Typical Scene on the Camino de Santiago

Typical pueblo scene on the Camino de Santiago

Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago usally pass through two or three small pueblos for each 25 kilometer (15 mile) stretch. Many commented that the tallest building in each pueblo was invariably a church. This modest ‘Romanesque’ style typified the medieval pilgrim’s style. Later, the more grandiose Gothic Cathedrals came into vogue. A few of those still lie on the Camino in places like Burgos and Leon. The irony is that all these magnficent churches dot what most consider to be the world’s most irreligious continent. American pilgrims tended to be more religious than their European counterparts. It all made for an interesting atmosphere on the Camino!

Bill Walker is the author of ‘The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago’ (2012). His prior books were Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail (2008) and Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail (2010).

Camino Style Travel on the Upswing

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What do I mean by “Camino-style traveling?” Specifically, on the Camino a pilgrim walks a modest distance each day, followed by eating a good, but not gourmet meal off a pilgrim’s menu in a small pueblo after having completed his or her distance of approximately 15 miles per day. Then, the pilgrims queus up in line for showers and laundry. Finally, it’s time to bunk down in some rather modest quarters, often with up to 100 other pilgrims lying in bunks nearby.

This ‘Camino-style’ traveling can be differentiated from, for instance, a conventional hand-held tour on the one hand, in which a tourist’s agenda is completely laid out in advance. The main activity is getting on and off tour buses and cruise ships for sightseeing, as well as four-star meals.

On the polar-opposite end of the spectrum would be a journey up either the 2,181 mile Appalachian Trail (where I lost 33 pounds) or the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail (where I lost 43 pounds). These journeys are grueling, ascetic, and very much about chosen denial.

‘Camino-style traveling’ falls somewhere between these two extremes. It gives the pilgrim a great deal of exercise, although an amount that the average person is capable of doing with a good deal of effort. However, there is nowhere near as much denial, given that pilgrims eat off pilgrim menus and sleep inside every evening in albergues. Heck, pilgrims don’t even smell bad like Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trail hikers. They shower every day.

So what do you think? If this sounds appealing, you’ve got company. The Camino de Santiago has become wildly popular in Europe, drawing 200,000 pilgrims per year. All nationalities on the old Continent of Europe are well-represented. Better yet, other countries are developing caminos (meaning, ‘the way’) of their own. For example, in Italy a route is gaining popularity that runs from Assissi (Francis’ hometown) to Rome, with albergues and refugios to stay in along the way.

For many people, this is not only the richest way to travel and meet others in authentic situations. It is also the most economical way. Thus Camino routes are bound to proliferate, hopefully to all over the European continent. It really is best way.

Bill Walker is the author of ‘The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago’. He also previously authored Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail  (2008) and Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail.

The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago Reaches Top 1% on Amazon

I must admit I was worried. My first two narratives, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail and Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail had begun selling immediately after publication. That is probably not due to me, but rather the fabulous cultures of both these two national scenic trails. There are tens of thousands of people who regularly read everything they can find on the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails. I consider myself lucky as a first time author to have had so many readers.

But my third book, which I had done so much research for and spent so much time on–The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago, did not start selling immediately. “What’s the problem? Am I marketing it wrong?” I kept bleating to friends and colleagues. Well it’s not a problem–simply a fact–that the readership market for books on the Camino de Santiago is nowhere near as large as on our great hiking trails here at home.

The good news, however, is that Americans are learning about the Camino de Santiago at seemingly the speed of light. It is Europe’s most popular footpath (variously referred to as a spiritual pilgrimage, religious pilgrimage, even Europe’s largest singles bar). Europeans of all stripes take to it each year in waves and throngs. A German comedian, Hape Kerkeling, walked it several years back and wrote ‘I’m Off Now’. The book has sold millions of copies in German alone, and now there are as many German pilgrims as there are French pilgrims. Spaniards and Italians are also out there in droves. But until recently Americans had not really discovered the glories of the Camino de Santiago. But that is changing rapidly. The number of American pilgrims on the Camino is doubling each year. The Hollywood movie, The Way, starring Martin Sheen has greatly increased awareness.

Perhaps that is why my narrative has begun to gain greater circulation. Sales have more than doubled the last two months and the book has now reached the top 1% on Amazon. Hopefully, it will fit within the rich mosaic of resources that aspiring pilgrims have at their disposal when readying for a Camino pilgrimage. Some history was necessary to show just how this mass pilgrimage, one of the largest sustained movements in human history, developed. But I have done everything I can to make it ‘light history’ with the purpose of carrying the story of my pilgrimage. Incidentally, I had such a good time in 2010 that I came back and did the whole thing again in 2011. Honest to God, the Camino de Santiago is the very best way I’ve ever found to travel. For that reason it was a no-brainer to name the book, The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago.

Amazon.com   paperback $12.95,  Kindle $4.95  www.thebestwaycamino.com

Bill Walker is also the author of Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail (2008), and Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail (2010). Walker, who is 6’11”, is now working on a book on the subject of height.

Go to Cuba, Go to the Camino de Santiago

Amazon paperback $12.95, Kindle $4.95,   www.thebestwaycamino.com

It’s amazing. I am literally getting e-mails and phone calls every single day by people saying they have seen the movie, ‘The Way’, or read, ‘The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago’, and are now planning to walk El Camino de Santiago in Europe. You’ve got to wonder, why?

The riddle may be a profound one. Humans have long history as wanderers. Whether you are talking about the aboriginal people, ancient Israeli tribes, Bedouins, Kurds, you name it, this nomadic instinct in humans has consistently revealed itself. “Solvitur ambulando (walking solves all)”, wrote St. Augustine. Perhaps we are being truest to ourselves when in perpetual motion.

The Camino is not the day-in, day-out struggle of the Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail. Nonetheless, a ‘pilgrim’ averages walking 15 miles per day. That ain’t chopped liver. Better yet, pilgrims from all over the world are now doing the 500 mile pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

The Camino seems to fill that void that conventional travel often lacks–the desire for the deeply real. How often have we seen people return from trips, trying to project excitement about their journey, only to betray disappointment. But the Camino really does offer a journey with deeper ramifications.

The wave of interest being seen from Americans in the wake of the Hollywood movie, ‘The Way’, with Martin Sheen, is manifested in ever greater numbers of Americans taking to the Camino. For that reason, I compare doing a pilgrimage on the Camino to taking a trip to Cuba. Do it now, before it gets overcommercialized and overrun by Americans, and while it still retains its mostly European character.

Bill Walker is also the author of Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail (2008) and Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail (2010). Walker, who is 6’11”, is now working on a book on the subject of height.

The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago

Bill Walker–author of Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail (2008) and Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail (2010) has just released his third outdoor narrative. It is called ‘The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago’, and sells on Amazon.com in paperback for $12.95, and Kindle for $4.95.

Walker walked the full Camino Frances (from St. Jean Pied de Port in southern France to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain) in both 2010 and 2011. It measures 800 kilometers (500 miles). In 2010, he also continued walking all the way to the Atlantic coast at Finistierre, whose name is derived from the ancient belief that it was the end of the world.

The name of the book is derived from Walker’s conclusion that El Camino de Santiago(The Camino) is the best way to travel. The Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail are ascetic and agonizing, and very fulfilling to be sure. Conventional trips tend to be ‘hand-held’ and overly sedentary. However, the Camino is the perfect balance of outdoor struggle, camaraderie, sightseeing, food, and wine.

It is also by far the most popular footpath in Europe, drawing 200,000 ‘pilgrims’ per year. In this mix are all the European nationalities, and now Asians and Americans. A German comedian, Hape Kerkeling, wrote a bestselling narrative of the Camino; subsequently, Germans are the nationality most represented on the modern Camino, followed closely by French and Spanish. Having taken many trips to Europe, Walker found the Camino to be by far the best way to meet the denizens of the Old Continent. That perspective, plus more of his now well-known self-deprecating and mischievous humor, make this a delightful page-turner.

Great interest in the Camino de Santiago