The bastões left by pilgrims after reaching Santiago de Compostela are about to gain a second life. In Navarrete, in Rioja, other walkers can receive them free of charge and continue with them on their own pilgrimage along the French Way.
There are objects that, after hundreds of kilometers, cease to be simple objects.
A lot of walking can bring you chuva, exhaustion, conversations, difficult climbs, nights in hostels and, finally, the trip to Santiago.
It was precisely the idea that was born "Wanderings of a Staff. The story continues", an initiative of the French Way Federation that allows pilgrims to recover lost bastões at the end of the trip and place them again at the service that is just about to begin. EFE News
From Santiago to Navarrete
When a pilgrim finishes the journey, transporting enough power home is not always easy, especially for returning from a plane.
Therefore, the roads we wish to use can be left in the storage area of the Mosteiro de San Martín Pinario, not the center of Santiago de Compostela.
Afterwards, the Post Office is responsible for transporting it again to different points on the French Road.
In Rioja, these are bastões chegam ao Navarrete Municipal Pilgrims Hostel, where these are available for other pilgrims, they will be used free of charge in the first stages of the tour. Europa Press
A simple gesture with very meaning
The initiative does not just consist of reusing material.
Each pilgrim can leave with him or her a small message intended for the people he or she will receive later.
It could be some advice.
An incentive phrase.
A reminder.
Ou simply um “Bom Caminho”.
In this way, two people who will probably never meet are linked to the same piece of equipment and the same pilgrimage experience. Europa Press
Enough with two stories
Para quem começa o Caminho, receber um desses bastões means muito mais do que poupar dinheiro.
It means continuing a story that has only just begun.
That is quite enough perhaps you have already passed through Burgos, León, O Cebreiro, Portomarín or Palas de Rei.
Maybe you have been stuck at Praça do Obradoiro after weeks of walking.
And now return to the beginning to walk the Caminho again.
It is a simple image, more deeply Jacobean: or what ends for a pilgrim can begin for another.
Sustainability and pilgrim spirit
The project also has a clear environmental dimension.
Reusing canes that remain in good condition avoids waste and reduces the need to purchase new material.
More or more interesting is that sustainability appears here directly linked to values very own Caminho de Santiago.
Partilhar.
Help
Re-use.
Give continuity.
And to think no pilgrim that we see later.
The initiative seeks precisely to unite what has already ended or the journey with what is yet to come. dailydesantiago.es
Navarrete as a point of passage and reunion
Navarrete is one of the emblematic towns of the French Way in Rioja.
Thousands of pilgrims pass through this town every year on their way to Santiago.
Now, in addition to being a place of rest and comfort, it also becomes a small point of reunion between stories.
A pilgrim can eat without enough.
Others may have left or left in Santiago weeks before.
And, as we never know, both end up linked to the same object.
When the Caminho continues after Santiago
Normally we think of Santiago de Compostela as the end.
But this initiative shows exactly the opposite.
Some stories continue.
It's enough for you to return.
As messages travel.
We new pilgrims follow the steps of quem já chegou.
Maybe one of these bastões returned one day to Santiago again.
Maybe I'll change my mind once more.
Maybe you accumulate three, four or five Caminhos.
It is impossible to know.
But this is precisely the beauty of the idea.
Because Caminho de Santiago doesn't end when you go to the Cathedral.
Sometimes, The true destination of an object is to continue walking.
