PILGRIMAGE , PILGRIMS, A PINK POPE AND FRENCH LETTERS

I read this on a blog the other day:

(http://billcork.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/adventist-pilgrimage/)

“Pilgrimage is universal. All faiths engage in it. Animists and Hindus go to sacred rivers, springs, wells, or mountains. Buddhists go to temples and to shrines encasing the Buddha’s remains. Muslims go on the Hajj to Mecca, visiting sites they associate with incidents in the lives of Abraham and Muhammad. Jews make aliyah to Jerusalem. Catholics go to the Holy Land, or to Rome, or to shrines associated with saints. And Protestants go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and to locations associated with faithful men and women of all ages.”

And ... thousands go to Sydney – not because of a river, rock, spring or saint, but because the World Youth Day celebrations are being held there.

WYD Pilgrims have made news headlines all around the world this week and unless you have been in a catatonic state or in the depths of the Amazon jungles with no radio, television or newspaper, you will have heard something about the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney Australia. Some reports say that 250 000 pilgrims descended on Sydney – others say 500 000.

Suffice it to say that there were a hellava lot of pellerins heading south including 39 Indians who absconded in New Zealand. It has been discovered that some were Hindu, some Sikh and even a few Muslims.

'Immigration New Zealand is investigating allegations that the disappearance of the pilgrims is part of an immigration scam. Some of those who are missing absconded from Auckland International Airport on arrival in New Zealand in early July, while others absconded from their billets, all but one leaving their luggage there, according to the Department of Labour."

One plaintive comment on the story was from an Indian living in New Zealand:

"dear sir, i am nanda kumar from auckland. actually i am from india. indians are spoiling our life."

Some pilgrims got sick: Chief executive Greg Rochford said the number of pilgrims suffering from influenza-like symptoms had reached 143 on Saturday morning.

Some were injured: In terms of medical emergencies, 84 people who identified themselves as WYD pilgrims presented to hospital emergency departments (ED) in the 24 hours to 10am (AEST) on Saturday. This brings the total of injured pilgrims to 326 since July 9.

The most serious injuries included a fractured femur in an elderly pilgrim, a fractured nose and a number of ankle and leg related injuries

Some got lucky! Any time Australia's biggest city hosts a major event -- from the 2003 Rugby World Cup to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last year -- it is boomtime for the sex industry, insiders say.

A protester from Queensland was set upon by a group of pilgrims when she held up a sign as the Pope’s convoy passed Dawes Point. The woman, Mary Adams, waited hours for the Pontiff to pass in the boat-a-cade, before holding up her handmade sign that said “Ratzinger condones paedophilia”.
Adams was yelled at by a group of pilgrims as soon as she held up the sign, and was forced to flee the area as the group continued to yell while trying to rip the sign out of her hands and shove her.

“If there was a God now, he would be crying,” she said.

Anti-Pope demos: More than 500 anti-pope activists faced off against happy pilgrims Saturday, shouting their distaste at papal policies as thousands of Catholic youth streamed past on their way to an evening address by Pope Benedict XVI.

The NoToPope coalition — some costumed as nuns, devils and priests — lined the edge of a park on the route of the pilgrims' march, tightly ringed by police on foot, bicycles and horseback.

Protesters pelted Catholic pilgrims with condoms Saturday as they made the most of a court ruling allowing them to "annoy" participants at the church's World Youth Day festival in Sydney. A pilgrimage walk organized for the festival took many young worshippers through the city's gay district, where about 500 people demonstrated against Pope Benedict XVI's opposition to homosexuality and contraception. Chanting "Pope go homo, gay is great" and singing "Pope is wrong, put a condom on", the protesters threw condoms at the pilgrims, who were making their way to Randwick racecourse for an overnight prayer vigil.

A drag queen dressed in pink going under the moniker "Pope Alice" also paraded before the pilgrims, while other protesters wore T-shirts with slogans such as "Thank God I'm an atheist" and "Bless me father for I am a homo".

But the young Catholics were at first merely curious, then smiled and waved and began their own singsong chant that carried down the ranks: "Benedicto! We love you!"

"We want to make it clear that we are not anti-religious, and we welcome the Catholic youth to our country," said Rachel Evans, a leader of the coalition. "Our gripe is with Pope Benedict and the hierarchy of the church."

The Fourth World Youth Day was held in Santiagio de Compostela and it was at that time that the beautiful and scenic Monte de Gozo was converted to the ugly barracks like Monte d' Eye Sore. I wonder what monstrous plans they have for Madrid

Pilgrims are a lucrative commodity in Spain.

On the 20^th July the announcement of the next city to host WYD will be announced. There has been much speculation that it will be in Madrid. WYD is held in a different city every two years. This means 2010 in Spain. That is also a Holy Year for St James in Compostela - can you imagine the millions of pilgrims who will be visiting Espana in 2010?? 10 million are expected for Santiago alone!!

SAINT JAMES AT YAHOO!

Only one post in the last 10 days - 15^TH JULY – from Rosina Wachtel

The Galician newspapers report that an average of 400 bona fide pilgrims are showing up every day in O Cebreiro. While the albergue there has been refurbished and enlarged there is no way that it can accommodate so many pilgrims.....( I wonder where they stay). It is also reported that about 70,000 pilgrims are expected to alight in Finisterra this summer.... which is why the authorities there have increased their search for those qualified persons who may be interested in "hospitalizing" and sponsoring? albergues in the environs.... apparently the authorities are ready to offer all sorts of assistance. (I am on my way to Santiago..... if you are interested in the possibility of starting up an albergue in Finisterra let me know and I'll find out as many details as I can.) The Archdofradia is very confident that Pope Benedict, presently in Australia for Youth's World Day will accept their invitation to go to Santiago in 2010, the next Xacobean Holy Year. Certainly a visit by His Holiness should liven things up a bit..... but if nothing else it will surely spur the powers to be to finish all the restorations begun at the Cathedral, the Dean's House (where the Pilgrims' office is), the newly acquired buildings etc. etc., consequently every one will benefit at the end. Lastly, while the refurbishing of the Dean's House will include repose areas for pilgrims in the courtyard, storage facilities for bikes, backpacks, and so on, an information desk on the ground floor and sufficient bathrooms, it will not, alas, include the originally planned coffee bar.
GO CAMINO:

Only one thread – a post about a guided walk on the Abraham’s Path:

A new pilgrimage path (not yet open to individuals, only escorted groups)
I am excited to share with you a special opportunity this fall - a journey on the Abraham Path through Jordan, Palestine and Israel, from October 4 - October 15, 2008.

Highlights of the 12-day journey:

• Walk pilot segments of the Abraham Path in Jordan and Palestine. To travel by foot is the finest way to experience a deep immersion in the local and traditional way of life.
• Visit local businesses, including a soap factory in Jordan where village women produce olive oil soaps using only natural and local ingredients
• Meet local residents and make one-to-one connections
• Possible home stays with Palestinian families
• Explore the rich history of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and surrounding areas
• Learn from expert guides in each country
• Time to reflect, share and process the experience

This is an incredible opportunity to experience the warmth and hospitality of the Middle East in a way not often portrayed by the media. We encourage you to pass the word! Please forward this email and the attached brochure to others who may be interested. Limited space is available, so please notify me soon if you are interested.

Response from the lady from Moratinos:

“This is a wonderful idea. Be aware, though, that it costs more than $3,000 to take this ‘opportunity.’”

(Question: How do you end off a quote at the end of the sentence with a word that is also in quotes? Is it with three quote marks? Very odd - perhaps I should write to Lynne Truss!)

CAMINO SANTIAGO WAY OF ST JAMES offers English, Spanish, French and Italian Forums (no German yet – even with those from Deutschland making up the majority of pilgrims.)

From time to time I click over to one of the other forums just to see what they are talking about. Some of the Italian Forum posts have practically disappeared under an avalanche of porn links. It doesn’t look as though the Administrators – if there are any – ever clear away the porn posts.

Note: Isn’t it odd that Italians end their posts with Ciao Ciao which Google Translates as ‘Hello Hello’.

One thing that is international amongst pilgrims is the melancholy mood when one returns home.

Sono tornata ma vorrei essere ancora per quei sentieri. (I returned but I would still be for those paths.)

Quante cose potrei dire ma ho questa malinconia che non so definire- (How many things I could say but I have this melancholy that I do not know how to define)

Even on the English forum people post in all languages which I’m sure must piss off a few members. This month there has been Spanish (naturally) Portuguese, Italian and now Danish.

“350 chilometri, o forse qualcuno di più, da La Verna, dai boschi delle ultime propaggini della Toscana, alla bella e ampia valle di Rieti in Lazio attraversando i luoghi più significativi della ……”

“Man blir uten tvil bitt av basillen, og begynner å planlegge en ny tur straks man kommer hjem”.

On the Spanish forum – a very busy forum with a slightly different format to the others - there was a warning by a pilgrim about exploitation on the Camino Primitivo. I’ll paste it here in Spanish and you can do the cut-paste-google translate:

Queridos peregrinos:

He advertido anteriormente aquellos sitios en los que debemos pasar de largo, para que no nos tomen el pelo. Voy a enumerar unos pocos.

1º Casa Heminia en Campiello; etapa Tineo-Borres. Esta señora os recibirá con una agradable sonrisa, diciendo cuanto quiere a los peregrinos, que os sellará la Compostela, con frases como "Que Dios te lleve por el buen Camino peregrino", pero luego te da un sartenazo, que no esperas y te deja con cara de tonto. Mejor opción otro local enfrente.

Personal por si lo leyese Herminia (Soy Santiago de La Coruña, menos hipocresía y trata a los peregrinos, como a los clientes habituales)

2º En Pola de Allende, se come bien en La Nueva Allandesa, pero ojo, preguntar precios,por el menú minimo te cobrarán 15 euros. Son buenas gentes, pero es caro.

3º Albergue Juvenil El Castro. Está a 6 km de Grandas de Salime, bien situado, para la etapa del día siguiente, pero tambien ojo. Por la litera cobran 12 euros, pero preguntar precios de comidas, no os vayais a llevar una soepresa.

Personal para Mari Sol Dueña del Albergue (Amiga mia, no se`puede presentar esas facturas a clientes asiduos. No creas que somos tonto, a veces callamos por no advertirte de tú avaricia. No se puede cobrar 8 euros, por unas hojas de lechuga y cuatro jurelillos, y mucho menos 7 Euros por un par de cafe con leches con pan tostado de tres dias.

No creais amigos peregrinos que en todos los sitios os trataran asi. Afortunadamente quedan muchas personas honestas que os trataran como es debido. A continuación van unos ejemplos:

Casa Fernando en El Escamplero
Restaurante Narcea en Grado
En Salas varios de buen menú
En Tineo Hotel Don Miguel, o los Tres Chicos
En Fonsagrada casa Prado
Tambien hay buenos restaurantes y serios en Cadavo, Lugo y en el resto del Camino
¡Peregrinos no os dejeis tomar el pelo y denunciar los abusos.

This was one of the replies:

At that time you were?, I ask this because you wonder what Castro, I always stop in spring or autumn and always struck me as super correct, Herminia better not to speak (jeje) and Allandesa pa tastes good colors, I agree at all that you might as well add any more but I think we should not miss Arreigada in Grandas de Salime. A good option in Fonsagrada Casa Manolo is also serving beds, clean, cost-effective.

http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/messages.msnw

Someone from Argentina has joined the group trying to trace long lost relatives:

I am Raúl Rubén Fernandez Alsina, Argentinian, born in www.generalalvearmza.gov.ar, a land of farmers, ranchers and tourist at the foot of the hill Aconcagua (the highest of America the located in the province of Mendoza) and descendant of Spanish. My paternal grandfather was born in Villa Savariego (León) and his your wife (Amadora Nuñez) in Or Cebreiro as it she consists in his her papers.
The mother house of t is one is, nowadays, the Ethnographic Museum of Lugo and, for relatives' news, there is rented, for the Spanish Government, to a premium(cousin) of my deceased father of name Lily who possesses an inn or inn (I Do not know the use of the suitable term) in Relay Do Cebreiro. It is of our familiar (family) interest to contact ourselves with the relatives to initiate an union. I clarify that nothing imports the economic thing for us. We will remain extremely been grateful to quien/es could offer to us information of contact with them. Finally I add a current family photo.

Sorry Raúl Rubén Fernandez Alsina - your photo is not visible on this site so we can't see what you and your family look like.

PILGRIMS TO SANTIAGO FORUM

Busy, busy, busy Forum. If the Administrator got 1 cent for every hit he would be close a millionaire by now – well, almost.

Everybody should spend a bit of time watching the slide-show of photographs on the Home page. Some are truly beautiful and if you click on the photograph it will take you to the web page where the contributor’s album can be found.

Up-to-date posts include info on German Guidebooks – apparently the best available: Ryanair offering 1 million seats for £1 and a report on one lucky peregrine who got a £0 flight to Liverpool (wtmb): Car hire to Finisterre, walking for Charity, Phrase books, where to stay in Burgos and Paris amongst others.

The Whizz-kid pilgrim threw the full might of his gourd at another member for suggesting that his walk for charity was ‘commercial’ and challenged him to walk the walk for non-mobile children. Another pilgrim wrote a conciliatory post suggesting that, “Your tired legs will grow wings on them now”. (OMG – an avenging Mercury is all that we need!)

(PS: I really dislike words that start with non. Non-mobile: non-acceptance: non-committed: non-white and so forth. To me they are all non-sense and when referred to people suggest a non-entity.)

PPS: There are over 8OO unanswered posts on the Forum.

SANTIAGOBIS

..had 71 new messages in 7 days, 54 of those were in response to a post about “Walking in Sandals”. Scintillating stuff!!

If a new member joined Santiagobis today and wanted to read up on the camino he/she would have to scroll through 29 posts on the current page all with the same title - “Walking in Sandals”.

So – said new member clicks on ‘older’ hoping to find more interesting threads – what does he/she find? 17 more posts on “Walking in Sandals” and a few on “Introducing Myself”.

VIA FRANCIGENA http://groups.yahoo.com/group/via-francigena

Mot much action on the Via Francigena front:

• The Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome has now been registered as a "Friend" of the AEVF (European Via Francigena Association)
• Pilgrims Way to Rome Association - Netherlands. info@pelgrimswegen.nlThey have a list of walkers' and cyclists' websites and lists of
• · A small warning for anyone heading up the Col Grand St Bernard in the
  

near future.There is some major engineering work (de-silting) taking place in and around the Lac des Toules (the large reservoir to the south of Bourg St Piere). The work blocks the part-made road that runs from Bourg St Pierre across the face of the dam and onto the road and pathway to the west of the reservoir and also the path to the west of the Dranse. There are restricted access zones at both ends of the reservoir.
If you plan to pass through Bourg St Pierre you will need to take the steep and narrow path from the southern exit road from the village (near the old customs house) down towards the river (signed - walking route 70), cross the river and head up the west side of the Dranse
on the path normally taken by those that bypass BSP. Shortly after the small renovated house an improvised path has been created up a steep climb to the right to regain the old route at the dam level.

The already tough going is now even worse for mountain-bikers and it would be a real scramble for people with horses.
Unfortunately the only alternative is a long (by memory 3km) section of road gallery carrying the heavy traffic towards the tunnel entrance.
On the up-side (literally and metaphorically) an improved access road has been made between the quieter section of the main road (beyond the gallery and tunnel entrance) and the pathway beyond the southern edge of the reservoir - take the second wooden bridge. This gives the "faint of heart" or "short of wind" an easier option for the last 500 metres of the ascent.

So, now you can’t say you were not warned!
By the way, I saw on an earlier post on this Forum that, should you get lost/stuck in the mud/hit by an avalanche, gored by a bull, you can call 1515 - a 24 hour, toll free number for “…the emergencies of the pilgrim which the State Forestry Corps puts to disposition for all the pilgrims along the Via Francigena to request aid.
Don’t bother calling for the dogs and life saving brandy – they have been retired!





PS: My favourite sign - taken in a church in Zaragoza:

Precipitation, pesticides and post-camino blues

Lets start with the pilgrims-to-santiago fourm:

Rain, rain and more rain
Over the weekend it has rained quite strong in north eastern Spain and several areas have had severe flooding. The Bilbao area seems to be hit the hardest, with several secondary roads closed. The mayor highways are reported to be open. The rain has stopped in Santiago after 23 days in a row with rain. In Santiago we got more rain this May than in the whole of 2007.

A guy asked about walking from Scotland (Why?)
He received this reply:
In 2005 I set out from home, Tynemouth, got the ferry to Amsterdam and walked south to Le Puy to pick up the GR65. I think Zeebruge is further west than Amsterdam so Le Puy wouldn't suit, but the Vezelay route is now marked all the way. Difficulty is that there are few gites d'etapes as you go through Belgium and northern France and not a lot on the Vezelay route. I didn't take a tent and so tended to walk on fairly major routes so as to hit the towns that appeared big enough to have a B+B - didn't always get it right.

Bed Bugs and fleas made it onto the forum again this week. (I actually started scratching just reading the posts!)

When I showed the hospitalero in Astorga evidence of bed bugs he said I must have brought them with me from Mararife and HE didnt have any bugs there. This was not true - my bed was COVERED in bugs and I would have noticed the weight if I was carrying so many! (WHAAATTT?? )

Having been badly bitten last year I was carrying spray to treat my bedding etc and lotion to soothe bites and I was able to give the poor chap some of both. He did not really understand the need to treat all his gear thoroughly and unfortunately I suspect he will have carried them further as he seemed to think I was making an unnecessary fuss when I tried to explain what he needed to do to be rid of them. I had the misfortune to be on the bunk above him and even earplugs could not drown out the noise of his incessant scratching!! I would advice everyone to take some kind of insecticide with them as I found it difficult to buy anything stronger than fly spray which really wont be strong enough to deal with bedbugs.

Santiagobis - was quiet again this week – just a few posts:

Someone looking for a hippie commune asked:

Why no artist communities along the Camino???

And the reply: We´re working on it. Wanna join up?
Rebekah Scott - www.moratinoslife.blogspot.com

And another asked if pilgrims returning along the way can stay in the albergues.

The succinct reply? YES

On the Via Francigena Forum

A cry from the wilderness:

Oh dear, more and more pilgrims; everyone kills the thing (s)he loves. It will get as bad as the Camino in ten years' time. Do it now or not at all.

Grant’s website:

This is an interesting one. (No-one has replied. Who is going to admit that they walked the camino with a go-as-you-please B&B back-up service? Nobody. Nadie)

Does anyone know of a company that offers 'Randonnée en liberté / Go as you please walking' on the Camino del Norte? (= you do the walking, they book the bed-and- breakfast for you).

Good post by the webmaster on his language courses:

Have you seen our Camino Language page? It currently shows 4 instructional audio 'CDs' for both Spanish and French. These files are available in both PC and Mac formats. You can save a file to your computer by right-clicking and 'save as .. ' . I'm working on streaming media players for these files and others. The first of the group that's now working are music media player.

http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/caminolanguage.msnw

The subject of vegetarians on the camino came up again.

http://www.caminosantiago.com/way_of_saint_james/pilgrims_forum.htm site

This vegetarian eats fish, cephalopods and eggs. Heloooo!! You are not a vegetarian.

Ask Yahoo: "If I am a vegetarian and I eat fish, am I still a vegetarian?
Answer: "No. Fish is an animal. Vegetarians do not eat animals.

I walked the Camino in 2005 and had no problems with meatless food, tough I did eat fish almost every evening. There was always at least a fish menu to choose from. Otherwise you can survive on starters (ensalada mixta, pasta, rice dishes) and postres (cakes). Sometimes I even got a specially prepared dish just for vegetarians (eg. in Tosantos).
Bocadillos with cheese and once a huge one with egg and cheese (in Arzua) are common, but also try different sandwiches with onion, spinach or cheese. I am not too sure about Galician pulpo (boiled octopus), we had problems with digestion afterwards.
I do very much recommend pilgrim menus. They are big, tasty and affordable.

Post Camino Syndrome: I walked the camino in the Spring of 2005 and when I got home at the end of May, I was like a fish out of water. I wanted to move away from my home on the west coast of Canada and just keep walking and experiencing life. Everything was big compared to Spain, big cars, big houses, lots of material stuff, big stores, a different reality. Now three years later, I still long to be on the camino. The emotional and physical pain that I experienced on the path, continues to be an inspiration in my life and I am living more in the moment. Trying to bring the Camino back to your life and community is a huge task. I cried a lot when I got back and I was ready to leave everything behind. It gets better with time. (Boo-hoo! I couldn't find a picture of a crying pilgrim so this one of a crying Paris will just have to do.)

A HORNY JENNET, A HEART ATTACK AND THE NOKIA RING TONE

The real news this past week is that a diabetic pilgrim crashed his bike and was taken to hospital, and that a 60 year-old English guy died of a heart attack crossing from St Jean to Roncesvalles. This was posted on most of the forums this week. Also, the weather has been bloody awful with cold and sleet and a prospect of hail in the Pamplona area.

http://www.caminosantiago.com/way_of_saint_james/pilgrims_forum.htm

Caminosantiago.com offers information on art, history, tips, a pilgrims’ forum, webcams, wineries, museums, natural landscapes, ecosystems, transportation, the route on horseback, bicycle route, restaurants, pilgrims illustrious ...etc.

It can now add pornography to the list! Someone, obviously pissed off with all the porno-posts asked: “I am just curious if there is anyone who can remove or block those annoying "posts" with links to all kind of por.nographic sites?....”
Nobody replied so sickos with usernames like Superman, Clerk Kent and Van Derm continue to post links to porno sites.

http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/messages.msnw

"Good, informative and balanced TV program on the Camino de Santiago."

Was the post with a link to this video. Yippeee!! I love videos on the camino.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3lsFaKsfHQ

The program is hosted by César Vidal, with guests Francisco García, a member of the Asociación de Amigos del Camino de Santiago, and Ana Echevarría, a professor of Medieval History at UNED.

Yeah, well, maybe…. but dude, its all in Español. How many peregrinos on the English forums can understand rapid Spanish? Daahhh!!

And something for peregrin trivial pursuit.

Spanish Classical Guitar and the Nokia standard ringtone ...

The Nokia Tune is probably the most recognizable ringtone in the world. It was also the first musical ringtone for cell phones. But the Nokia Tune wasn’t an original. It’s a short clip lifted from the classical guitar piece Gran Vals. It was written by Francisco Tárrega in the late 19th century. Tárrega is often considered the father of classical guitar playing.
Listen for it at 15 seconds, and again at 2:56.

The Gocamino and Saint James Forums are just ticking over with an occasional post by Professor Rosina Wachtel but not many others.

Santiagobis has been very quiet. This little gem was posted last week - or is it just another Hemingway urban legend??

At the Hostal Burguete you can order Ernest Hemingway Soup and have a look at the piano with 'E. Heminway,' and ‘1923’ carved into it. The novelist stopped here to fish for trout as part of his trip to the Feast of San Fermin in Pamplona in 1924. "The girl brought in a big bowl of hot vegetable soup and the wine,' Hemingway wrote. "We had fried trout afterward and some sort of stew and a big bowl full of wild strawberries."

God bless him!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/via-francigena/

The current discussions have focussed on the numbers of pilgrims who have received the testimoniam certificate in Rome. Seems that 850 have been handed out since 2001 - 235 since January 2007.
So bro, how do you earn one of these certificates? Well, one website says that you have to walk 100kms to Rome to receive it but another says 150 kms. 4COL can’t they make up their minds? That’s another two days walking at least. If I walked 100km and someone told me to go back and walk another50km for a piece of paper I would be really peeved.

Forum Flavor of the Month again this month is pilgrimage-to-santiago forum with a flurry of posts on all matters peregrinations including a couple of long posts on the hormonal high-jinks of a horny jennet called Dalie.

We have learned that when the jennets are amorous they indicate they are in heat by mouthing as though they are chewing, laying back the ears, posturing and urinating frequently. This is love language to the jack, letting him know that the lady is interested.

What has this got to do with pilgrims to Santiago? Well, Dalie's owner walked to Santiago with her femenino burro and had her shipped back to the south of France in her deluxe horse trailer where she lives in a pasture with another donkey. Altogether now................aaaaahh sweet!!

In the past few months some topics have had huge number of views.

9580 Topic: Is it safe for a female to travel alone
9063 Topic: Pack sizes
7969 Topic: Class of 2008
6985 Topic: To iPod or not to iPod (WTF?)
And, over 3500 views for a Raincoat/Poncho post. (Its obviously been a very wet season!)

There was a longish thread about a guy who was running the camino but most were not impressed. “We saw this guy go blasting through town and wondered what the heck he was about! What a nut!” said one poster.

So, I'll leave you this week with a picture of a bubble-gum chewing, pheremone enhanced peregrino of a different sort!

Chimneys, Xenophobia, the Angel of Chivalry and an English conundrum

The GoCamino Forum, generated by the American Pilgrims on the Camino (membership numbers unknown), has been in a deep slumber these past few weeks with nothing much to report on here.

The Saint James forum, going since 1999, has 281 members. Of these, only a dozen or so ever post – usually in reply to a query or comment. This group is based in the Caminho de Santiago de Compostela - O Portal Peregrino . The last few months show total posts of 47 March, 52 April and 10 in May.

Ultreya with 312 members, also in the Christianity category, has low volume posts with 42, 32, and 30 for the past three months: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ultreya/ -

The Way of St James Forum in Jacobeo.net has 182 members with no new messages since ‘The Santiago Enigma’ super-sleuth posted 4 convoluted posts in April - which seem to have stopped all the other posters in their tracks. Perhaps they are still trying to decode the Dan-Brownesque clues in the 4 posts?

(Did you know that there is a Camino Refugio Support Group? No? Neither did anyone else – outside the 8 members who have joined since 2005 but haven’t posted since 2006.)

This week the Caminosantiago-Way of St James Forum has been plagued by SPAM posts with links to Lesbian Sex Videos - Mature Naked females and Gang banging adulteresses. Repugnante!!

Grant Spangler’s forum at http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago was quiet for a month or so but is up and running again – mostly with queries on transport. Grant is the supremo-go-guru and knows all there is about planes, trains and automobiles on the caminos.

An interesting question was about symbols on the maps:

“Can sombody have a mind to my what's difference at they symbols for herberg at these maps. Colors at symbols am different , has it a few importance?

(I think the maps have been copied from the Mundicamino website but you can see them here)

http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/CaminoMaps3.msnw

And the reply:
“The only difference is the building WITH the chimney has Pilgrim-specific lodging, the building WITHOUT the chimney may have a hostal, hotel, or nothing, but without Pilgrim-specific lodging. The colors of the buildings are of no particular significance.”

So, if you plan on using these maps for your walk and want a pilgrim bed for the night, remember to look out for the chimneys on the buildings.

Santiagobis (owned by Dutchman Michel) grew out of the ashes of a previous Santiago forum that closed about eight years ago – hence the ‘bis’ in Santiago-bis meaning 'twice or double.
Conundrum: My high school Latin taught me that 'bis' is a prefix, so the 'bis' should come at the beginning of the word not at the end. I wonder what others think about this? (Quite frankly my dears, I don't think anyone gives a damn!)
Boasting 1742 members and based in the Religion category of the Yahoo.Groups it appears to have relaxed its moderator stronghold with – shock and horror!! - discussions on religion being allowed to take their course and now Xenophobia has reared its ugly head. This week some peregrinos slated the inamical French pellerins, others berated the boorish Germans and a few Americanos have been whining about being singled out as polecat, war-mongering George Bush supporters!

This guy posted his opinion :

"The French and Germans are just people and should not be judged as a whole. Groups of both nationalities have made my stays in a few albergues a trial. Both groups hog the kitchen and get the whole barn up at 0530 by talking quite loudly and making an ungodly racket. As individuals and in very small groups they are as anyone else. It just seems they turn up in large groups more frequently."

And was promptly smote down with a hefty smite of the pen (er... keyboard) by one of the moderators in the form of fire and brimstone from the Archangel Michael, who Wiki describes as the Angel of God and the patron saint of chivalry!

"McGurk's remarks, which I have printed below, are insulting, demeaning and a disgrace. McGurk should be ashamed of himself. How patronising to say that individual Germans and French can be house-trained! Especially after saying that they "should not be judged as a whole. I think it's about time that anybody who wants to 'bash the French' or 'kick the German' or 'malign the Pom' should be honest enough to state their own nationality first. Then all the rest of us, who are (or should be) getting rather tired of this whole nonsense, can trot out our diatribe about the writer's nationals, their failings, foibles and irritations. So, I'm an Australian. One of those convict-descended, loud, noisy, beer-swilling, folk with no cultural background. The next time I read a post that begins with: "As an American....." I will rise up and smite the writer with a great and mighty smite.
It should not matter (nor does it make the slightest difference) to the strength of any pilgrim's argument, suggestion or advice as to what nationality they happen to be."

Power-to-the-pilgrims!! Great, tolerant, pilgrim terminology: insulting, demeaning, patronising, disgrace, bash, kick, malign, failings, foibles, irritations, smite.... all in one post!!

The Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela forum – started in October 2004 - seems to have taken up the slack of all the other forums. The forum lists a total posts 22 172 which equates to 6 335 posts per month. Total topics 3 782 and total members 2 723

This week the posts were varied and there was no long thread on any one subject. A new(?) member asked about self-guided tour groups that carry your baggage and make reservations for accommodation and got a big fat slap on the wrist:

My wife and I are hoping to use one of three different self guided tour companies (they carry your bags from town to town and book your rooms). We will be walking from Leon to Santiago in September. Any suggestions? Horror stories? Recommendations? We aren't getting much help from their websites.

A reasonable enough query one might think? Not when it comes to our pellerins.
The first reply was a somewhat snotty comment about ‘these groups’ hogging all the accommodation, from some poor bugger who is obviously still smarting about not being able to get a bed in Mansilla!

To a large extent I believe that it is these groups that are causing so much of the crowding being experienced at this time. When you have a dozen or two of these folks that are pre-booked far ahead into the hotel(s) in a small town it becomes very difficult to find a place. Three days ago I called three places in Sahagun before I found a room. From Sahagun I called everyplace in Mansilla and found nothing so I ended up coming to Leon. (Sniff, sniff..)

A veteran poster responded:

I think its a bit simplistic to assume that one couple who prefer to stay in hotels and have their luggage carried are to blame for the overcrowding. The overcrowding starts in the albergues and spills over into other accommodation along the route. The camino has taken on such a life of its own that I don't think anyone could have foretold how big it would grow.

And another:

Older pilgrims, particularly, often enough have bone or muscle problems which make it impossible to carry a full load on their backpacks-- it is difficult for the outsider to distinguish between these pilgrims and those who are practising a decaff pilgrimage. Mind you, the only time I ever had accommodation trouble was on the National Day weekend, when all of Spain travels and visits.

And from a local...

I agree, (that groups are overcrowding the camino) but only when these groups begin walking three km. before the albergue and are the first pilgrims to take bed. If they sleep in a hostal there's no problem in my opinion.

On the Via Francigena site things are going at a steady canter. They now have 200 members who posted 35 new messages in a week - a sign that more and more camino-peregrinos are searching for less crowded pastures on the other side of the Pyrenees.

The majority of posts were about backpacks and guide books:

Interesting post on the new Lightfoot Guide books by Babette Gallard and Paul Chinn. I googled the books and found that there are 11 used and new from Amazon.co.uk for £22.46 or – hey Tesco!! from Tesco for £22.79 each (both cheaper than from Pilgrimage Publications)

The LightFoot Guide to the via Francigena consists of two books that together cover the entire length of the via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome. The route given is as historically accurate as possible (passing through each of Sigeric's listed towns), but the Via Francigena as we know it today is the cohesion of many routes chosen by pilgrims over the centuries and in this the LightFoot guide is no different. The recommended route is fundamentally true to the general direction - historical and geographical - but where it led the guide writers into undue danger (as with the SS22 in Italy) or unnecessary discomfort (disused tracks requiring a machete) alternatives are offered. The entire distance is divided into manageable sections of approximately 25 km. In most cases this distance amounts to a comfortable walk for the majority of people, though of course it will also depend on the terrain. For the cyclist, 2, 3 or maybe even 4 stages will represent a day's travel and for the horse rider a great deal will depend on fitness and the route itself, but accommodation is listed along the length of the route and it is entirely up to you and your body where you decide to stop.