pilgrim 

The camino de Santiago always brings along challenges, personal and in a group. A group of 30 bicyclists from the Basque country has set their goals on Santiago de Compostela.  A  decade ago, the members of the Club Erandioko Txirrindulari Elkartea did the Camino in 24 hours, by bike, starting from  Erandio in the province of Vizcaya. Now, the members will be trying to bike it from Hazaña.

A group of pilgrims suffering from Familial Spastic Paraplegias have completed in 10 days their Camino de Santiago along the Camino Francés from Pamplona to Santiago. Their objective was to inform people about the problems this rare neuromuscular illness brings along.

The 24 people that participated on this expedition did 10 stages of about 10 KM each, all on special bikes that are driven by the force of their arms and not by using the legs.

The albergues in Melide offers several types of services to pilgrims. In this video the hospitalera gives us a tour of the albergues, including its rooms. She also shows us the process each pilgrim goes through each time the check into a new albergues, like getting your stamps and paying the fee the albergues charges.

This group of pilgrims is from the town of Bydgoszcz in the north of Poland. The group consists of a priest and his students that are all walking the camino for religious reasons. They talk about their experience walking the Northern Way, starting in Oviedo and finishing up in Santiago de Compostela.

On a rainy day, two pilgrims from Verin (Galicia) arrive at the pilgrim’s office in Santiago de Compostela after walking from their house in Verin. On the 8th day of walking they finally arrive. They tell us their experience, and how proud they are of being Galician’s after seeing their own region up close. We also get to meet a ten year old pilgrim from La Coruña that has biked all the way from Burgos.

The albergue in Bruma is located on the English Way and is where the routes from A Coruña and Ferrol meet up. The hospitalera María del Carmen Prego explains the various facilities in this albergue.

There are many pilgrims that find themselves unable to continue their Camino due to physical problems. To avoid these problems it is recommended to do some training before you start your Camino and to stay hydrated. The most common mistake made by pilgrims (that lead to physical problems later) is to have a backpack that weighs too much. A rule of thumb is that your pack should weigh about 10% of your body weight.

First at Monte do Gozo and then finally on Plaza del Obradoiro and the catedral. The pilgrims from Alicante almost have no words to express their emotions after arriving at their destination. Now they only have to get their Compostela, and of course to attend pilgrims mass and see the botafumeiro.

Gösta Tingström is a Lutheran priest from Sweden that has walked the Camino to Santiago to test himself as a person and as a priest. According to Gösta the camino is also a test of himself as a preacher and a fountain of inspiration that he will share in his parish back home.

On the way out of Alto de Poio we meet two pilgrims from Alicante. This is their 2nd pilgrimage along the Camino Frances. They talk about the brotherhood they feel with other pilgrims and the rich intercultural exchange that happens along the way to Santiago.