We Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago Kindle Edition

This book was an entertaining read and I enjoyed it mostly. But it is choked full of editing errors/missing words (or maybe its an Irish thing?) That make it difficult to read at times. I certainly expect better editing from a full priced book. I would have given at least 4 stars but for the film in the missing word issue.

This book was a thorough and honest account of the Camino Frances. If someone wanted information before their own pilgrimage, this would be a great study. I enjoyed his accurate depictions of his expirience when compared to my own pilgrimage in 2013. I highly recommend.

What a delightful Camino read. Especially after plowing through Iberia and then two Camino memoirs that I found distracting through too wide margins, 1.5 line spacing, multiple fonts, and (in one) too much philosophizing.

I feel like Goldilocks: this one was just right. Nice cover with a panoramic trail photo with the author front and center (I like a visual of the writer.). It follows a Day 1 etc format where the first paragraph is bolded, which provided a transition in the narrative. And there are quite a few photos to add interest.

He writes about a 2003 hike but this Is interspersed with comments about changes noted in other hikes. He does discuss the albergues but we know that things change. I'll be downloading the Confraternity of St James' guide for the Camino Inglés a few months before departure.

I liked the way he weaves the story of his Camino Francés experiences with his Irish background, his personal challenges, and the personalities he met on the trail.

I laughed out loud when a comment about seeing the face of a saint in a wooden beam reminded him of an article about "the face of the Virgin Mary had appeared on a wardrobe door in someone's bedroom." Visitors started showing up. "Imagine if your bedroom became a place of Pilgrimage. You'd never be able to decorate again...Maybe you could rent it out on AirBnB: single room in family house, no atheists!"

He talks about the "4am gang" of people who get up early and manage to wake up everybody else who then struggle to get back to sleep. Then there's the "40km club." People who are in a mad race to rack up the miles.

Throughout, he talks about his Camino family. The people that hikers tend to bond with and the feelings when they don't see each other for several days, and the joy of reuniting in Santiago.

Kelly stayed mostly in albergues in places not considered the normal stages. I could feel the changes after Sarría when the throngs began their Camino to walk long enough (100 kms) to qualify for their Compostela. (I saw a YouTube video where a female hiker explained that, apparently, a successful Pilgrimage on your resumé (c vitae) was highly prized in Spain and advantageous in job hunting.)

"Us long-distance pilgrims were part of the experience for the new-comers and they even treated us with a certain reverence." "...Sometimes it's some long-distance pilgrims who have the attitude problems, resenting the new-comers, questioning their legitimacy, making snide comments about them not carrying their luggage, or having back-up vehicles. Many Spanish people do travel in groups..."

And, for me, Kelly's priceless comment was: "Sometimes these are from local pilgrim associations. These are the same people who do the thankless, boring work of fund-raising and sitting in committees to provide new albergues where the likes of us get to sleep for a couple of euros. These are the same people who walk the Camino at weekends just to pick litter, or go out with a tin of paint to freshen up the yellow arrows so people like us can walk the Camino without even having to think." Amen, Gerald!

Bottom line: Not only did I thoroughly enjoy this read, but it has a July 2016 publication date and is priced at $7.99. Win-win.