materializes or not. Once you’re out there, putting one foot in front of the other, it’s easy to forget about taking notes. At the very least, I will document our journey here on my blog. I’ll have the intention…stay tuned!
Our arrival at the 100km mile marker just past Sarria, in September, 2019.
Have you picked up my novel set on the Camino Frances? Here’s a link to THE CAMINO CLUB:
35% of all pilgrims who receive their compostela certificate (this is the certificate that authenticates the fact that you completed the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain) in Santiago de Compostela begin their pilgrimage in SARRIA.
My compostela certificate, issued to me in September, 2019, after I walked a portion of the Camino de Santiago from Astorga to Santiago de Compostela.
That’s AWESOME! Good for them! So THRILLED they had this experience!
Michael and I waving our tubed compostela certificates in the air in front of the Cathedral in September, 2019. Victory!
There is a lot of talk in Camino groups around the internet that disparages this 35%. They even give them derogatory names likes Touragrino and suggest that they are destroying the Camino. Peregrino is the Spanish word for Pilgrim, so those who walk the Camino are known as peregrinos (peregrina is the feminine word, but en masse peregrino refers to all…much like actresses are also grouped in to the collective of actors). Calling pilgrims who only walk the last 100km Touragrinos suggests that they are merely tourists out for a stroll, and that they don’t experience the ‘actual’ Camino. Don’t listen to these people!
Michael, Jenifer and I in front of the Cathedral soon after arriving from walking the Senda Litoral Route of the Caminho Portuguese in September, 2022.
What the Camino snobs either ignore or don’t seem to take into consideration is that a LOT of people don’t have the option to take the amount of time off work that it would take to walk the entirety to the Camino Frances (or any of the other routes that take 30 or more days to walk). They have their heads stuck so firmly up their arrogant asses, that they don’t realize that others are not as privileged as they are when it comes to having free time away from their workaday lives.
A pastoral scene somewhere around the 50km mark between Sarria and Santiago de Compostela.
Walking from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela does not make a pilgrim any less of a pilgrim. It doesn’t mean these peregrinos appreciate the Camino less than those who begin in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France. Quite often it means they would much rather walk the entire Camino, but that their circumstances will not allow it. That the ‘true pilgrim’ snobs add insult to their injury is just deplorable.
Michael and I, at the 100km milemarker on the Camino Frances. September, 2019.
The Camino should be a place of no judgement. Sadly, that’s not the case. Those who have the privilege to walk the entire walk often mock those who cannot. So not cool. Each pilgrim makes their own way. Your Camino, your way.
A collection of old walking sticks left behind at the old pilgrim’s office in Santiago de Compostela. May, 2014 from my Camino from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela.
If you can only take a week (or two) away from your world, you have a couple of Camino options. ONE is to walk the last part of the Camino, where you get to experience walking to the Cathedral and all that that uplifting experience can bring you. ANOTHER is that you can walk the first part of the Camino Frances from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, get all your stamps and come back the next year to continue where you left off…doing a portion every year until you get to the end. ANOTHER is that you can walk any ole part of the Camino you wish to explore. The choice is yours, not some loudmouth internet troll’s who is trying to tell you you’re not a pilgrim if you don’t walk the entire pilgrimage route. You don’t need those people in your life.
There are a myriad of reasons that not everyone can do a full Camino, and it’s nobody’s business but theirs. If you’re considering doing a Camino pilgrimage and can’t do the whole thing, please don’t listen to naysayers! DO YOUR CAMINO YOUR WAY. Enjoy every minute of it! Don’t let them steal your joy.
There is NO SHAME in not doing the entire pilgrimage route. The joy is in experiencing what you can of this unique path. Whether you do it for religious reasons, spiritual reasons, or just because you want to go for a walk…all reasons and all distances are valid. ENJOY!
We all began Day 2 of our Caminho Português with foot ailments. The blisters had begun! My third Camino and my first blisters. On a route I thought would be a breeze compared to the Camino Frances. The thing is, we were walking too many KMs. 36 on our first day. The terrain might have been easier, but the grueling pace we gave ourselves proved in the end to be too much.
Minutes after leaving our albergue in Vila do Conde, we were back at the ocean’s edge.
Portugal is famous for its beautiful blue and white tile art. There was no end to examples of it along the Senda Litoral route of the Camino…
One of the things I couldn’t wait to see on this Camino route was the famous old windmills found along the beaches of Portugal. Some are small and abandoned. Others, larger and saved from extinction, have been transformed into summer cottages. Soon after leaving Vila do Conde behind us, we came upon our first windmill.
Windmill still intact.
There was a lot of boardwalk on this second day. And not that many places to stop for food and drink. We past one along the way, thinking we’d come to another soon.
If you come across this beach bar, it might be a good idea to stop. There are only two more places after this for a while. One is a few hundred feet off the path.
As we walked along the boardwalk hoping for a place to stop, we came upon a parking lot. Beyond it, there was one cafe and a small supermarcado. A few hundred feet from the boardwalk. We decided not to take any chances on coming upon something closer to the path. Good decision.
Glad we found this place on a day where places were few and far between.
After a much needed break, and some amazing fuel, we were off to return back to the endless boardwalk of Day 2.
It went on and on and on and on…3 peregrinos!
On day 2, we have to go away from the beach for a while to walk around a rather large golf course.
The golf course that forces the Camino path away from the ocean.
Somewhere during this time, we accidentally left the Senda Litoral for a bit. The Camino Ninja was showing that our route was a couple hundred feet away and we couldn’t figure out where we went wrong. I think I narrowed it down to a house we passed after circumnavigating the golf course. There was a boardwalk going back in the direction of the ocean right before we came upon the house. It wasn’t marked, but the way beside the house was marked with yellow arrows. I think this is a place where two routes converged. We assumed we were following our route, but we accidentally crossed into another. The boardwalk would have been the Senda Litoral, I believe, but it wasn’t marked as such.
The house where, I suspect, we momentarily left our route for another one.Right before we passed this house, we walked by a boardwalk that went in behind it…because the arrows pointed us away from it. We followed everyone else and avoided the boardwalk. The Senda Litoral route is not as well marked as the others.
Off the route, we were back onto the foot stabbing cobbles. Each step would send sharp pains into our feet. The blisters were growing and multiplying.
But we smiled anyway.
It actually didn’t take us long to get back onto the Senda Litoral. The Camino Ninja app, we were discovering, was going to save us time and time again.
A cool house that would be amazing as a tourist attraction Haunted Mansion.
We were soon back to the boardwalk and back to the windmills. This time, they were the converted cottages we had seen on YouTube.
We were close to the end of our second day. Esposende was within reach.
After walking a short bridge across, I believe, the Cávado River, we were in Esposende and on our way to the Esposende Guesthouse.
The bridge that brought us to the end of our second day.Almost there! Thank god. Blisters, blisters, blisters.
If you end your day at Esposende, it would NOT be a bad thing to end it at the ESPOSENDE GUESTHOUSE (the link is to their website, but we booked through booking dot com). We loved this little place. Soon after check-in, the proprietress left the property and all the pilgrims were left to their own devices. We had restaurants nearby, and a little town complete with the all-important farmacia! We were ready to have all the first aid requirements of the deeply blistered pilgrim!
Fully functioning kitchen at our disposal. BUT…restaurants down the street. Easy decision for tired pilgrims.This was definitely a super cute albergue!The rooms were clean and we had a little balcony!When you’re a pilgrim, a clean bathroom is everything. A good shower is everything. The Esposende Guesthouse hit all the marks!
Now, remember for a moment that I said the proprietress leaves the albergue after the pilgrims have all been checked in. Now, imagine a level of trust you’ve probably never experienced in North America kicking into action.
Don’t mind if we do!
THE MONEY JAR!
Glass of wine? Just leave a Euro in the money jar.
Beer in the fridge? Just leave a Euro in the money jar.
At the end of a long and tiring day of walking along the coast of Portugal, we settled into our evening, glass of wine in hand, and sat out on the patio of our home for the night. A beautiful evening, even though we knew the rain was coming…
A perfect way to end a magical day…
I’m not saying you should work your Camino around to land in Esposende so you can stay at the Guesthouse. But I am saying if Esposende is one of your stops, the Esposende Guesthouse is a great place to stay.
If you’ve found this series on our Camino Portuguese helpful and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee!KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee
I’m also an author. One of my novels, a young adult story, is set on the Camino Frances route of the Camino de Santiago. THE CAMINO CLUB. It follows six teens on their journey from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela. The teens walk with court appointed counselors in a juvenile delinquent program that will see them free of their records once they make the journey to Santiago…a clean slate. Think of a more diverse The Breakfast Club, but on the Camino de Santiago over two weeks instead of in a school library on a Saturday. Give it a look! It’s available wherever books are sold. Here’s the Amazon USA link.
KEVIN CRAIG 