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Tres Peregrinas

El Camino de San Antonio Missions

Mendy Smith (L) Me and Marie Scott Marks

Marie and I spent our childhoods together. I was ten and she was eight when I moved to the neighborhood. Mendy’s dad & his family lived two doors down from Marie. I am 76.

The walk is through “four eighteenth century Spanish Missions and the oldest functioning Cathedral in Texas. San Antonio is the only place outside Europe that you can officially begin walking the El Camino de Santiago.” El Camino de San Antonio Missions

The Path

Pay attention to the path options. Google likes to take you along high-traffic roadways and not-so-scenic byways. We paused frequently and assessed our options. Opting for neighborhoods and the Riverwalk path added a few miles, but was absolutely worth it.

Lodging

There ain’t none.
If you want to walk from the hotel to the path (and back to a hotel), count on adding another 8-10 miles to the day. Our first day was about 12 miles and the second day, about 15 miles because we walked back/forth to hotels.

Breaks and food

Benches are along the riverwalk. There are no cafes or places to eat, so bring your snacks/lunch/water with you. One detour we took through a neighborhood brought us by a service station and convenience store, but that was a chance happening.

Day One. Start and finish at the hotel. The dark blue is a random auto trip. Light blue is our path.
Day Two. Finished at our hotel on the Riverwalk.
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Preparing for the Camino Finisterre

Tomorrow, I begin the four-day walk to Finisterre. It is the only camino that begins, rather than ends, in Santiago de Compostela. It was considered to be the end of the known world. (Finis=end Terre=land). Also known as the Costa de Morte (Death Coast) because the sun died into the ocean (pretty sure that’s what I read).

“The Road to Fisterra and Muxía is a route that dates back to prehistoric civilizations, which continued with the Celts and was assimilated by Christianity. It is born from the tradition of walking towards the west, following the movement of the sun, to discover the limits of the known world.

The Codex Calixtinus explains how the disciples of the Apostle travelled to Dugium, the current Fisterra, looking for an authorization from the Romans to bury the Saint in Compostela. Already in the 9th century, when the remains were discovered, many pilgrims continued walking until the Costa da Morte or Death Coast.”

https://www.elcaminoconcorreos.com/en/camino-a-fisterra-y-muxia-the-way-to-fisterra-and-muxia
I’m not walking to Muxia (the top part of the loop). I walk from Santiago to Finisterre.
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The Camino Frances

As a reminder, I am walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route of the Camino Frances. There are many Camino routes to Santiago de Compostela- the Frances is the most popular and has the most developed infrastructure in terms of number of villages, places to eat and sleep, medical care, and other first-world resources.

Starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, and ending in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, one walks 790 kilometers / 500 miles through northern Spain. The path is about 60 miles inland from the northern coast. (The Camino Norte is the northern most route close to the coast.)

Today, October 15, I’m about 40 km away from Santiago. Normally, this would be a two-day walk, however, today I will walk 20 km and then break the last 20 km stage into two, short 10 km days. I want to arrive in Santiago rested and early in the day.

From wiki: The Camino de Santiago, known in English as the Way of St. James, is a network of pilgrims’ ways or pilgrimages leading 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 Camino Frances
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Status Report

September 5: Started walking.
October 17: Will arrive in Santiago
October 18: A rest day.
October 19: A four-day walk to Finisterre (at the Atlantic Ocean).
October 26: Arrive home

Finisterre: “In Roman times it was believed to be an end of the known world. The name Finisterre, like that of Finistère in France, derives from the Latin finis terrae, meaning “end of the earth”. It is sometimes said to be the westernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula.”

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Viana to Navarette

This is a post from Mary’s FB account. As I type this at 0300 AM Central, she is on her way to the next stop.

“Had a good night’s rest in a beautiful property in Viana, but still woke shaky and very tired. Very few villages to take a break on this stage. I needed to spend time in Logrono, a city of about 120,000, to take care of a few things: had left an adapter with three cables plugged into a wall somewhere, needed a stop at a Farmacia for a few things, needed to go by the Orange network store and recharge my SIM card. I determined my body needed a break, so I bussed to Logrono, took care of my business, then bussed on to Navarette. It was the right decision. As I write the next morning, I’m rested and ready to walk on.”

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Ireland’s Pilgrim Paths

Ireland’s Pilgrim Paths are a collection of five ancient pilgrim routes which must be completed to obtain the Teastas Oilithreachta (Pilgrim Certificate) from Ballintubber Abbey. (Summarized from the Pilgrim Paths website)

The Five Paths: (All this info is from the Pilgrim Paths website. https://www.pilgrimpath.ie/

Cnoc na dTobar
Cnoc na dTobar (Knocknadobar) was a sacred pilgrim site in prehistoric and medieval times. The Pilgrim Path from the traditional start point near St Furze’s holy well is marked by 14 Stations of the Cross leading to an imposing Celtic Cross on the summit plateau that acts as the pilgrim destination. 

Cosán na Naomh
Ancient pilgrim route with a strong penitential tradition that finishes beneath one of Ireland’s highest and most revered mountains, Mt. Brandon in the West Kerry Gaeltacht. The attractions here are rooted within people and place and completing this path is one of the best ways to experience the elemental, skeletal topography of the west Kerry landscape. 

St. Finbarr
A charismatic pilgrim route offering unforgettable vistas as it leads in fine style over the Sheehy Mountains and valleys  to Gougane Barra.  Denoted by the brown Slí Bharra  plates, the path follows the route of the Sheep’s Head Way and then  Beara Breiffne Way from north of Kealkil – it requires 2 days to complete.

St. Kevin’s Way
Pilgrim trail from Hollywood to Glendalough, which reputedly follows the journey of St Kevin to found a monastic settlement in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains. Well-marked track rises gently to the sweeping viewpoint of the Wicklow Gap before descending easily to finish at the ancient monastic site at Glendalough, which was a renowned centre of pilgrimage and learning in the medieval period.

Tóchar Phádraig
The Tóchar follows the route of the ancient royal road from Cruachán, the seat of the Kings of Connaught, to Croagh Patrick. Holding many resonances from its pagan past; it was Christianised as a penitential route by St Patrick, but remains stubbornly untamed and much as it was for medieval pilgrims. 

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Camino de Madrid (CdM)

Camino options galore! Now considering the Camino de Madrid which is a camino path from Madrid to Sahagun, where it picks up the Camino Frances which takes you to Santiago de Compostella.

Distance would be approximately:
Madrid to Sahagun – 322 km / 200 miles
Sahagun to Santiago de Compostella – 303 km / 188 miles
Santiago to Finisterre – 84 km / 52 miles
Total: 709 km / 440 miles

HOWEVER! Once at Sahagun, I could train/bus back to some favorite places and walk some stretches of the Camino Frances. Maybe Pamplona? Burgos?Estella? Some points in between those places? Could add up to another 200 km just revisiting favorite places. Then once back in Sahagun, walk to Santiago and on to Finisterre.

Map from Wiki