Sticks and Shells

[maria]

I'm going to do the Camino beginning March 21. Can anyone tells me where to get walking sticks and shells?

[HuskyNerd]

Hi ~
Are you starting at St. Jean PdP? If so, you'll find plenty of stores there with shells and walking sticks. If you're looking for hiking poles, I found the St. Jean sports store to be outrageously expensive, so I saved my $s until I got to Burgos. I bought two super walking hiking poles there, which I never really used, but hung on faithfully until Astorga where I finally lost them.

If you're not starting at SJPdP you'll still find plenty of opportunities along the way to purchase your shell and a wooden walking stick. You do have your credentiale, right?

Buen camino!

[Covey]

The shell you can get from most fish shops at home or a supermarket where they sell a ready prepared Coquilles St Jacques Parisienne (scallop in a cheese sauce with mashed potato served on a scallop shell) Cook the Coquilles St Jacques Parisienne as per the makers instructions, consume the dish, wash the shell, drill a hole and hang on your pack.

The majority of those using hiking poles (telescopic sticks) bring them from home where they are usually a lot cheaper than in St Jean. You only really need one, but two are better if you are unsteady on your feet or have dodgy knees.

Some just pick up a branch from the side of the path and use that.

[maria]

thanks for your advices. they're all appreciated. about credentials? where do you get those? I start in Roncesvalles.

[Covey]

Your "credentials" is what most refer to as the Pilgrim Passport.

The Pilgrim Office at Roncesvalles will issue you with one when you check in to get your bunk for the night.

All Pilgrims require a Pilgrim Passport to be able to stay in an albergue and the albergue will put a stamp it to confirm to the Cathedral office in Santiago that you slept there that night.

If you start before Sarria, you only need one stamp per day from the albergue. If you start at Sarria to do the last 100kms, then you need TWO stamps per day, one from the albergue and one from a shop or bar.

Keep your Pilgrim Passport safe with your national passport in a waterproof bag. Occasionally you will need to show your national passport as well as your Pilgrim Passport.

[maria]

question no. 1

i was just wondering, where do pilgrims go for toilets or washrooms? In many guide books, there is no info regarding toilets along the way.

question no. 2

where is 100 mile requirement starts?

question no. 3

I'm bringing my cellphone device and plan to buy SIM card and credit, any idea how much is per text msg for domestic and international? Can you use phone card? and by using phone card, will it use up also the credit you have on that cell phone?

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Maria ~

1. There are many small villages along the Camino, so most folks plan their stops at a Bar/Cafe and use "Los Servicios" there. For those emergency moments, every pilgrim should plan to carry a roll of toilet paper. Pilgrims discreetly go a few steps off the Camino and commune with nature "al fresco."

2. The 100 kilometer requirement goes into effect at Sarria. Many pilgrims join the Camino here because 100 kms are required for the Compostela. The distance from Roncesvalles is nearly 800 kms, so you'll have no problem there. At the pilgrim office in Santiago they'll ask to see your credentiale and will inspect it to determine whether you walked the entire distance, but they'll pay special attention to the stops between Sarria and Santiago since 100 kms is the minimum. You'll enjoy getting your "sello" (stamp) each day and sometimes more often as a reminder of the many interesting places you've visited.

3. Can't help much on phone rates, though I suspect each company is different. I left my cell phone at home because it's both an annoyance and adds a tiny amount of extra weight for the unit itself and the charger. I used e-mail almost every day to check on things at home. Cost for e-mail tends to be about 1 Euro per 15 minutes in most places, sometimes cheaper. The expense helps a person use it sparingly. Many albergues and many bar/cafes have coin-operated computers. To me, pilgrims who are always talking on cellphones seem to be missing some of the main points of the Camino -- solitude, stepping away from modern conveniences, and making new friends. Do you really need a phone?

[Covey]

I do love a practical mind. None of these ethereal thoughts about a Greater Being, or the meaning of life, but reality in all its simplicity. There are two golden rules about toilets on the Camino.

Firstly, Spain is not blessed with the concept of public toilets and if you are a lady who does not frequent bars, you need to re-evaluate your social life. On the Camino toilets are either in a bar, or behind a bush.

Us men are ever grateful on the Camino that the Good Lord saw fit to equip us more efficiently than the female species, and our requirements are more simply dealt with. You are condemned to either buying cups of coffee or a coke you do not really want, to gain access to the toilet, or you plunge off the trail to seek a large bush!

Secondly, the queue for the ladies toilet is always much much longer than the male queue!!

By the time you get there, the roll of toilet paper the bar owner MIGHT have placed in the loo has long since disappeared, so you must carry your own toilet paper. Carry a roll in a plastic bag in your pack, and carry a VERY long length folded up in your pocket for emergencies.

French and Spanish toilets vary from the spotless to the "best not thought about" Be prepared

The 100km walk starts at Sarria and is the minimum distance you can walk to receive a Compostella from the Pilgrim Office in Santiago.

Make sure your cellphone has been "unlocked" so it will accept any Sim card. In the UK virtually all mobile phones start out being "locked" to the company who originally sold the phone.

You can buy "Pay as You Go" Sims in Spain and regular phone cards but it would be best to get them before you get to Roncesvalles. There are no shops at Roncesvalles, and the next stop at Zubiri is not much better.

[maria]

thank you for your kind advise. They're very helpful and I appreciate it.

[maria]

I have another concern. I have only two weeks vacation time. I plan to start at Roncesvalles. My goal is to walk 20-miles a day. You said that the requirement is 100km. I can't cover the whole camino in 2 weeks. In between, after achieving my 20mile a day goal, I plan to hop in a bus/train to go to the next pitstop. Sleep over and start from that town until I reach Santiago de Compostela. Would that be acceptable? or enough compliance to the requirement?

[Covey]

You might have a problem!

The "usual" plan if you are limited in time is to start from which ever town allows you to walk to Santiago and finish within the days available.

As a rough guide, if you started in Leon, you would expect to be in Santiago within your 14 days assuming you were walking at 25kms a day.

Sarria to Santiago is 105kms and takes 4-5 days.

If I understand you correctly, you want to start at Roncesvalles and end up in Santiago in 14 days by a combination of walking and taking the bus.

I doubt the Pilgrim Office at the Cathedral in Santiago will issue you with a Compostella on completion because they will see that you could not have walked the distances you have travelled in a day!.

Many pilgrims start at Leon because they can walk to Santiago within their two week holiday period and at the end claim their Compostella.

If you are walking, then a lot of the enjoyment is walking with pilgrims you have met along the way. Doing it the way you seem to be suggesting means you will never be in a place long enough to make friends.

Leon is easy to get to, is a very beautiful city to start from and the first couple of days walk from Leon are easy and flat before you start the climb up in to the hills.

[maria]

hi Covey,
thank you for your insight. But I'm still confused on the fact that the Pilgrim Office may doubt may walking distances achieved from Roncesvalles. I'm a methodological person. When I wrote my plans, I give myself 1-2 days allowances and +/- miles error. When I added it up, it is more than 120 miles. not kms. So, for example, from Roncesvalles to Pamplona: 42km = 26 miles. I could do that in day. (I'm a triathlete here in Chicago), Then, rest a day in Pamplona...next day, proceed to Pamplona to Punta La Reina. that is 22km = 13.75 miles. Then, I would like to take the bus to Logrono. Then, start again in Logrono to Najera which is 26km =16.25 miles. Rest. Then, next day start again from Najera to Sto. Domingo de la Calzada is 13miles. then, take the bus from here to Burgos. Then, start again from Burgos......And the trend continues....until I reach Santiago in a span of 14 days.
You seem an experienced pilgrim so, I'm inclined to listen. But do you really think this plan wont workout? I mean, the Pilgrim Office wouldn't recognize that I have walked the required distance. Should it be done in a straight line and not in segments? If they measure if from point to point using Stamps from Various posts, then, I think, I got it right. for example, stamp from Roncesvalles to Pamplona shows that distance. Sleep over at Pamplona, to walk to Punta la Reina. Then, sleep over in PLR. That's another Stamp in PLR, and a proof of another distance. Next day, I could take a bus to Logrono. Now, from here--since, I dont plan to sleep in Logrono, could I get a stamp from bar or somewhere to show that I'm starting from Logrono?

Lastly, is there an email for Pilgrim Office? Maybe, they could explain to me the rules.

[Covey]

The majority of Pilgrims wish to get their Compostella from the Cathedral Pilgrim Office in Santiago as this shows that they have completed their Camino.

The actual requirement is to have walked 100kms to Santiago and this means the last 100kms from Sarria or any other 100km point on any of the other officially recognised routes to Santiago.

If you walk the 800kms in 32 days from St Jean or Roncesvalles you get the same Compostella that a pilgrim gets for walking the 100kms from Sarria in 4 days.

I have met pilgrims who have walked 2000kms to Santiago, but unless you walk THE LAST 100kms in to Santiago, you will not get your Compostella.

It is not ANY 100km stage, or combination of days here and there, BUT THE LAST 100 KMS. You can spread your Camino over a number of years as some do, but when you walk in to the Pilgrim Office behind the Cathedral in Santiago, all they are looking for are the albergue stamps to prove that you have completed the 100km minimum to get the Compostella.

If you are a cyclist the requirement is 200kms and I think 300kms by horseback.

You can of course be a pilgrim and never walk into Santiago. You can go to France/Spain and walk any of the stages you like, whenever you like. Because of the 100km requirement, the stage from Sarria to Santiago can get very crowded and if I just wanted 10 days out of London I would go and walk the Burgos to Leon section.

It is your Camino, so have fun doing it whichever way you wish.

[maria]

As always, your advise is very informational and useful. I called the Spain tourist office-Chicago and they get me intouch to the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago. Problem solved.

Thank you again.

[maria]

Done and got the Certificate too. Thank you for everyone's advises.

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Maria ~
I'm a little confused by your last post. How did you ultimately do the camino? Did you walk the 100 mile segment from Sarria to earn your Compostela? Or do I understand you to mean that you got your Compostela for walking an aggregate total of 100+kms spread out from Roncesvalles to Santiago? It would be big news, if you were given your Compostela for a 100 km total spread out over an 800 km route, because Covey is exactly correct in sharing the traditional understanding of how the Compostela is awarded. So please clarify if you would.
--HuskyNerd

[maria]

I decided to start in Sarria.

[HuskyNerd]

Ok. Thanks for your response, Maria.

[Covey]

Congratulations Maria!!

SO................. Are you going back next year to start at Roncesvalles??