The Camino de Santiago, translated as The Way of Saint James, has been a network of pilgrimage routes in Spain and beyond
The real Camino experience happens out on the trail.
After I walked my first Camino de Santiago across Spain in 2011, I had friends, acquaintances, and strangers asking me to join them for coffee so I could tell them about it.
Well, one can only drink so much coffee! So I organized a public event called Camino 101 and had a full house. Soon afterward, I formed a Whitehorse chapter of the national organization called The Canadian Company of Pilgrims.
At that time, I only knew of a small handful of Yukoners who had walked the Camino. Now, 14 years later, there are probably a few hundred, and the local chapter, now called Yukon Camino Community, with Daphne Mennell as coordinator, is still going strong.
The Camino de Santiago, translated as The Way of Saint James, has been a network of pilgrimage routes in Spain and beyond, since the early ninth century. St. James’s burial site in northwestern Spain was the third most-visited holy destination after Rome and Jerusalem during the Middle Ages.
In those days, pilgrims stayed at churches along the way. Now, there is a great variety of options from dormitories in monasteries, to municipal albergues, to private albergues with dorm and sometimes individual room options, to hostels, to four-star hotels. In terms of accommodation and delicious Spanish food, there are choices to fit all budgets.
But the real camino experience happens out on the trail. Walkers are called “peregrinos” or pilgrims, but there is no longer a particular religious connotation. There are walkers of all faiths or of no particular religious persuasion. Peregrinos walk and walk some more, through beautiful countryside and charming towns, leaving behind cares and worries and labels.
Daphne Mennell, our local coordinator, loves “having the time to look at my life in a new way. Oh, and I come home a lot fitter than when I left. That’s a bonus!”
Walking at least 100 kilometres earns one a pilgrim certificate. Many walk the most popular route, the Camino Frances, and do about 800 kilometres, giving themselves a month or more to accomplish this.
And then the walkers go home, and that’s where local camino organizations fill a need again. People love to share their Camino experiences, especially with others who have also been there, because they understand why you are so over the moon!
These get-togethers also are a place to get further information — about alternate routes, about serving as a volunteer hospitalero (host) in a small countryside albergue, about the latest on-line resources, about news from our national and other international organizations, and about yummy recipes.
Yukon Camino Community is offering Camino 101 on Saturday March 29 from 2:00 to 4:30 at Whitehorse Public Library meeting room.
Another fun event every year is a celebration of St. James Day, sometime around July 25, which brings folks together for food, a walk, and lots of talk. In late November, Daphne hosts a “Welcome Home, Pilgrim” gathering for people to share their most recent camino experiences over tapas and vino.
For more info, go to Yukon Camino Community on Facebook, watch coming events in WUY, or sign up for the Whitehorse newsletter on the Canadian Company of Pilgrims website under “join.” As all pilgrims say along the way, “Buen Camino!”
