Little Green Tracs

Pilgrim Preparations in Piestany

It has been almost a week since we arrived in Europe. We spent the first week visiting our 84 year old aunt in Piestany Slovakia, a small spa town about an hour east of Bratislava. In between social visits, we managed to take the train to nearby Trencin to visit the 1,000 year old castle, try out some of the local eateries and cafes, and coffee houses. Yesterday to end our stay we indulged in a mirror pool ( a natural sulphuric thermal mineral water with a temperature of 38 C) and mud bath ( another mineral water pool containing 30 cm thick layer of sulphuric mud of 40 C) in the Irma Spa, one of the many spa establishments in town. Obviously returning to Piestany after our walk in France for another spa treatment is something we should do too.

When we arrived last Tuesday the temperature was hitting the high 20s and along with some humidity and sun, it felt more like 30. But on Friday, the weather changed dramatically, and temperature dropped and we forced to sit outside bundled up to have dinner. Today we will be surprised if it gets over 15 degrees C. But it is still sunny which is a nice change from cloudy Victoria BC.

Piestany is where the west and east meet, where you are as likely to meet Germans alongside Russians, where busty well dressed Slovak & Czech women pass by Arabic women dressed in full burkas. Very little English is spoken here especially by the older folk, but many of the tourist sites usually have somebody that understands some English. More so, many of the younger people do speak English well including the young woman we met on the train heading into Piestany last Tuesday, who was enthralled by our travel stories and the fact we plan to walk through France.

Today we leave Piestany for Switzerland, taking a mid day train first to Vienna, and then later an over night train to Zurich, before finally taking one more train to Thun, arriving sometime before noon on Tuesday. We will spend a couple of nights in Thun visiting some more family before heading to Le Puy France on Thursday.

PS I said I would not be caught taking any photos with my iPad, but I relented. Please excuse the quality.

Camino de Santiago and the Via Francigena – A few years later

It has been just over four years since we walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain. In that year, 114,377 walked or biked the entire network of Camino trails to Santiago, (nearly 100,000 along the famous camino frances route) and received their Compostela.  Another estimated 400,000 to 500,000 also traveled sections of the way but did not arrive in Santiago or they did not receive their Compostela.

The number of people traveling the Camino continues to rise steadily. Last year in 2010, being a Holy Year, saw 272,135 pilgrims arrive in Santiago.  There is no indication of the number of people that just simply walked or biked a section of the path but did not received their Compostela but a rough guess is that nearly one million did some or all of the Camino last year.

An interesting statistic is that most of the pilgrims are Spanish; nearly 70% - followed a smaller group of Germans, Italians and French. North Americans make up a very small percentage of those do the Camino

Another interesting statistic is that approximately 25% only walk the last 100 km into Santiago. Another 50% or so start somewhere in between Santiago and France for example. Very start in places like St Jean P. Port or Roncesvalles.

This year, the numbers have dropped but by early indications, 2011 will see approximately 180,000 pilgrims arrive in Santiago via the Camino, a 50 increase in just four short years!

With the movie, The Way released this year, staring Martin Sheen and produced by Emilio Estevez, one can only assume the number of people wanting to walk the Camino will explode in numbers!


/>Meanwhile in Italy Europe’s other great pilgrim trail the Via Francigena quietly grows in popularity. There isn’t the same level of official records kept as you see in Santiago Spain, but in 2008 when we walked the Via Francigena, an estimated 500 people arrived in Rome and received their Testimonium. More interesting was that only 1,000 people for the entire decade prior to 2008 had arrived in Rome. Therefore, you might conclude 2008 was a banner year for the Via Francigena!

Further, in 2010, some estimate that the number of pilgrims arriving in Rome has risen to nearly 1,000 people. And others estimate that maybe another 1,000 walked some section of the Via Francigena but did not arrive in Rome; an increase of 100 - 200% in just two short years!

However, these numbers are still less that those that traveled the Camino in Portugal, the Camino Norte, the Via de la Plata and Camino Primitivo in Spain in 2010. It is even less than those that walked the Le Puy route in France, the Via Jacobi in Switzerland and maybe the Jakobsweg in Austria and a probably a number of less known trails in Germany. 

Nevertheless, it is impressive in many ways.

Still, like the Camino in Spain, the majority of people traveling the Via Francigena are Italians and most travel that last 100 plus kilometers into Rome through Lazio. Only dozens of people walk the entire distance through Italy.

The Via Francigena in Italy in many ways is and remains today, an elusive, barely discovered, almost secretive trail.

Vancouver Island Spine Trail

The Vancouver Island “Spine” Trail is a proposed trail from Victoria in the south to Cape Scott at the northern tip of the Vancouver Island in British Columbia Canada.

The route is an inland path that passes near many communities, yet retains its wilderness character, follows historic routes and uses some existing trails.

Approximately 700km long, the “Spine” is an adventure opportunity that will provide a recreational route for residents and tourists through the beautiful backcountry of Vancouver Island. Although it is primarily a hiking trail, some sections of the Spine are suitable for other non-motorized use, e.g. mountain bikes, horses, and skis. The route traces mountain ridges, passes through forests and alongside lakes, and is similar to other successful long-distance routes in North America.

The Vancouver Island Spine Trail Association (VISTA), a part of “Hike BC” the BC wing of the National Hiking Trail (NHT), is developing the project. Over the past 30 years, the NHT has incorporated such significant trails as the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland, the Bruce Trail in Ontario, the Alexander MacKenzie route, and the Nuxalk/Carrier "Grease Trail" from Bella Coola to Quesnel.

To learn more please visit their website at http://www.vispine.ca/home