The Camino Preparation Handbook is a guide to prepare pilgrims for walking the Camino de Santiago or Way of St. James. The handbook contains extensive and extremely useful information for pilgrims about to begin their first journey. Not only are topics such as selecting the right backpack, footwear and packing lists covered, insight into the spiritual preparation one must make is also covered. Avoid having to learn the hard way, by getting the inside tips before you go! The guide also has valuable information for pilgrims who have already walked the Camino de Santiago / Way of St. James, in order to refine their preparation for future Caminos.
The Camino Preparation Handbook is a guide to prepare pilgrims for walking the Camino de Santiago or Way of St. James. The handbook contains extensive and extremely useful information for pilgrims about to begin their first journey. Not only are topics such as selecting the right backpack, footwear and packing lists covered, insight into the spiritual preparation one must make is also covered. Avoid having to learn the hard way, by getting the inside tips before you go!The 3rd Edition features 47 extra pages of expanded and updated content on selecting the right backpack and pole use, as well as new content including; safety on the camino, courtesy on the camino and a chapter on bed bugs. This new paperback edition also features new photos and detailed illustrations.In addition to metric, the units of measurement are also provided in US imperial, as well as temperatures in farenheit and distances in miles.
The road across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela in the northwest was one of the three major Christian pilgrimage routes during the Middle Ages, leading pilgrims to the resting place of the Apostle St. James. Today, the system of trails and roads that made up the old pilgrimage route is the most popular long-distance trail in Europe, winding from the heights of the Pyrenees to the gently rolling fields and woods of Galicia. Hundreds of thousands of modern-day pilgrims, art lovers, historians, and adventurers retrace the road today, traveling through a stunningly varied landscape which contains some of the most extraordinary art and architecture in the western world. For any visitor, the Road to Santiago is a treasure trove of historical sites, rustic Spanish villages, churches and cathedrals, and religious art. To fully appreciate the riches of this unique route, look no further than The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago, a fascinating step-by-step guide to the cultural history of the Road for pilgrims, hikers, and armchair travelers alike. Organized geographically, the book covers aspects of the terrain, places of interest, history, artistic monuments, and each town and village's historical relationship to the pilgrimage. The authors have led five student treks along the Road, studying the art, architecture, and cultural sites of the pilgrimage road from southern France to Compostela. Their lectures, based on twenty-five years of pilgrimage scholarship and fieldwork, were the starting point for this handbook.
"The Camino Preparation Guido contains a wealth of practical information to help successfully prepare for what can be a life changing and enriching adventure. The combined experience of many long distance walkers has been distilled and presented in this little book. The focus is on the thorough preparation, not just training and a packing list--it also explains how to avoid many of the crippling issues that so often cause walkers to stop after only a few days or weeks. Since the time of the first edition, more routes have opened up although a number of places have not be reopened. As the COVID-19 pandemic persists the situation may change and new restrictions introduced. Look for up to date information from Camino Associations and other sites" --
Guide to walking the Camino Frances through northern Spain, the most popular version of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage or Way of St James, covering the 784km from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. The guidebook is everything you need to plan your camino. It describes the route in 36 stages and lists 500 pilgrim lodgings along the camino, including public and private albergues, with a description of facilities available at each, allowing the route to be customised to suit your own itinerary. The accompanying map book is ideal for day-to-day use, with maps for the entire route showing the locations of accommodation and services, as well as over 100 useful town and village maps. Divided into 6 sections, the guidebook includes an additional section from Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre and Muxia on the Galician coast. Each section is broken down into detailed stages with easily customisable start and finish points due to the amount of accommodation available en route. This two-part guidebook and map book provide an abundance of advice on planning and preparation, sample itineraries and detailed information that allows complete customisation of the Camino, making this an ideal guidebook for all pilgrims walking the Camino Frances.
Are you curious about the Camino? What is it; what secrets does it hold; where does it start and end; what are its origins; what to take; what preparation, training and equipment are needed to succeed? I've walked 6 Caminos and over 6000 km and can help you successfully prepare to walk ancient pilgrims pathways in Spain, Portugal and France. From the dozens of things to know, often learnt the hard way, I have selected the ones that will help you to successfully prepare and greatly increase your chances of reaching Santiago and collecting your Compostela . Time spent in preparation for your Camino is time well spent. It requires preparation on many levels, as it's not only a physical, but also a mental one. For many it will also be a voyage of self-discovery. I have encountered many people, blinded by enthusiasm, who were poorly prepared and likely to fail in just the first few days because they were fooled into thinking it was going to be easy simply just because so many people have done it in the past. The statistics are hard to match up between those starting from St Jean in France and those arriving in Santiago. On the surface it appears that less than 50% complete this long stage.It's not just about boots and backpacks, there is so much more to learn about clothing, hydration and the impact of repetitive walking on our bodies, let alone avoiding blisters. Having the wrong size footwear that doesn't allow room for your feet to swell is a common mistake and halts many in a few weeks or days. Another common mistake is having the wrong types of clothing.. There is also a packing list with indicative weights of the essentials!For many the Chapter on "Walking as a System" will explain a lot of what can go wrong; Chapters on free apps, maps and sources of practical information will be invaluableThe impact of COVID-19 on the Camino and the availability of accommodation is also covered together with details on where to find up-to-date information and travel advice.
The route of St Jean Pied de Port in the foothills of the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela represents one of the most popular Christian pilgrimages in the world. Walked by millions over the millennia it represents a force for spiritual transformation. This title offers a guide to the pilgrimage, including a fold out map and route planner, 33 daily stage maps with contour guides, 10 town maps including Santiago, a Sun Compass, to orientate your direction and information on all pilgrim hostels along the way together with details of alternative accommodation.
"'A donkey?' blurted my family as one. For a moment it didn't seem they'd ever be able to list all the reasons that made this so entertainingly ludicrous. . . .Yes, I'd never ridden a donkey on a beach or petted one at a city farm, never even pinned a cardboard tail to one's throat after the cake and ice cream....A donkey would be my hairy-coated hair shirt, making my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela a truer test of the will, a trial." With these words, having no knowledge of Spanish and even less about the care and feeding of donkeys, Tim Moore, Britain's indefatigable traveling Everyman, sets out on a pilgrimage to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela with a donkey named Shinto as his companion. Armed only with the Codex Calixtinus, a twelfth-century handbook to the route, and expert advice on donkey management from Robert Louis Stevenson, Moore and his four-legged companion travel the ancient five-hundred-mile route from St. Jean Pied-de-Port, on the French side of the Pyrenees, to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, which houses the remains of Spain's patron saint, St. James. Over sun-scorched highways, precipitous bridges, dirt paths shaded by leafy trees, and vineyards occasionally lashed by downpours, Moore and Shinto pass through some of the oldest towns and cities in northern Spain in colorful company, both past and present. Pilgrims real and imagined have traveled this route throughout the ages, a diverse cast of wayfarers spanning Charlemagne, St. Francis of Assisi, Chaucer's Wife of Bath, and New Age diva, Shirley MacLaine. Moore's present-day companions are no less florid or poignant. Clearly more interested in Shinto than in Moore, their fellow walkers are an assortment of devout Christian pilgrims, New Age spirituality seekers, travelers grieving over a lost love affair, Baby Boomers contemplating the advent of middle age, and John Q. Public just out for a cheap, boozy sun-drenched outdoor holiday. As Moore pushes, pulls, wheedles, cajoles, and threatens Shinto across Spain toward the crypt of St. James in a quest to find the spiritual pilgrim within, the duo overnights in the bedrooms, dormitories, and---for Shinto---adjacent grassy fields of northern Spain's hostels, inns, convents, seminaries, and farmhouses. Shinto, a donkey with a finely honed talent for relieving himself at the most inopportune moments, has better luck in the search for his next meal than Moore does in finding his inner St. Francis. Undaunted, however, Man and Beast finally arrive at the cathedral and a successful end to their journey. For readers who delighted in his earlier books, Travels with My Donkey is the next hilarious chapter in the travels of Tim Moore, a book that keeps the bones of St. James rattling till this day.
Senior Camino is a basic guide for seniors who are contemplating walking the Camino de Santiago, a 1200-year old pilgrimage in Northern Spain, but who may not know how to get started or where to go for information that pertains to their particular set of circumstances, specifically regarding their advanced age. How do I get there? Where will I stay at night? What is the food like? Can I really do this? These pages include the answers to those questions and many others. They also provide advice for physical, mental and spiritual preparation, as well as practical training to be ready to meet the challenges of a 30-40 day walk over 500 miles along the Camino Frances route. The author also presents a day-by-day chronicle of the experiences of his two "caminos" in 2013 and 2015, both having occurred when he was over the age of 70. The days are filled with the ups and downs of an amazing journey, the aches and pains of sore muscles, broken bones and blisters, encounters along the way with phenomenal people from all over the world, the frustrations of slogging through wind, rain and mud, and the unmitigated joy of finally arriving in Santiago de Compostela. The adventure of "walking the Camino" is one of encountering fears, discovering one's inner strength and spirituality, and learning to live moment to moment. Senior Camino encompasses all this and more.
"This second edition has been updated to reflect the current needs of anyone thinking about walking or biking the Camino. Preparation covers the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and logistical requirements for a successful journey."--Page 4 of cover.
