The Camino Podcast

The Camino del Norte offers some of the most spectacular scenery of any pilgrimage, combining rugged coastal hills, sandy beaches, spectacular cities and small fishing villages. In this series, we will virtually walk the Norte together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. In this first episode, Dennis Garnhum, author of Toward Beauty: Reigniting a Creative Life on the Camino de Santiago, gets us started with reflections on the first three stages, between Irun and Deba. He is followed by Paul Fee, a geologist who helps explain what's happening in the remarkable flysch of Zumaia and the Basque Coast Geopark, along with Iberia as a whole.

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What does a pilgrim need from a guidebook in 2024? Does a pilgrim even need a guidebook? Tim Mathis (www.timmathiswrites.com) set out to answer those questions and the outcome was a different kind of guidebook, The Camino for the Rest of Us: A Comprehensive Guide to a Life-Changing Journey on the World's Most Approachable Pilgrimage. In this discussion, we explore his own experiences on the Caminos Francés and Portugués, unpack what kinds of advice and information are essential for today's pilgrims, and compare pilgrimage journeys with wilderness treks.

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The Camino magic struck Maryjane Dunn early in life, when she found herself in David Gitlitz's classroom, the foremost American scholar on the Camino de Santiago. She traveled with him on the Camino Francés as part of a student group in 1979, setting in motion a life's work that resulted in her being awarded the 2024 Aymeric Picaud International Prize for her contributions to the Camino. She is the translator of The Sermons and Liturgy of Saint James as well as The Miracles and Translatio of Saint James, which comprise the first three books of the Liber Sancti Jacobi. In this episode, we discuss her impressions of the Camino in those early days, her research on miracles and the Cruz de Ferro, and the origins of the American Pilgrims organization.

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By design, the Camino of the present is a remarkably inclusive pilgrimage. All are welcome. Encouraged even. For many, this is one of its most cherished qualities. Inclusion does, however, bring certain complications. While cultural appropriation is a phenomenon that is much discussed, religious appropriation receives far less consideration, and Liz Bucar (www.lizbucar.com) sought to attend to that in her book Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation. How can non-Catholic pilgrims and walkers approach the Camino in a respectful, appreciative, and historically aware fashion? Note: this will be the last episode of the Camino Podcast for a few months, as Dave sets out to complete his coast-to-coast walk across the USA. Follow along at www.davewhitson.com, www.instagram.com/davexusa, and www.patreon.com/davewhitson

Well before the Camino Francés was considered safe to walk, there was the Camino Primitivo, linking Oviedo--the center of a small, Christian enclave that was holding out in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula--with Santiago de Compostela and the recently rediscovered relics of St. James. In this four-part series, we will virtually walk the Primitivo together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. This episode concludes the series, taking us from O Cádavo, through Lugo, and then on toward Santiago following two different options. The official Primitivo continues directly to the Camino Francés in Melide. Mel Trethowan (www.lifeonebigadventure.com) shares her impressions of that approach. Meanwhile, an alternative route, the Camino Verde, diverges from the Primitivo immediately after Lugo and eventually joins the Camino del Norte shortly before Sobrado dos Monxes. Susan Faillettaz & Angus Carrick (www.carrick.ch) offer insights into that much-less traveled option, where they experienced an uncanny series of coincidences. The episode concludes with a closer look at Lugo, one of the major highlights of the Primitivo. Dr. Rob Portass, of the University of Lincoln, offers insights into the city's Roman origins and the persistence of its magnificent walls.

Well before the Camino Francés was considered safe to walk, there was the Camino Primitivo, linking Oviedo--the center of a small, Christian enclave that was holding out in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula--with Santiago de Compostela and the recently rediscovered relics of St. James. In this four-part series, we will virtually walk the Primitivo together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. Part 3 picks up the Primitivo in Berducedo, descending sharply to the lovely Embalse de Salime, before climbing back up to the Alto del Acebo. At that point, the Primitivo enters Galicia, proceeding through the town of Fonsagrada before finishing this section in O Cádavo. Jeff Monroe (www.wanderingvirginia.com, www.hikingupward.com), a first-time pilgrim on the Primitivo, shares stories from a snowy climb in the offseason. Dr. Noelia Bueno Gómez, a professor of philosophy at the University of Oviedo, then discusses her research into the ‘Coplas del Comandante Moreno’--a ballad about a massacre that occurred along the Primitivo in the Spanish Civil War near the village of El Acebo.

What makes the Camino special? We are often advised today to embrace the fact that it’s “your Camino,” to do it “your” way. While there is certainly some legitimacy to that perspective, it also risks diminishing some of the most meaningful and potent qualities of the experience, qualities that are embedded in the communal nature of pilgrimage. By thinking instead about pilgrimage as both “our Camino” and “their Camino,” and conceiving of ourselves as North Americans as guests joining a larger whole, we can simultaneously respect the traditions and practices of the way, while also increasing the possibilities of a truly transformative experience.

Well before the Camino Francés was considered safe to walk, there was the Camino Primitivo, linking Oviedo--the center of a small, Christian enclave that was holding out in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula--with Santiago de Compostela and the recently rediscovered relics of St. James. In this four-part series, we will virtually walk the Primitivo together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. Part 2 focuses on a shorter section of the Primitivo, just 41 kilometers between Tineo and Berducedo, but it includes the most famous and talked about walk--the famous Ruta de los Hospitales. Lainey Silver and Shawn Forno (www.dayswespend.com) share stories from some soggy--and yet still exhilarating--walking in this section, including Spanish soap operas and an innovative use of socks. They are followed by David Guardado, author of Asturias: Nunca Vencida, who speaks to some of the defining aspects of Asturian identity and language.

Well before the Camino Francés was considered safe to walk, there was the Camino Primitivo, linking Oviedo--the center of a small, Christian enclave that was holding out in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula--with Santiago de Compostela and the recently rediscovered relics of St. James. In this four-part series, we will virtually walk the Primitivo together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. Part 1 focuses on the first three stages, between Oviedo and Tineo, covering roughly 70 kilometers. Nadine Karel (www.nadinewalks.com), a two-time Primitivo veteran, offers insights on the route, while Allison Bixby-Bemus discusses her experience taking over as co-owner of the legendary Albergue de Peregrinos in Bodenaya. Finally, Anthony Hemingway discusses one of the most noteworthy features of the region--the pre-Romanesque churches distinctive of Asturian Architecture, including several that are clustered in Oviedo.

If you have walked the Camino, you've encountered donkeys. Sometimes they're looming on a field's far end, watching the world go by, a presence immediately recognizable even from a hundred meters. Sometimes, they're pressed against the barbed wire fence, curious and eager for engagement. And very, very occasionally, you'll see a pilgrim walking with a donkey. This episode features an interview with one such pilgrim, Barbara from Poitiers, France, on her journeys with Dalie on the Camino del Norte and other routes. She is followed by Mark Meyers, the Executive Director of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue (www.donkeyrescue.org), who explains the donkey's many virtues, the valuable roles donkeys can still play in 2024, and the reasons they are in need of rescue today.