Meet the 73-year-old, mountain-trekking, pilgrimage-making, French-born, Swiss citizen, Lydie Carbou.

Lydie Carbou hiking the Bisse de Ro in Switzerland

She’s a retired traveler. Not retired from traveling. But retired. And can’t stop traveling. It’s hard for Lydie Carbou to stay in her 7^th floor apartment in Geneva for very long without setting off on another adventure. I caught up with her for an e-mail interview after recently returning from a trip to Nepal.

GN:  How long have you been traveling? Is this something you started doing after you retired, or have you been traveling all your life?

LC:  As long as I’ve had money, I’ve been traveling during my holidays from work. I’ve always loved going places, but when I was working, I only had about four weeks (and later five) of holidays per year. I started traveling sometime after I turned 25.

GN:  Which place would call your favorite place on earth? What draws you to that particular place?

LC:  My favorite place is Bhutan. It’s a very special place–untouched, very pure, no new construction, no roads, people wear typical dress and there are the most beautifull monasteries I’ve ever seen in my life where locals stay the whole night to pray. When I visited, the government was protecting the country by accepting only 2,000 tourists per year, so it was very expensive to get a visa.

GN:  Have you ever felt like you were born in the wrong place, like you belonged someplace else?

LC:  Sure I was born in the wrong place. I should have been born in Asia, probably India, a place I go at least once a year.

GN:  It’s been almost 2 years since I first met you on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. What have you been doing since then?

LC:  Since I met you two years ago, I’ve gone to Porto, Portugal and walked the Camino Portugues to Santiago. But it was not enough. After that, I took the train to Oviedo, Spain and walked to Santiago on the Camino Primitivo. In August, I went to Ladakh, India to trek to Zanskar, up to 4,800 m (15,748 ft.). In November, I was in Nepal, around the Annapurna, up to 5,416 m (17, 769 ft.).

GN:  How many times have you made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela? Why do you like the Camino de Santiago so much?

LC:  I’ve made five caminos and have five compostelas, about 5,000 kms of walking total. I very much like walking continuously, always farther in front of me.

GN:  When did you get interested in long-distance walking?

LC: I started walking long-distance on the caminos after I retired. As you know, long-distance walking is a very good school for both your brain and your body. It’s nice to make a break with your own life, you have plenty of time to dream when walking and to get lost sometimes…and you meet people from everywhere which can be good value.

GN:  You’re 73 now. What’s your secret? How do you stay healthy and physically strong when you walk such long distance, trek at such high altitudes, or visit countries with more difficult living conditions?  What advice can you share with our senior traveling readers?

LC:  Well, if i am strong at 73, it is because I choose to be like that. I think we can do what we want. Just to wish it is enough and easy. This is very important and everyone can be the same as me.

Just beleive it. If i am physically strong, it is because I don’t care too much about my body, I am asthmatic and have some arthritis…but never mind…I keep going..I try and I’m always positive and optimistic and my mind is happy.

GN:  You grew up in France during the Second World War? How did you get away from the war? How did you end up in Switzerland?

LC:  I was two years old when the war started and all I remember is that we often went hungry. For this reason, I carry a lot of food with me when I hike. But I was really too young to remember much else and except for the food I missed, we got away from the war without any big problems.

My sister was living on the border of Switzerland and in 1959 I came here and never left…except to travel. I’m always thinking about traveling.

GN:  Any plans for you next trip?

LC: Next trip will be to Mt. Kailash in Tibet if it is possible to go. And one day I will pass away in Asia….and stay there…

By Stephen Bugno

a fellow pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago

Not a morning passes when I don’t hear the oop oop oop of the hoopoe. Some days I walk through vineyards, other days through centuries-old olive groves.

Usually the camino follows dirt roads, but at times I suffer the unforgiving impact of the pavement. Occasionally my way narrows into single-track, and I savor those moments. Wildflowers saturate the Andalusían spring. The waves of orange, yellow, and red make me smile when the pain in my feet demands otherwise.

When I arrive in Extremadura, free-range pig farms and cork forests compose the land. Later comes the monotony of the plains and the burn of the mountain climbs. I always pass cow pastures, and sometimes a toro stands alone on the opposite side: the road cutting the farm in two.

I can’t fully appreciate Spain’s history until I cross Merida’s 60-arch Roman bridge and slip underneath its triple-tiered aqueduct. Since I am an American, these are the features that imprint my memory and are too often taken for granted by Europeans who have grown up with them. In Salamanca, I ponder the generations of academics who have toiled inside the high walls of the university’s oldest buildings.

In Galicia, I pass through stone-built villages: Laza, Cea, and Laxe, so old they are inseparable from the landscape. The villages here are situated closer together than those in the regions I’ve come from. The green rolling hills are cut into lots by waist-high rock walls. The aging faces and lack of cars expose the sharp contrast between the outdated countryside and the vibrancy of modern Madrid.

view from along the Camino

I walk to experience life at walking pace. I catch what those traveling by car and tour bus miss. Moving at this speed I feel Spain in my tired joints, I hear Spain in the ringing of church bells, I taste Spain in each of the changing regional delicacies as I make my way north from Sevilla on the Via de la Plata.

Instead of pulling over to a scenic view point for five minutes, the view follows me for five miles. I see Spain unfold in front of me—the landscape picture book of back roads, front roads, agriculture, mountains, meseta, and lavender-lined footpaths. Time passes along the way: 38 mornings of café con leche and 38 evenings of tintos y tapas.

When I walk I become part of the environment. When the wind blows and the sky pours I become cold and wet. The warm Iberian sun dries me back to warmth and the thick oak groves shade my rest breaks when it becomes too dominant.

I am happy to say buenos dias to the townspeople in each community I pass through. I appreciate their brief hospitality and the fleeting moments we cross paths. They smile: surprised that I’m so young and walking alone.

I have always been told that the journey is more important than the destination. So, nearing the end, I try to downplay the significance of my arrival at the cathedral in Santiago. But I can’t convince myself that tomorrow will not be extraordinary.

Santiago de Compostela is a special place, and after walking almost six weeks to get there, the magnitude of my arrival will only be amplified by the journey that got me here.

Stephen Bugno walked the 1000 km from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela on the Via de la Plata in the spring of 2008. His writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Transitions Abroad, and the Matador Network.

by Stephen Bugno

“I started walking in Geneva,” said the light-haired woman with a guitar strapped to her backpack. Surely not Geneva, Switzerland I thought as I asked, “Where’s that?”

This 23-year-old Australian had been walking for 5 weeks now and was just one of the many Spanish and foreign walkers alike I met on the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James, an ancient pilgrimage route through northern Spain.

pilgrims leaving the town of Granon

Background

Not long after the crucifixion of Jesus, the apostle James left the Holy Lands to spread the gospel, attempting to set up the foundations of the Christian church. Although there is no mention of it in the Bible, he is believed to have crossed the European continent, journeying to Finisterre, the westernmost point of Spain. He gathered shells there to prove he had reached the coast of what people then thought was the end of the world. His missionary work proved unsuccessful, and with very few converts, he returned to Judea only to be beheaded by Herod Agrippa.

In the 9th century, while searching for a source of a strange light, a religious hermit found the forgotten tomb of St. James in a dense forest near present day Santiago de Compostela. Apparently after James’ death, two disciples gathered his remains and sailed them back to Galicia in northwestern Spain in a stone boat. It was after this discovery that pilgrims started embarking on the journey to Santiago.

Although the Camino Frances, the most authentic to Santiago’s actual route across northern Spain, is the oldest and most popular walking path through Europe, many others exist. The Camino Portugues and Via de la Plata leading north from Portugal and Seville respectively, are just a couple. Most of the others are paths from the rest of Europe that lead into the Camino Frances. It is sort of an “all roads lead to Rome” situation. Some ultra-dedicated pilgrims start their pilgrimage right from their doorstep, in the manor that medieval pilgrims did. Others start from the Vatican or even Jerusalem. For those starting in any part of Europe, there exist four major arteries in France onto which walkers can connect. The most common starting point today is at the French-Spanish border, where it is possible to make the pleasant 500-mile walk to Santiago de Compostela in six to eight weeks.

Walking trail – unlike the U.S.

This walking trail phenomenon is unlike that which we have in the United States. Our trails, like the famous Appalachian Trail stretching from Maine to Georgia do not stray very far from the wilderness, passing few small towns and requiring the hiker to be self sufficient with food and shelter for weeks at a time. But in Europe, a hiker infrastructure exists in the form of special walker-only hostels and food service in towns along the way. There are very few stretches of more than ten miles without a town to get the necessary food or lodging for the night. So while there is little wilderness along the European paths, there is plenty of agriculture, history, culture, and locals.

elders in the village of Azofra

These walker hostels, known as albergues or refugios are reserved for people traveling on foot. Although most will allow bicycle tourists to stay if at the end of the day there is space still available. There are no reservations—you simply show up and claim one of the open bunk beds by laying out your sleeping bag. Many, managed by municipalities and volunteer groups, charge about $5.00 US, but some just ask for a donation. They are simple and spartan, but usually clean. The highest concentrations of these albergues are along the Camino in Spain, but they do exist in France and less commonly in the rest of Europe. In most of European towns however, there is some form of inexpensive lodging, be it a traditional hostel or a family run hotel.

Two Dutch men I met along the Camino in Spain had left from their home in the Netherlands two and a half months prior. Still happy and healthy, although with blistered feet, they showed us their almost-filled credencial del peregrine, or pilgrim’s accreditation card. The credencial is a passport-like document issued at the beginning of your journey that proves you are a pilgrim, and have been walking on a daily basis. It is necessary for admittance into the albergues. Thus, the credential soon becomes a pilgrim’s most important possession, second only after the official passport.

What’s the attraction?

So what is the attraction to blistery feet, community lodging, and the scorching Spanish sun? Many modern day pilgrims come to the Camino for religious or spiritual reasons. But more often pilgrims are in some sort of life crises, in between careers or relationships, or searching for something more in life. Others come for the centuries of rich history and culture that Spain is so famous for. Some simply come for the joy of walking and the simplicity of a pilgrim’s life.

The Camino doesn’t discriminate—you will find every age and nationality walking. On my journey, I was fortunate to spend a few days with the first Malaysian to complete the pilgrimage. For a week I walked side by side a Brazilian in a mid-life crisis. Separated from his wife with a child, we were walking for similar reasons, but in very different circumstances. Yet we still bonded over a couple hundred miles together.

Despite their reasons, all pilgrims are issued their credencial at their starting point. This gets stamped each night and sometimes at churches and other monuments along the way. I got mine at the Abby in Roncesvalles, one of the two popular starting places for the Camino Frances.

A pilgrim arrives in Belorado

In medieval times

In medieval times, the pilgrim walked from his or her home to Santiago and back. At the end of the pilgrimage, a compostela was issued, which gave accreditation that the pilgrim had reached Santiago, and had done so for religious or spiritual reasons. Many of the pilgrims were walking as penance in order to be forgiven for certain sins. However, other medieval pilgrims may have just been curious about what lie away from home, since traveling was not a practical pastime in those days. Despite the various reasons, they all faced many dangers and hardships along the way. Robbers and wild animals were the biggest concern. Sickness and disease could also easily ruin a pilgrimage. For this, an infrastructure—hospitals, hospices, and fortresses were built—some of which can still be seen today.

Today you can tour the castle in Ponferrada, started in the 12th century by the Knights Templar in order to protect pilgrims. Much of it in ruin now, a climb around its high walls affords nice views of the city and surrounding mountains. Its striking architecture and long history were a welcome mid-day break on a 22-mile day for me. In the hamlet of San Juan de Ortega lie the bones of the village’s namesake, who dedicated his 12th century life to building and maintaining the roads, bridges, and hospitals along the route. Along the way, modern day travelers pass over many of these medieval bridges and there is even a stretch of Roman road preserved.

Memorable characters

Not only are the places along the Camino memorable. So too are the people passed. Some of these characters become famous among the pilgrim community. One Englishman drives his RV from Britain every April in order to make what he calls a “pilgrim pit-stop”. Everyday he parks his RV somewhere different and stops passers-by to offer water, soda, coffee, and beer, collecting only a donation. When October comes, he packs up and returns home for the winter.

Another man—a Spaniard named Tomas—is the most prominent and only permanent resident of the former village Manjarin. Years ago he left his family and career in Madrid to dedicate his life to hosting pilgrims in his mountain-top dwelling known to pilgrims as “the hippie place”. Located near a remote mountain pass where the weather often turns foul, Tomas graciously opens his home to walkers and even serves a supper complete with wine. What Tomas’ place lacks in amenities and cleanliness, sure made up in its character. After eating the evening meal and enjoying conversation in a multitude of languages, I slept on a ripped mattress in the attic next to a 77-year-old Austrian woman, a German, a Swiss, and two young French men.

If all of this sounds overwhelming, don’t panic, there are guidebooks out there, available in several languages including English. Besides this, there’s a wealth of information on the web.

If you go

Getting there: I flew to Barcelona and bused to Roncesvalles, my starting point. But it is just as easy to fly to Madrid. Flights from the east coast range from $500 on up round trip, depending on the season. Try Travelocity or Orbitz, on the Web, to book your cheapest ticket or contact the airline directly.

Summer is a good time to go, since all the albergues are operational. But to avoid the summer heat and overcrowded accommodation, try the spring or fall. Although it is possible, few go in winter. It will not be crowded, but will be cold, and some albergues may not be open.

What to bring

To walk the Camino you’ll need a medium-sized backpack, good walking/hiking shoes, a sleeping bag, and appropriate clothes for the season.

Most people allow six to eight weeks to walk the 500 miles from the French-Spanish border. Because there are not any rules, pilgrims should not feel any shame in catching a bus occasionally between cities if they are fatigued, injured or falling behind pace. The route is well marked so a guidebook is not necessary. However, many pilgrims like to carry one in order to read explanations about the history of the hamlets and cities along the way. A good one in English is: Walking the Camino de Santiago by Bethan Davies and Ben Cole. Knowing Spanish would be helpful, but not necessary if you carry a phrase book.

Check the Web for more information: http://www.santiago-compostela.net Buen Camino!

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and teaching English abroad for the better part of ten years. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.