I am not particularly religious, but I have always been fascinated by the idea of going on a pilgrimage. I know in Spain there is the Way of St. James, but are there any other pilgrimages that one can undertake without bushwhacking or the fear of being picked up by militants or bandits?
There are several Ways of St. James, that one's the French way - the most famous one. Check out the Northern Way for example, it's the only one I've tried walking because the other ways seems just so dry and boring.
Also the Ways of St. James start in basically every country in Europe going trough the whole subcontinent from the northernmost points all the way to Santiago de la Compostela.
You could check out some buddhist pilgrimages in Asia as well, South Korea and Japan have some nice looking pilgrimages which are safe for western travellers.
>>1112143
I did the Shikoku 88 pilgrimage. It's tough and long and you'll probably feel like you've been lightly psychologically traumatized when you're done, but it's totally worth it.
It's 750-1200 miles depending on the route you take and the extra temples you want to visit. I opted for something in the middle because I liked the idea of walking 1000 miles instead of 750.
If you're after some crazy stories, this is how you get them.
>>1112143
If you're not religious, why not just look instead for "Walks" which have some spectacular views and terrain changes. Although it's historical to pilgrimage, they're not always pretty.
Try england or Ireland. Should be safe enough. Could probably do the Ring Road in Iceland if you had a nice tent.
>>1112163
How long did it take you to do?
>>1112143
>are there any other pilgrimages that one can undertake without bushwhacking or the fear of being picked up by militants or bandits?
Norway - St. Olav's Way - http://pilegrimsleden.no/en/
>>1112189
The camino is fairly scenic except for the meseta. It is also really fun. Most people I found were not doing it for religious reasons. There's something relaxing about just putting one foot in front of the other and not thinking about shit. Top it off with hanging around a new village/city every day and then ending the evening with good food, conversation, and wine.
>Try england or Ireland
This is definitely an option for OP. Check out the West Highland Way in Scotland or the Rheinsteig in Germany
Is the Via Francigena marked, or would you need to use a map?
how do you keep from getting robbed if you're a solo traveler?
>>1112399
First don't be frightened. I'm mostly a solo traveller, and was an idiot once and had a camera stolen, but beyond that have never had a problem. Second, use common sense. Don't leave things unattended, don't flash things, don't look weak and vulnerable, carry yourself with a purpose. Pay attention to your surroundings, and the people in those surrounds. When something seems out of place, exercise greater caution. Like I'm in Thailand, when someone walks up to me and starts talking to me, that seems out of place, so I sense a scam coming one, and am wary of that.
But over all, don't worry too much, as most people everywhere are good.
>>1112403
I'm less worried about unattended things getting stolen as I am being straight held up and robbed, which I'm wary about on all trails.
>>1112190
54 days
>>1112163
Im Actually doing that one next year. About how much did you spend? And did you get a lot of help from Locals? Researching has told me you might get helped a lot to very little.
>>1112370
>http://pilegrimsleden.no/en/
it is marked, yeah, and you have hostels waiting for you the whole way.
>>1112410
Don't worry, highwaymen are a dying profession.
>>1112163
I'm interested in doing it, is there any online resources you used? Did you have to camp out at any stage or was there always somewhere to stay?
>>1112189
I guess the reason people do them is because there's a place to shower at the end of the day. If you do something like Ring Road in Iceland, you have to worry about accomodation, food, etc. And imo you have less time to focus on the actual walk.
Like, I'd love to do the PCT like Cheryl Strayed but I don't want to do it enough to have to pre-make all these packages and buy all this hardcore shit.
Northern Way has too much industrial/pavement walking. Do the Camino Primitivo. It takes you into dense wilderness at times -- it's absolutely stunning. I saw wild horses at one point.
>>1112189
There's plenty of infrastructure along the way. I did the French camino about 11 years ago and there was a town with hostel every 15 km or so. That and it's really damn cheap, since hostels usually expect a voluntary donation around 3-5€, at least when I did it. You only get cheap pilgrim's menus at restaurants.
>>1112410
>I'm less worried about unattended things getting stolen as I am being straight held up and robbed
In Spain? As a pilgrim? Seriously?
People really seem to fall for the Spain is Latin America meme.
If you're interested in the UK you could try the Welsh coastal path around the Llyn Peninsula, catch a boat to bardsey island where there's supposedly 20,000 saint buried.
>>1112540
The pilgrimage is totally different for everyone. The key to having a good pilgrimage is to take it at your own speed, don't rush it. I spent very little, around $1000 for the whole 54 days. I slept outside or in free places 95% of the time, a hotel manager pulled up along side me and offered me a very cheap room once and another time I stayed in a business hotel because there weren't any towns for a long stretch of the trail and I hadn't really slept well or showered in days and I needed it. I also spent a couple nights at a hostel in Matsuyama while waiting for my Japanese friend to join me for the tail end of the pilgrimage.
I got help from locals in some way about every other day, I think. Sometimes it was small stuff like they get out of their car and give you an umeboshi (horrible super sour pickled plum that some Japanese people love) other times they would see me at temples and run over and give me 1000 yen or a box of chocolates or beef jerky or something. Sometimes they would offer to let you sleep at their house, although that's rare. It only happened twice, but it was nice when it happened.
You shouldn't overly research it. Buy a book that tells you about each temple, buy the map book at the first temple, and then just start walking. Discover stuff naturally. It's better.
>>1112551
There are a couple online resources, but they won't really help you in your pilgrimage.
There is a secret list of places to stay that gets passed from one pilgrim to another, I've never found it online. It's just a xeroxed page with information about free places that one pilgrim copies for another when they meet.
I mostly slept outside, just in my clothes with a blanket. When there were typhoons I would try to find a rest stop with one of those roofed sitting areas, kind of like a gazebo, and sleep on the benches in there. I also slept in tiny, tiny one room rural train stations or bus stops. Some people bring a tent, but that's just too much stuff to bring, in my opinion. I'd rather just go as lightweight as I can.
>>1112700
how'd you manage with the language barrier?
>>1112700
thanks mate. did you take food with you or did you buy a few days worth for in between towns?
>>1112703
I had a pocket phrasebook and spent some of my many, many hours on the road learning how to say things and ask for stuff. There was also a Japanese/English dictionary in the back that I used sometimes, but honestly 90% of the time I barely needed to use it. You know how they say 80% of communication is non-verbal? Well I got to understand that concept intimately. Sometimes I had whole conversations with another person and neither of us spoke the others language, but our body language, gestures, facial expressions, vocal tones, context clues, etc all allowed us to speak pretty easily in our native tongues yet still get the message across.
>>1112756
Sometimes the former, sometimes the latter. I ended up keeping a block of Hokkaido cheese, some crackers, a couple bananas, jerky sometimes, and a big bottle of water and pokari sweat in my pack and that stuff usually made up my breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner. Sometimes people stop and give you free food and you keep that with you and eat it until it's gone. Sometimes you run into other pilgrims who have their own food and you share stuff at night around a fire or something. One guy I met was a pilgrim who was doing the whole thing in his camper van, I hung out with him for a couple days (he would walk for the whole day then get in a train or a taxi and go back to his van, drive it back to where he finished walking, and sleep in it and repeat the next day) and he was on a weirdo diet where he only ate boiled onions and zucchini with miso paste. At that point I had run out of food for a few days and I was on day 3 of no eating so I ate the boiled onion like it was the best apple I'd ever tasted even though normally I hate onions.
Towards the end of the pilgrimage I started going to family restaurants for dinner. It was like $15 for a full meal and unlimited soft drinks which helped keep my spirits and blood sugar high.
>>1112695
What kind of shoes did you wear? I have very heavy hiking boots or very light weight low top hiking shoes.
>>1112887
I had 2 pairs of shoes, Keen hiking sandals and regular hiking boots. I ended up wearing the hiking sandals everyday because I did it in the summer and there were frequent typhoons and rain storms. All the water is drained out onto trails in the mountains so if you get caught up there when it's raining the trail basically turns into a river that you have to climb through. With the sandals the water just goes in and out again and as soon as you're out of the water it takes maybe 5 minutes for them to be dry again. The elastic laces broke from constant wear, though, so I had to replace them with regular shoe laces.
>>1112143
>Montelier
>Tolouse
>Potiers
How did they fucked up those names tho
Pilgrim's Way in England. Not sure where it "starts", but it ends in Canterbury, the seat of the church of England.
It's fucking beautiful, and it goes through London. You're probably better taking a bicycle, most of it is paved. You'll need a mountain bike though, some of it is shitty.
This is a good thread I'm planning to do this real soon.
>2011
>Walking like a peasant instead of bike touring
I'd go crazy if I walked instead of biked, it's soooo slooow
>>1112189
Why not ? I'm not OP but I'm planning on doing this too. Religious or not I love history, beautiful architecture, cathedrals etc so it's perfect.
>>1113853
That's the point of a pilgrimage, bro. You're supposed to spend that time reflecting on yourself. That's why almost all pilgrimages prohibit pilgrims from using ipods or otherwise distracting them from the moment.
>>1112143
How do you prepare yourself mentally and physically for a pilgrimages.
>>1113960
What would you need to prepare?
It's not a race and there's no time limit. Physically, you can be in any shape and as long as you can walk you can do a pilgrimage.
Mental preparation, I don't know what you mean by that because the point of the pilgrimage is to affect your mental state so you end the pilgrimage as a slightly different person than when you started it.
It's like asking how you mentally prepare for LSD. You don't, you just do it and deal with it as it's happening, that's the point of doing it.
>>1113960
>physically
you don't, just start walking and you'll find your pace
>mentally
just man the fuck up
>>1112189
Even though my family isn't particularly religious, my dad had his mid-life crisis after watching The Way, which is set on the camino.
I completed it on bike due to uni, doing the whole journey in 3 weeks.
>>1114689
do you think it was alright doing it on a bike, or do you feel like you would have enjoyed it more had you actually walked it through?
>>1112143
You can take a look to the Francigene ways.
Here one website:
http://www.visit.viefrancigene.org/en/
>>1112616
Pilgrims had this bad habit of being robbed on the roads and getting killed by lions for a long time
