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:
We stopped here and you can’t go wrong in doing so. It has a lovely outdoor patio with a pergola trellis. Grapes hang above your head, offering a cool relief from the sun on a hot day. The food was good and there’s always cafe con leche!
The outdoor patio at A Pousada do Peregrino.
You will walk through a lot of vineyards at this point of the day. There are even quite a few places where you’ll need to duck to avoid grapes. Very picturesque day…
Should I stay in Caldas de Reis?
Now, obviously this all depends on your schedule. Caldas de Reis may be a halfway point to a day. In our schedule, it was at the end of our day. We felt it a good place to stop in case we needed any supplies at this point in our journey, as it was a bigger town and they would have more amenities. I would say AIM FOR IT. It was a lovely town.
It actually saved me a little. Once we settled into our home for the night, we went out and found me some sandals. At this point in our journey, my blisters were bad and my toes were bad. My feet were just completely breaking down and I knew if I didn’t find sandals I’d be in trouble. I never once had blisters on the Camino Frances. This Portuguese way was murdering my feet in every way possible. I found a nice man at a shoe shop who dug through boxes and found me the perfect pair of sandals that would save the trip for me. Another trail angel came through for me!
This is a good town for stocking up on whatever you need.
The wooden statue that tells you that you have arrived!
Should I eat at O Encontro Gastrobar in Caldas de Reis?
I REALLY enjoyed the food here. They were one of the first places we found with a pilgrim menu, and they were almost next door to where we were staying. At the end of the day, proximity has a lot to do with where you decide to eat. But also, it was good food! The service was a bit slow, but they could have just been having a bad day. Otherwise, I’d recommend this place. It hit the spot after a long day. My first Caldo Gallego (Galician Soup)!
Should I set out before on my walk in the dark?
I am of two minds on this one. Ultimately, my answer would be YES, sometimes. It is the only true way to get to see the perfection of a sunrise…when you are well and truly in it. To be walking when it happens assures that you will not miss it. And the sunrise in Spain is a thing of beauty. So, if you don’t want to (or won’t) do it for the sake of the bed-race…do it at least once to enjoy being inside the sunrise.
Scenes from a September Spanish Sunrise…
It’s all you really need…
Should I stay in Pensión Glorioso II in A Picaraña?
This might be the only time I suggest the answer as a NO. I wouldn’t even stay in this town, if I were to do the Portuguese again. Not that it’s a terrible town, but there were few options. It was just kind of along the highway. It’s a place you would only stop for gas if you were driving through.
Pensión Glorioso II in A Picaraña
Does it have what you need? Mostly. Were the rooms clean? Yeah. Did the WiFi work in the pension? NO. The food options nearby were very limited and you had to navigate the highway outside the pension. We went from one side to the other, hoping to find other food options. I just wasn’t happy with this night’s location or lodgings. You might find it’s what you need. I was looking for more.
This was our last stay before Santiago de Compostela, and my least favourite.
We walked in darkness on our last morning. As the sun came up, it all began to feel a little like we were walking to OZ.
Another perfect September sunrise…
Should I stop walking now?
No…you’re almost there!
Even though I’m almost there, should I have a break before reaching the Praza do Obradoiro where the cathedral is?
Yes. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you need stamps on your last day! Stop for a cafe con leche on your way into town and grab a stamp!
Should I be prepared to be amazed?!
YES!
About to enter the Praza do Obradoiro and the circus of the arrival!
Should we take selfies of the cathedral once we arrive? Yes, after you celebrate, dance, laugh, cry, etc…
WE MADE IT! 10 days from Porto to Santiago de Compostela!
Should I go directly to the pilgrim’s office and sign in for my spot in line to get my compostela certificate?
If this matters to you, then absolutely yes! This process is changing ALL the time. I’ve been to this point 3 times now, and it’s been different every time. Last time, we scanned a QR code at the office and were given a number in the line. We came back when we were close to our numbers and then went inside and lined up. Please look into how it is when you’re going, because they streamline the process all the time.
One more SHOULD to go.
Should I do the rooftop tour of the cathedral?
Absolutely yes. If you have fear of height issues, maybe sit this one out…but it’s fabulous!
DON’T MISS THE ROOFTOP TOUR OF THE CATHEDRAL!
This concludes the Shoulds and Shouldn’ts of the Caminho Português Senda Litoral Route. Hopefully you find some helpful information in these posts.
If you want to see our 10 day journey in full, here is the link to DAY ONE. At the end of every day, you will find a link to the next day. After those, you will also find a couple of posts on what to do in Porto before and after the Caminho.
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.
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!
KEVIN CRAIG 