I’m not a religious person and I don’t walk long distances for religious reasons. If indeed there is a god and he (they?) is pleased by people doing this activity,
I like to think about it as collecting “spiritual miles“. More you walk, easier access you get to Camino benefits:
- faster mental check-in on the route
- priority handling of your emotional baggage
- free life lessons
- free access to church lounges along the route
- physical class upgrade
You need stamps in the pilgrim passport to officially claim your miles at the pilgrim office. To retain your gold status, you should walk at least one long pilgrim route per year. If you collect enough miles, you get to take a friend with you for free! And what’s the point of it all? Don’t stop collecting miles! See where the road takes you. See the world and do extra spiritual miles to really see yourself.
My next walking day started in Vigo. I woke up pretty early and Maria was still sleeping. I did not want to wake her up to say goodbye, since we planned to see each other in a week. I walked down the hill to the city center to have another nice breakfast with Kathy and Diane. I honestly did not mind this detour, starting a day with an omelet and a good company is what I needed. Together we walked back up the hill and out of the city. My shoes started falling apart, and I started creating my plan B in case they really do. I bought a roll of Leukoplast tape and preventively patched my blister-prone areas. The first aid for my broken shoes would also be the tape! With engineering flowchart in mind and a spray of hope, I kept marching towards Santiago.
Diane was slow today because she was in pain. Kathy and I walked in front and waited for her. We had a fun discussion about the correlation between nationality and personality traits, followed by a round of gratitude for spending time with each other. We all took a longer break in a very nice restaurant with a view of a “San Francisco“ bridge. It was as local as it could be. A very old man was serving coffee with shaky hands. A waitress announced that she was closing soon because her daughter had fever. Diane decided to take a taxi and rest.
Kathy and I continued walking through a crowded forest. Many pilgrims had started their journey in Vigo or Baiona to walk the last 100 km to Santiago and get their certificate. BTW this rule has changed in 2025 to hopefully prevent the high pilgrim concentration towards the end of the route. Now you can walk at least 100 km anywhere on the route, plus the last stage to Santiago. I am not convinced that this is a good solution. Many pilgrims still need their certificate to be issued by the Santiago office, so it’s more convenient to do the last 100 km. Moreover, collecting two stamps a day can sometimes be challenging. Maybe if they add an option to pick up the certificate in another office along the route, this will help with overcrowding.
The vibe on the route had changed. Big loud groups of people were marching in a pilgrim train.
I frowned with discomfort, but luckily Kathy was friendly with strangers, making the situation lighter with her laugh. She even found a lost hat and returned it to the owner. The last kilometers to Redondela were hell in an asphalt jungle with around 32° outside. Guess who waved at us from far away? Maria! She was walking on cloud nine thanks to her new padded running shoes. She bought a different size in the morning, and it turned out to be the right choice. She was almost flying; she started late and caught up with us. I appreciated the chance to say goodbye after a round of cold drinks and selfies. Her walking day was over and she took a bus to Pontevedra. À bientôt et bon chemin!
Kathy and I still had some distance ahead. The afternoon sun felt even worse and I was seriously struggling with the heat. Kathy boosted our morale with Katy Perry and invited me for a visit to Utah. Our paths split eventually, her hostel was even further than mine.
I arrived at the albergue around 4 pm with a light heat stroke (heart racing, dizziness). The owner, Eugenia from Argentina, was very welcoming and I immediately signed up for a pilgrim dinner. I had to sit inside for half an hour just to cool down and not to faint. Whaaaa, not a nice day. The heat is not my friend and I MUST avoid it in the future. Walking the Camino is not relaxing anymore. These big groups of people, laughing loudly and racing each other, stole my peace. I don’t want to be around them and get to know them. I wish that the Camino hadn’t changed. I wish I hadn’t made the same mistake again. This time I waited too long for Diane and ended up under the scorching sun late in the afternoon. I learned my lesson – walk your own Camino (and make sure that your friends get an appropriate care without you).
I sincerely enjoyed the connections I found on this road, but I needed to walk alone. No doubt anymore. I would find my peace again on the Spiritual Camino, off the main Camino Portugues route.
As I was coming out of shower, I heard an Italian woman making a phone call. She was trying to book a house on the Spiritual Camino for the first night and there were three spots left. I grabbed my chance and showed her with my best pantomime that I’d like to join. Just like that, the Camino provides. This was the first time we met! Apparently, a cold shower fixed my mood back to usual friendliness. After the call we finally had some time to get to know each other. The woman’s name was Alessandra and she was travelling with her friend Tiberio, also from Italy. We had a quick chat in Italian and I felt happy to meet nice people today. We agreed to ask other people in the albergue during dinner if they wanted to join us in the house.
I used the spare time until dinner to call my ex-boyfriend Juan and share my Camino adventures.
It felt like talking to an old friend, someone who really understood what I was going through. I wanted him to live this Camino with me. The truth was that he didn’t have much life left. After weeks of heavy chemo, he was able to attend one last music festival. He responded to my stories with his energetic laugh and there were no signs that it would disappear soon. However, the chemo recovery time was getting longer and longer. I felt so lucky to be alive and walk this Camino!
Dinner was delicious home-cooked pasta. I sat in front of a Dutch couple and I disliked the woman from the start. I forgot her name, let’s call her Ester. She and her husband owned a camping place in Belgium. Ester got a new knee prothesis and came to test it on the Camino. Seriously? Since they didn’t have many days off, they regularly skipped some stages that were not pretty. Wow, this is not how you do the Camino. I told her that I used to live in the Netherlands, but I don’t speak Dutch. Still working on my German. “How come you didn’t learn Dutch? You had so much time!” She made me feel uncomfortable. Not with the words she said, but the way she said it. Then I responded with something that I was proud of. “I feel like you are judging me here.” “Yes, a little bit.” And she smiled, no signs of apology. My standard modus operandi is running away from evitable conflicts. Since this was not possible and there were no other free seats at the table,
I finally got the courage to speak up and share my feelings. I promised myself to do this more often.
When I spoke Spanish to Eugenia and reluctantly shared a bit about my job, Ester was suddenly impressed. I raised an eyebrow and tried to talk to a long-haired German man next to me. He did many long-distance hikes in Europe and heard about the Camino, another cool hike. He was not very talkative and I was more than excited to finish the dinner as soon as possible.
I ended up having a bunk bed near Ester who snored. This is why the vibe had changed on the Camino. People like her come here and skip the difficult parts and barely know anything about pilgrimage. Big groups crowd the paths, albergues, don’t socialize with other pilgrims. I felt annoyed by people. At the end of the day, I realized that I was silently judging them as well! Who am I to say that my way of doing the Camino is the right one? Not everyone comes to collect spiritual miles. Maybe it was their first day and they were overwhelmed and confused. Was I becoming a Silver Camino snob? I recalled a joke that we shared with Kathy today: all of us, pilgrims, are smoking a peace pot together. Let’s try to have a puff tomorrow.
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