Camino: why do a pilgrimage?

Traditionally people would walk a pilgrimage for religious reasons and the Via de la Plata is an old Catholic pilgrimage route and an old roman road too, but these days the reasons for doing a pilgrimage are many and I have met very few religious pilgrims.

Many are simply walking for some time away from the modern world, and for exercise. Some are trying to decide on some important life changes, and are taking time to reflect. Many, to test themselves.

Many do one of the Camino's every year. There are lots to choose from. Remember I'm not doing the famous one, but the Via de la Plata.

The christian side of the camino is interesting. Apparently the pilgrimage can be a penance for crimes. And this does make me curious about the super religious types who have done the pilgrimage multiple times. Apparently there is a prison (in France I think), that has a policy of releasing a prisoner each year if they walk the French camino to Compostela with a heavy pack and guard. I kind of met one of these teams.

For me, I was attracted to the camino for a multitude of reasons but mostly, I wanted to walk from villages to small towns, amongst farms, woodlands and open views, enjoying the company I met and eating the wonderful regional foods of Spain.