The latest records of brave pilgrims

We know very well that the Camino de Santiago is not a competition, but we are always struck by the challenges that many pilgrims complete along the Jacobean routes. Long distances, reduced mobility, or record times are some of the stories left by some pilgrims in recent years.

The Camino de Santiago has many kilometers to cover

Ultra-trail pilgrim

Maite Rojo is a super-runner who completed the Camino Primitivo in 64 hours after leaving Oviedo in March of 2025. With her challenge and her arrival at the Praza do Obradoiro, where her family, friends, and the Mi Princesa Rett association were waiting for her, Maite wanted to raise awareness about rare diseases and the care for the elderly.

In 2024, Maite also stood out by completing the Camiño dos Faros in a record time of 38 hours and 45 minutes, covering the 200 kilometers between Malpica and Fisterra. Despite how tough the experience was, with multiple challenges such as physical exhaustion and difficulties with footwear, Maite achieved her goal and became the person who has completed this route in the best possible time. Although her latest feat was demanding, Maite recovers quickly and is already thinking about her next challenge. Certainly, an inspiration for all women on the Camino de Santiago.

The Camino dos Faros has very demanding sections, like the stage between Muxía and the Faro Touriñán

Arturo Piñeiro surpasses himself again: 4,700 km from Estonia to Santiago

In 2024, Arturo Piñeiro completed an impressive journey on bike of 4,700 km from Estonia to Santiago de Compostela. During the trip, he crossed Baltic countries and major cities like Tallinn, Prague, and Warsaw, facing challenges such as Hurricane Kirk in Castilla and complicated roads in Estonia. Although he suffered difficult moments, like crossing the Alps and visiting Auschwitz, Arturo also enjoyed incredible landscapes and moments of reflection.

This is not his first big challenge: in 2021, he covered 3,926 km from Oslo to Santiago in 23 days. Now, with his eyes set on his next challenge, he plans to depart from Istanbul. His passion for cycling and the Camino de Santiago continues to grow.

By bike, you can cover many more kilometers than on foot, but fatigue is common among pilgrims and “bikegrims”

The Camino is an accessible challenge

While the previous case involved 4,700 kilometers, the Swiss Cristian Salamin covered the 5,400 kilometers from Trondheim (Norway) to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. In 2021, we found him in Sarria, already in the last 100 km of the Camino Francés and very close to achieving this dream record. A dream too, as this passionate cyclist, used to covering 10,000 kilometers annually by bike nearly saw his passion interrupted in 2015, when he suffered a stroke at just 50 years old. Now he is fully recovered and more alive than ever, and in fact, he says that the illness was “a second chance and a second birth”.

With this record, he wants to raise awareness and inform the world that this illness exists, but that it is possible to live with it. His pilgrimage, baptized as Ride for Stroke, and about which you can learn more on his website, is made possible thanks to his tenacity and positivity, as well as the assistance of a companion who drives the camper where he rests, provided by his sponsors. His case also reminds us a lot of the “I’ll Push You” initiative, where “bikegrims” with reduced mobility and accompanying pilgrims and “pushers” of wheelchairs are a testament that the Camino de Santiago can, and should be, for everyone.

The Camino can be accessible for everyone

The faith that moves mountains and pilgrims

Carlota Valenzuela, a 30-year-old woman from Granada, began her pilgrimage in early 2022 in Finisterre with a clear goal: to reach Israel, walking 6,000 kilometers on foot. Her 311-day journey was driven by her faith and spirituality, and it allowed her to connect with people from different cultures, who helped her along the way. Carlota highlights that most people were kind and willing to help, which gave her the confidence to walk the path alone. Her journey culminated in the Holy Land, where she made a pilgrimage to the sacred sites, entering Jerusalem in early December with her family.

The skyline of Jerusalem

From regulation uniform to Santiago

On June 7, 2021, four air force military personnel completed the Camino Primitivo in 24 hours, covering the last 100 kilometers of the Camino Primitivo between Lugo and Santiago de Compostela. Despite the heat, blisters, and a small injury, they managed to reach the Plaza del Obradoiro together, where they were received by local authorities and received their Compostela. This challenge, which combined personal promises and military values, also served to strengthen the spirit of camaraderie among the participants.

The Camino Primitivo is a very demanding Jacobean route

To the End of the World in one day

Gaetano Cupa is an Italian from Naples who is passionate about the Camino de Santiago, and has already walked it about twenty-seven times. Many cases like this are well known among the collective memory of pilgrims, but what is amazing about Gaetano is that he just covered the distance of the Camino de Finisterre and Muxía in just over twenty-four hours. He left in October 2021 from the Plaza del Obradoiro with the intention of reaching Finisterre and then Muxía without stopping except to eat, walking day and night. And that’s exactly what he did, although there were difficulties. He completed his adventure in Muxía with a happy ending, and who knows, he may already have another path in mind, as he himself says, “the best Camino is always the one you have to do tomorrow”.

Sunset in Finisterre

The challenge of Club Rugby Ferrol: the Camino Inglés playing rugby

In 2014, a group of twenty players from Club Rugby Ferrol completed the 113 km of the Camino Inglés from Ferrol in less than 24 hours. As a promise for their promotion to the 1st Galician category, they covered the route alternating running and cycling, passing a rugby ball at all times. They left at 6 am and reached the Plaza del Obradoiro at 8 pm, after a single one-hour stop at the Albergue de Bruma, with an impressive average speed of 8 km/h.

No pain, no glory

Pilgrimage as a promise of a new life

José Antonio García Calvo has covered more than 100,000 km in the last decade, fulfilling a promise made to the Virgen del Carmen after surviving a shipwreck in Norway, where he was the only one of the seventeen crew members to survive. After that traumatic experience, he began to pilgrimage to Santiago. After seven years of recovery, he started walking and has visited places like Jerusalem, Rome, Lourdes, Poland, Tibet, etc. All this, always “without taking a boat or a plane,” as he himself says.

These extreme pilgrimages take place because of the Jacobean passion of their protagonists, who enjoy the Camino de Santiago as if it were their first time. If you haven’t done it yet, you should take the leap and experience it, only then can you understand everything that one feels while walking the Camino and why people walk the Camino. You don’t have to be an ironwoman or an ironman and break these records, what’s important is to enjoy the Camino at your own pace: if you want, discover the most comfortable and easiest Camino de Santiago with us.