{"id":14078,"date":"2023-05-14T16:39:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T23:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/?p=14078"},"modified":"2025-02-13T09:27:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T17:27:40","slug":"thoms-practical-rules-for-the-camino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/thoms-practical-rules-for-the-camino\/","title":{"rendered":"Thom’s Practical Rules for the Camino"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The book is now available! More information here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

T<\/span>hese rules are hard-won through experience. The emphasis here is on practical<\/em> – these will not necessarily ensure a more spiritual or fruitful pilgrimage, but perhaps a less needlessly difficult one. If you’re looking for some of the spiritual lessons I learned, those are on the page titled Cultivating Pilgrim Spirituality<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And obviously, these rules don’t include your everyday rules for operating in polite society. Humility and good manners are assumed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These rules took their original inspiration from the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition<\/a><\/em>. Yes, I am a geek. Some of them are “rules” in the loosest sense of the word, perhaps more suggestions or observations. They are in no particular order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

These are my rules. They may or may not be applicable to you, except Rule 4. Rule 4 applies to everyone. You can disobey the others at your own peril. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rules<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1. All printed distances are lies: don’t expect otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The longest part of the day is the last three kilometers, so mentally plan accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The first albergue in any given town is probably the most crowded: consider walking to the second or third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Donativos are not cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. If you are even vaguely hungry or thinking about caf\u00e9 con leche, stop in that caf\u00e9. This is especially true if you are leaving a town and there isn’t another one for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. If you pass a restroom, use it. Even if you don’t think you have to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Always fill your water bottle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Stop in every church, even if it’s only for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Expect miracles, but do not rely on them<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Walk your own pace, but remember that the Camino is a marathon not a sprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Keep your rain gear handy, especially if you don’t think you’ll need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Take detours and alternate routes whenever practical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The book is now available! More information here. Introduction These rules are hard-won through experience. The emphasis here is on practical – these will not necessarily ensure a more spiritual or fruitful pilgrimage, but perhaps a less needlessly difficult one. If you’re looking for some of the spiritual lessons I learned, those are on the page titled Cultivating Pilgrim Spirituality. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ruminations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14078"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18714,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14078\/revisions\/18714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}