Pilgrimage is a very personal experience, no right or wrong, nor better or worse exists. The only important thing is that each pilgrim makes his or her own pilgrimage, not the one of somebody else. Hereby I don’t mean the religious tradition of making a pilgrimage for (in the benefit of) somebody else, but the tendency of trying to experience what other pilgrims have described or written about. I try here on this web site to put together a wealth of resources so that you can start your own pilgrimage as well prepared as possible, but fact is, that nothing really can prepare somebody for the first hand experience of the camino.
Whilst reading guide books and historical background accounts can be very helpful, I am normally not a big advocate of reading books by other pilgrims before starting off on your own. Time after time, I have met pilgrims that were not walking their own camino, but the one Paulo Coehlo or Shirley McLain have described in their books. Looking for the magical and / or out-worldly experiences that these persons have described in their camino publications and missing completely the multitude of daily miracles that are happening during their own walk.
Granted, the idea of making the pilgrimage originates often in hearing or reading the accounts of others that have walked before us. And yes, I have included on this web site a lot of information and reviews, not only of guide books, but also of books like “The pilgrimage” by Paulo Coehlo and I have even added a Pilgrims Shop where you can buy guides, books and equipment directly via Amazon.
But I do want to encourage you also to really make the pilgrimage you are about to undertake your own, and not the of somebody else. Nobody arrives as the same person in Santiago de Compostela as they have started on their first day. Don’t miss this chance.
It doesn’t matter if you start for religious, spiritual, cultural, sportive, touristic reasons or a mixture of all of these, what matters is that you “make your own way”.
Like the famous Spanish poet Antonio Machado (1875 – 1939) put it so beautifully:
| Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada más; caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. Al andar se hace camino, y al volver la vista atrás se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar. Caminante, no hay camino, sino estelas en la mar. |
Wanderer, your footsteps are the road, and nothing more; wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking. By walking one makes the road, and upon glancing behind one sees the path that never will be trod again. Wanderer, there is no road– Only wakes upon the sea. |
Used with permission, Wikiquote