“The Camino calls, I answer.”
So reads the penultimate stanza in a poem written by Arn, a university professor from Virginia who Peterborough resident John Morritt met in 2013 while walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain for the first of many times.
The poem begins by describing six pilgrims “under the stars” pondering and comparing their reasons for doing the exhaustive walk, from spiritual and religious motives to the desire for a “cheap vacation.” Those are just a few of the reasons why half a million people go on this challenging adventure of a lifetime every single year.
Now, Morritt, alongside Cydnee Hosker and Lori McCrae, are making it easier for Peterborough explorers to answer the call of the Camino by forming the Peterborough chapter of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims.
With 18 chapters across Canada, the federal non-profit is a non-denominational volunteer association that has been supporting individuals interesting in the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain for more than 30 years.
“We’re a mentoring service working one-on-one with people who have an interest,” Morritt says. “It’s a learn-by-doing kind of thing. You learn a lot more by actually doing it than you do by watching YouTube videos.”
The Camino de Santiago is an extensive network of routes that leads to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain. The cathedral began construction in 1075 and is the reputed burial place of apostle St. James the Great.
There are a number of walking, cycling, or horseback routes leading from Spain, Portugal, and other European countries that range from 100 kilometres to nearly 800 kilometres in length across fields, forests, farmlands, mountains, and villages.
Anyone walking the routes is said to be a pilgrim, as they carry everything they need on their backs and stay at hostels and in lodges along the way. Those who walk at least the last 100 kilometres (or 200 kilometres for those on bicycle or horseback), and have earned other credentials, can get a “compostela” or certificate to celebrate their journey.
For Morritt, though he didn’t end up walking the Camino until he was retired and his doctor suggested he get more exercise, the idea of going on the adventure had been brewing in his mind for decades. He did the nearly 800-kilometre route from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, called the “Camino Francés” or The French Way — the most popular route — over a total of 41 days, including rest days.
“Because of the nature of it, your mind wanders — something happens and you start to wonder why things are the way they are,” says Morritt about the experience. “People are very helpful. They bid you ‘good morning’ and ‘buen Camino’, which is the Spanish way of saying ‘good way’ or ‘have a good trip’, and people help each other.”
The friendly faces and connections might be the cherry on top, but a lot of people do it because they want the challenge or are seeking adventure, in addition to those having spiritual or religious incentives.
“For many people, it’s mostly a bucket list thing,” Morritt says. “They don’t think much beyond why, other than it’s a challenge, it’s exotic, and it’s very inexpensive. There are other people who wonder what it’s all about and hope to find what it’s about for them, and they are hopeful that revelations will happen while they’re walking along. Everybody who’s sensitive can tell stories about things that happened that are just beyond coincidence.”
Nearly every year since 2013, Morritt has walked other Camino de Santiago routes — from Lisbon, from the Pyrenees mountains, and to Finisterre — as well as other major pilgrimage routes across Europe and the United Kingdom. Currently, he is doing the Camino Frances — though this time, he’s completing it over 68 days across four years.
As the founder and former owner of The Wine Shoppe on Charlotte (now The Wine Shoppe on Park), which is now run by his daughters, Morritt is well-known in the community and since 2013 has found many people are interested in learning more about the Camino.
This interest is how he became connected with Hosker and McCrae, who have both since taken on the challenge and have also seen interest from community members.
With an official Peterborough chapter of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims, Morritt hopes to provide more insight and resources to people than what he had prior to his first trip, which was limited to a forum group and a few guidebooks.
Now, other first-timers can connect directly with Morritt, Hosker, and McCrae to ask questions and access resources about what to pack and prepare, where to lodge, the best routes to take, and much more.
“Some people get themselves into difficulties,” Morritt warns, adding that people often overpack because they do the Camino as part of a bigger trip across Europe.
“They carry too much stuff, and they have no way of estimating how well they can carry it over the distances. At the end of day five, they’re one day behind, they’re not going to hit their flight on time, and then their feet get blisters because of the physical stress, and they have to take a taxi or bus ahead to catch up to their schedule.”
Cost of mentorship to the Canadian Company of Pilgrims is $10 per year ($100 lifetime), though there is no additional cost for mentorship from the Peterborough chapter. The group also hosts regular meetings and occasional walks along trails in Peterborough.
“We all think of this as a purposeful activity,” Morritt says about the Camino de Santiago. “It’s not something to be taken lightly. You prepare for it, and you have a purpose for doing it.”
For more information, follow the Canadian Company of Pilgrims – Peterborough Chapter on Facebook or Instagram. You can also email Morritt at peterborough@santiago.ca.
