Professor Conny’s Camino

Professor Conny will start her camino – her journey along the pilgrim route of Santiago de Compostela – in La-Réole, a French town with a railway station. The town is located on the river Garonne and has a bridge designed by Gustave Auguste Eiffel, the designer of the Eiffel tower in Paris. On April 1^st, Professor Conny will travel by train from Groningen to Rotterdam and by airplane to Bordeaux. On April 2^nd, she will travel by train to La-Réole and start walking in the afternoon. The Camino here crosses the Garonne over Eiffel’s beautiful bridge, and this will be the starting point of Professor Conny’s 1200 km walk.

Eiffel’s bridge over the river Garonne in La-Réole, the start of Professor Conny’s 1200 km walk

Professor Conny will follow the Via Lemovicensis – the route of Limoges – for 260 km to the small town Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, located in the South of France at the foot of the Pyrenees. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is the starting point for the Camino Francés, the most popular route to Santiago de Compostela. The Camino Francés is 800 km and is well-known thanks to the movie “The Way”. Approximately 85% of all pilgrims who walk the camino arrive at Santiago via the Camino Francés. Another popular route to Santiago is the Camino Portuguese, which begins in Porto, Portugal. Of all the pilgrims who start in or travel through Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, 99% will cross the Pyrenees here to Roncesvalles where they continue along the Camino Francés. Professor Conny will not do that because she is not going to walk the Camino Francés. She has decided to walk another route that is longer and more challenging (with more hills), but  has more to offer of beautiful nature, culture and silence.

People say that the camino is a metaphor for life. It is not your destination that is important, but the way you walk to reach it and the choices you make. For some people life is easy, for others it is more challenging. Some people are very goal-directed, others try to absorb what is happening and adjust their course based on what happens around them. Some people see their camino as an athletic challenge. They start walking before sunrise, cover long distances each day and arrive early at the next albergue – an inn that serves the walkers along the route. Professor Conny prefers to look around while walking and will start walking at sunrise so she can enjoy nature, culture and meeting other people along the way. She wants to enjoy each and every step of it. Of course, that is not guaranteed, she will have days with cold, rain, pain or thirst … but these are the sacrifices someone has to make in life when you want to  accomplish something.

So what route will Professor Conny take after Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port? She will stay a little longer in France and walk towards the Atlantic coast, where she will cross the border with Spain to arrive in the town of Irun. This 90 km route is very hilly, following the Pyrenees, and it is very little used.

Irun is the start of the Camino del Norte, the coastal route to Santiago de Compostela. This is a beautiful but challenging route with some steep hills. It offers rewarding views, nice fishing towns, beautiful beaches and interesting cities like Bilbao. Professor Conny will follow the Camino del Norte for 450 km. Before she reaches Gijon, she will leave the del Norte and go to the Camino Primitivo, which starts at Oviedo. The name Primitivo is often translated as primitive because this route follows old paths. The real meaning is “original route”, because Alfonso II, king of Asturias, chose this route to travel to Santiago in 814 A.D. De route crosses the Picos d’Europa, so it is a real mountain route. After the city of Lugo, the Camino Primitivo meets the Camino Francés, and after 400 km it reaches Santiago de Compostela. The total length of Professor Conny’s route will be 1200 km.

Professor Conny’s 1200 km walk

Professor Conny thinks that she will need nine weeks to arrive in Santiago de Compostella. She wants to enjoy the route and the places she visits along the way. Her motto will be Festina Lente, meaning “make haste slowly” or, in other words, do not over-rush, but rather find a proper balance between progress and enjoyment. This also means that in the most interesting places, like Bilbao and Oviedo, she will stay an extra day. It makes no sense, in her opinion, to pass Bilbao without visiting the Guggenheim museum!