Sober Camino: La Cañada Real Leonesa Occidental

Tuesday 25 September 2012

La Cañada Real Leonesa Occidental

A real great moment for me on the Camino was crossing the Cañada Real Leonesa Occidental on the 25. September. Very harsh winds all day, so me and my companions didn't stay there very long.

The Cañadas and the Mesta are a very special part of Spanish history.

It's all about sheep. And I love sheep. Just read the next message.

Transhumance is the centuries old tradition of bringing the herds from summer- to winter pastures, depending on the season. Nowadays the transport takes place by truck or train, but it used to be a walking thing. The herds needed space to travel slowly, and that is why there are cañadas, broad grasscovered ways (up to 75 meters) in a huge network through Spain.

Spain was divided between Moors and Christians for centuries. In the nomansland in between the rivalling parties only shepherds could be found. It led to a lot of conflicts between farmers and shepherds after the Reconquista. The Mesta was the organisation that guarded the interests of the sheep and wool trade.

Spain's economy was based on wool for a long time. It was delivered to the clothing industry in Flanders and England. A lot ot wealth came from the wool (this is before the time of the colonies and the silver fleets...).

The Honrado Concejo de la Mesta was one of the most powerful institutions in the land. The members came from the nobility and church orders.

The herds (of up to 40.000 sheep!) travelled from Extremadura and Andalusia to Castilia, for instance. This particular route is 700 kilometers long. The cañadas reales were protected by the king and the herds were granted the right to travel there forever. Nobody could build anything on these routes.

Historians claim that the transhumance network has highly contributed to the unity of the Spanish language. Without this network that lead to a lot of 'interlocal' contact Spain would have had much stronger regional dialects, developing to different languages.

The Cañada Real Leonesa Occidental

Spanish shepherds protesting in Madrid against violation of their rights

The large network of Cañadas all over Spain.

Doubleclick on the image to enlarge it

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Sober Camino

Imagine a country with so much heritage that even some of the churches are in ruin. España.

Since I walked the Camino Frances I can say: the outside, the image, the picture, the encounters with so many different people, the landscape; it's fabulous. About the inside you may have different thoughts. The sober character a way like the Camino should have in my opinion is under pressure, for various reasons.

We live in 2022, and everything seems within reach to anyone. The world as a village, a hollywood, a... So is the Camino. I love to write about the sunny side. It really is a great and mostly joyful experience. So pack'n go! But there's a shadowside that I'll point out to.

I didn't write a blog while walking the road. Gives an energy leak. It was better for me to come home first and then quietly write all this. Just made notes for some of the impressions in Spain already, and made a lot of photo's suitable for the blog.

Two kinds of stories here: impressions of my walks (see map below) in the left column, and comments and thoughts about the Camino itself in this right column.

The date above the article can be random sometimes, I want a certain order in it. But the travel impressions are related to my walks, sorted by date. ¿Me comprendes?

It is written in English, yes... because the Camino de Santiago is a world wide web. There is also a Dutch edition.

Released 5 nov. 2012, Groningen, the Netherlands

Go west!

How many times, when I was walking a part of the Camino where I could be sure it was old, I imagined that the sound of my stick on the pavement had been here for ages. That people walked this path a thousand years ago already. And even further back in time, there is word about Kelts travelling to Finisterre, far before that... Isn't that some heritage, isn't that something that leaves traces behind, in feeling, in energy...

Of course you can state that the Camino Frances is just another beautiful walking path. But that's not how it feels to me. There's something in the air, something happening when you walk. I think about the numerous hands of friendly villagers that showed me the right way. Or the times in a lonely forest, you're standing doubtfully on a crossroad, and then there is always this other pilgrim who knows where to go.
This early morning, still dark. A small village. A man passes by, breaks the silence with a sonore bass: "Buen camino, hombre." Moments that give you wings.
Walking uneasy with painful feet, worrying if you can go on. Then there is suddenly a newly opened nice cafe, for joyful moments of rest. It wasn't even on the map.

What I would do is

How to keep it uneasy, and clean, and sober

The Camino was a bit too easy, autumn 2012. Very nice weather, many nice terraces, good moods. It was becoming cosy: 'Hi, how are you, where are you from today?' Forgotten the harsh winds of the meseta, the burning sun before Logrono.
I was lucky enough to get my real camino after Santiago. On the way to Finisterre the ocean interfered and soaked me from hair to toes for two days. Ja! Great! Sure, I got an infection on my heel, had to wear sandals, nobody else around to straighten my raincape. Good! Real camino, good suffering, that's what we need! Other peregrinos felt the same. A man passing by in the pooring rain, in a t-shirt, was offering me his raincape...

Terrace in the sun, meeting friends, making photos, sounds like a Sunday's stroll, no? Luckily it's a .....end to Santiago, so blisters were the greatest blessing this year.
I went in September, in search for some loneliness. Forget it. Only if you kept on walking after three p.m. (most peregrinos in already, afraid of not getting a bed) you could be on your own. And, indeed, after Santiago. But how to have a sort of pilgrim's feeling if you walk, well, in a row? Standing in a queue at the pilgrim's office for your credential. No sitting place in the cathedral. No more touching the foot of Jacob, because there's a fence around it! Aje aje camino frances.... are you becoming a sort of walking highway: boring, busy, traffic jammed, polluted, predictable, safe as a rock...

Where is the camino itself?

The path itself. A lot of older parts of the way have disappeared. Please stop destroying it! Why cover a centuries old path under new stone? New stone that is often too steep, with steps too big for a backpack... And why all these shortcuts? Why all these kilometers along highways?