I am very excited about my next adventure, which is a hike along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. My previous two long hikes, the Continental Divide Trail in 2016 and the Appalachian Trail in 2021 were mostly solo endeavors. This time, though, I will be with my lovely wife, Cindy, who walked the entire 778.5 km (483.7 miles) in 2019. We plan to begin the walk on April 23, 2022. With Cindy’s experience I have already leaned on her advice and stories of her time on the Camino. It is a long distance walk that does not require camping in a tent or shelter. Instead, every night will find us inside an albergue, a Camino version of a hostel. Great food is found daily at cafes along the route. Some of the albergues are famously known for their Pilgrim meals, group dinners shared among the walkers. Sometimes we will stay in small hotels or inns. Aside from such practicalities, I anticipate walking the Camino will be a mixture of embracing the European outdoors and the culture of the unique regions the Camino passes through. The Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of St. James, is unique because it is a pilgrimage route to the shrine of the apostle “Saint James the Great” in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition holds that the remains of the apostle are buried. The photo, below, is the great cathedral with Cindy after completing the Portuguese route. The history goes back to the 9th century and has become more popular in recent years as a journey of religious / spiritual meaning for some, or simply a hike for recreational purposes. This very basic description and more details is based on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago
More information about the Camino are contained in the Pilgrim Reception Office official website: http://oficinadelperegrino.com/peregrinacion/introduccion/
In 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic, 347,000 people were on at least portions of the Camino according to the Pilgrim Reception Office. With 2022 to be the first year since 2019 with good chances to avoid contracting COVID-19, I expect the route to have nearly the same number of pilgrims as 2019. Cindy has assured me that relative solitude is normal along The Way.
The Camino is the subject of a very good documentary, Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago. A popular drama about the Camino, The Way, was directed by Emilio Estevez and stars his father, Martin Sheen.
