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Outdoors
Smoky Mountain News
Through Spain, frame by frame Camino de Santiago offers a long-distance walk steeped in history
Blue sky and red roofs mark the beginning of the walk from Bustio of Llanes. Holly Kays photos
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER The more you know about the Camino de Santiago, the harder it is to define. The simple explanation is that it’s a walking path that travels through Spain. But in reality that description is a mix of truth and fiction. The path is most well established in Spain, sure, but also passes through various other European countries. And to call it “the path,” singular, is just wrong — there are many caminos, many ways, that together make up The Way. That’s because the origins of this walking path have remarkably little to do with walking. The Spanish “Camino de Santiago” translates to “Way of St. James.” It’s a path — or paths, really, as the people who used it took different routes depending on where they were coming from — that medieval pilgrims once used to journey to Santiago de Compostela, where the bones of St. James, one of the Jesus’ 12 apostles, are said to rest. Since the bones were discovered in 813 A.D., Catholic pilgrims have made the arduous journey from France, Germany, England or any of a number of other European countries to Santiago. There, miracles of healing and forgiveness awaited. Years when the Feast of St. James falls on a Sunday are termed holy years, and successful pilgrims during those times can receive a plenary indulgence, blan-
ket forgiveness for any sins committed in the past. Wars, epidemics and natural catastrophes caused the pilgrimage tradition to decay during the 14th century, but in recent history the Camino has seen a resurgence. An increasing number of the historical routes have been uncovered, and an increasing number of pilgrims — called peregrinos in Spanish — are walking the Camino. In the year 2000, the Oficina de Acogida de Peregrinos in Spain issued 55,004 compostelas, which are certificates of completion. By 2005, that number had nearly doubled to 93,924, and in 2013 it doubled yet again to 215,929. Last year, 327,378 people received the compostela at Santiago. By contrast, in 2018 the Appalachian Trail saw 7,600 thruhikers register at the most popular starting point in Georgia and 1,128 people complete at least 2,000 miles of the trail. Americans account for a small but increasing share of Camino walkers. In 2007, only 2 percent of the compostelas awarded that year were given to Americans. By 2018, that share had risen to 5.7 percent. The sharpest spike occurred between 2013 and 2010, when the percentage rose from 1.2 to 4.7 percent, growing modestly every year since then save for 2018, when it dipped by 0.1 percent. Those numbers don’t even represent the total number of people experiencing the Camino. To receive a compostela, pilgrims must travel the last 100 kilometers on foot or
horseback or do the last 200 kilometers by bicycle. The lengths of the routes vary, but most are much longer than 100 or even 200 kilometers — many pilgrims fall short of the requirements to receive the compostela.
BECOMING A PILGRIM In June 2019, I was one of those pilgrims. I’ve been asked many times how I first heard about the Camino, and it’s a question I have a hard time answering. I started learning Spanish in high school and quickly developed a fascination with both the language and its place of origin. Somewhere along the way somebody told me about the Camino, and the ideas fused. What better way to visit this country I’d always dreamed of visiting than by walking through it, stepping frame by frame through scenes of daily life and natural beauty and cultural peculiarities? And, of course, by eating its famously delicious seafood? After years of daydreaming, I found myself this summer in the Madrid airport, shouldering a 35-liter backpack that contained all my possessions for the next two weeks and accompanied by my mom, my co-adventurer for the trip. Two weeks is not enough to walk the route we’d chosen, the Camino del Norte — not by a long shot. The Norte, which runs along the northern coast from the French border, is more than 800 kilometers long and takes about six weeks to walk. But
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Camino de Asheville Asheville resident Don Walton has been hooked on the Camino since 2007, when he spent a month walking the Camino Francés with four other people. Last year, he finished his eighth Camino, and he’s planning a ninth. “The last one is usually my favorite, and that’s generally been true,” Walton said when asked which route he liked the most. “They’re all great. The one I remember most vividly is the most recent one usually.” Walton is also co-coordinator for the Asheville Camino Chapter of the American Pilgrims on the Camino. The national organization has more that 50 chapters spread across the U.S. and works to provide information and encouragement to present and future pilgrims, as well as supporting Camino infrastructure and gathering pilgrims together. The Asheville group is quite active, offering monthly walks on the “Asheville Camino Trail,” routes through the Asheville area designed to mimic terrain found on the Camino Francés and Camino del Norte. Informational presentations are offered at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at REI in Asheville, and informal meetings over coffee are held 9 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays at Green Sage Westgate. To learn more, visit www.ashevillecamino.org.
