113 - Camino News Update 3/20/24 - Botafumiero, Finisterre, Santiago, Norway's St. Olav, Levante and more!

Youtube link for this episode:

https://youtu.be/LzK9nCuICbQ?si=n9RQ0XxsJgXUYitV

Norway Links:

https://www.visitnorway.com/listings/pilegrimssenter-granavollen/7316/

https://pilegrimsleden.no/

https://visittrondheim.no/en/activities-attractions/sightseeing/nidaros-cathedral/

Music Credit - Thanks to a fellow pilgrim, Sarah Justine Packwood, for the generous offering of the usage of her original song:

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The Camino Cafe's intro and outro song with thanks to fellow Pilgrim, Jackson Maloney. Original Song - "Finnis Terre" - written and performed by Jackson Maloney - Singer, Musician, and Songwriter. Connect with Jackson: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3fdQsSqq9pDSwKcWlnBHKR

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Hey everyone, welcome to the Camino Cafe podcast and the Camino News Update. This is Lee and I just wanted to say hello and thank you for listening to the podcast and to the Camino News updates. I'm headed this week to walk part of the Camino Portuguese and I'll bring you updates from that walk next week. But first I wanted to let you know that on this episode of the Camino News Update, it ends with a beautiful short movie by Sven Kavan of his recent walk to Finestere. So I wanted to invite you, after you hear today's episode, to hop on over to watch it on our YouTube channel as well, which is the Camino Cafe podcast YouTube channel. On the audio podcast version of today's show, you will hear a song being played during Sven's movie called Meet Me at the Table, which is an original song provided by fellow pilgrim and listener, sarah Justine Packwood. Thank you so much, sarah, for your generosity. Now let's get to today's show. Oh, and I'd be thrilled if you'd give the show a five star rating and a thumbs up and all the things that you can do whether you're listening to the podcast or on YouTube. Thanks, everyone.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Now let's get to it, pilgrims, it's the Camino News Update, wednesday, march 20th 2024. And let me tell you, pilgrim numbers are up. We're seeing pilgrims everywhere we go and there's lots of tourists in town because we're one week out from Holy Week. Well, we have the official numbers coming to you from Johnny Walker in just a few moments. But, most importantly, we have a special report from Johnny as to why the Boat of Amaro has been missing and how much longer are we going to have to wait to see it again.

Speaker 1: 1:45

And then we're going to check in with Lindsay Taitione. You know he finished the Mozarabie last week and then he headed to a lesser known route and while he has a few opinions about it that I think are important for all pilgrims to hear. And then we are going to get to see a path in Norway. You can be one of the modern day pilgrims, like a pioneer pilgrim really, on this ancient and beautiful path. And then we get to walk to the end of the world with Sven Kavan. Oh, my goodness, this footage is amazing. You're going to love it. So stick with us. Here we go. Let's check in with Johnny.

Speaker 2: 2:18

Hello everyone, this is John speaking to you from Santiago. In the last week I've had emails from a number of pilgrims asking about two things. One is how are the numbers during this year? Will there be beds for us if we walk the Camino? And secondly, what's happening about the Boat of Amaro?

Speaker 2: 2:38

Well, in terms of the pilgrim numbers, clearly we've been tracking increases based on last year. At the moment there's an 18% increase compared to the number of comfort cellars which were issued last year. Now there's 11,000 pilgrims have arrived so far in the last few days. Numbers are going up and going up because, of course, next week is Holy Week, which is one of the busiest weeks in the Church's calendar and in the Pilgrim calendar. So we'll see whether the trend continues. The advice is very straightforward If you're concerned about the availability of accommodation, book your first few nights. If you're then going to stay in Alberta and you want to walk until you find the bed, then you'll very quickly suss out the momentum of what's going on, and the advice is to walk past the hotspots, walk past the popular places like Pamplona, go early and visit the city and then walk on until you find an aubergine. But we'll keep you posted on these numbers as the year develops.

Speaker 2: 3:48

Now to the bot Fouveiro what happened and when is it coming back? Well, just the other day, I was in the company of a person who can only be described as the horse's mouth from the cathedral and we learned. I learned that we know that the renovations went on in the cathedral right up until the Holy Year started in 2022. They ran out of time and they didn't have time to take down the mechanism and renew it and then put it back up again. So the Holy Year started and I'm using the bot Fouveiro and everything was fine until one day.

Speaker 2: 4:28

One day in November, when the Archbishop himself was presiding at the Mass, he put the incense into the bot Fouveiro. It flew as usual, the song was going on in the background and as the bot Fouveiro slowed down, blink, a screw from the mechanism dropped onto the altar. Now everything was fine and it stopped. But the administration of the cathedral decided that this was the time to take the mechanism down and if you look up at the moment, it's not there to take the mechanism down and have it renewed. It's not there. All fingers are crossed.

Speaker 2: 5:04

There's a great expectation and hope that the bot Fouveiro will be back in action for Easter Sunday the greatest celebration in the calendar of the Catholic Church, whether it will be there or not, because, remember, it need to be set up as scaffolding on the high altar and so forth. We'll need to wait and see. All we can see is the expectation is that it will be back very soon.

Speaker 1: 5:30

And next up we have Lindsay Tayshene. Lindsay, let's hear about this walk this past week.

Speaker 5: 5:36

Hi there, Lindsay. Here again I'm taking a rest day in Madrid. I've just spent a week having a snapshot experience on the Camino Lavante. It's not one of the better known Camino routes. It starts in Valencia to eventually join the Vierda La Plata route in Zamora.

Speaker 5: 5:59

I walked the section from Almanza to Albertheti a distance of just over 100 kilometres. The way was generally easy, walking wide country roads. The landscape I walked through was dusty, with the predominant features being rocky fields, ragged hillsides and intermittent patches of pine forest. There's very little up-to-date information available for this route. Notably, the Grons website has no accommodation information. The way itself has very poor signage, with few yellow arrows still visible. Whenever I came to a crossroads, I had to rely on mapping apps like Buen Camino and Mappycz, which often couldn't agree on the correct route. In short, I wouldn't recommend this route for novice pilgrims. The long distances between towns, the tedium of the landscape and the uncertainty around infrastructure would be ideal for adventurous pilgrims in need of a challenge and a story to tell. Spain is up for Seminar Santa. I'm off on a new adventure to maybe enjoy the festivities in a more rural and peaceful environment. Until next time, Buen Camino.

Speaker 1: 7:28

Now let's check in with Ingo Borg and find out about this ancient path in Norway.

Speaker 4: 7:31

It all of ways goes from Oslo to Trondheim. That's the most common way of walking. Actually we have several trails, but that's the most common way. It's about 400 miles. It's going through beautiful landscape. The history is actually that it goes from a different part of Norway to the city of Trondheim and Trondheim and the cathedral of Trondheim, the Nidøriskund Cathedral, a very place, the shrine of St Olaf. He was a Viking king and he kind of gathered Norway as a Christian country back in 1030. So it's a very, very old historical pilgrimage destination.

Speaker 4: 8:10

So it goes through valleys on top of mountains and passing through some gravel paths, rarely as full but more difficult than the Camino. It stretches that you would walk would probably not be as long as you would on the Camino, so normally it's about 20 kilometers. I've walked it without doing any training before, so I think most people will be able to do that without any training. Choose if you want to sleep in a hotel or an albergue, or sometimes it's only small huts, so it's really simple accommodation. You should be prepared for simple accommodation and also for food, so sometimes you will have to bring food along from one place to another.

Speaker 4: 8:52

This is a trail that is under development, so it's a good chance for being like a pioneer on the Norwegian or Scandinavian pilgrimage trail. It's well marked. I work in the Pilgrim Centre in Trondheim in the reception of pilgrims and that's one of the things that the pilgrim says that it's easy to find their way. And if you also want to be online, you also have a digital map. I would recommend to start in June or maybe late May, and both June, july, august, september, even October can be nice. Normally we say that you will use 32 days from Oslo to Trondheim and then you will have one day a week to relax. So if you don't have any relaxing days, you can use like 28 to 29 days.

Speaker 1: 9:42

Now we get to walk to the end of the world of spin cabin. Without two feet we'd never be.

Speaker 3: 9:59

We punished our suffering, even if we did not experience it. If you're asking me for help, my immediately replied with a very beneficial word and some wine. Our guests are all waiting. Your friends and mine will sit down together and serve up good fare, for the land Surely blessed us with plenty to share. Meet me at table, take the weight of your feet, relax here among us and please take your seat and I'll pour you a glass and we'll toast this fine day when you came here for a visit whilst walking away. Meet us at table. We'll eat till we're full and till sore is till midnight. Sure it won't be dull. We have more in common than it bites us, you see. So be at peace, pilgrim. You're welcome and free, and I'll pour you a glass and we'll toast this fine day when you came here for a visit whilst walking away. And I'll pour you a glass and we'll toast this fine day when you came here for a visit whilst walking away. O Traya es tu sea.

Speaker 1: 13:40

Well, that's it for this week's show pilgrims. We'll be back next week with a new show show. Until then, we hope to see you in Santiago, ciao.