Central Coast Pilgrims
Central Coast Chapter of the American Pilgrims on the Camino
UPDATES AND UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday & Sunday, August 8th & 9th: St. Junipero Serra Walking Pilgrimage from Mission Santa Barbara to Mission San Buenaventura. This is also the inaugural Camino de San Buenaventura. Registration is currently closed for this event. See www.stserrapilgrimage.org . Good luck to all our pilgrims participating in this event!
Saturday, August 15th: No training hike this month since our Hike Leader Yvonne is in Spain! We hope to get some training walks on the Fall schedule once she returns.
Saturday, September 5th: Join us for our regular (first Saturday) meeting where we invite you all to bring one item from any of your past Caminos for a "Show & Tell"! This could be a photo, memento, souvenir, journal, gear item...anything with a special connection to a Camino-related story that you might want to share. You can also just join us as you are (we need listeners too!). We will meet as usual in the Hall at St. Paul's in Pismo for social time at 9:30am... then after the presentations, we will head down to the beach for a walk and lunch for those interested. For all of you staying in town over that Labor Day weekend, we hope you can join us!
Saturday, October 3rd, 2026: The presentation at our October Meeting will be about "Preventing and Managing Injuries before, during and after your Camino". For any of our pilgrims that have experienced blisters, shin splints, neck and shoulder pain, etc. (or want to avoid these conditions), this presentation is for you. I suspect many of our veteran pilgrims might also have experience and advice to share on these topics. More info on this presentation will follow.
Saturday, November 7th, 2026: Please mark your calendar for our annual Welcome Home Potluck - to be held from 4:00pm to 7:00pm ish on the afternoon of November 7th. We will specifically be welcoming back our pilgrims that walked the Camino this year (another record number!), but all are welcome to join us. There will be prizes for those with the most complete Central Coast Pilgrim Passports (keep getting your stamps during the upcoming meetings!), good food, and our annual Tarta de Santiago contest! This has traditionally been one of our favorite events of the year. RSVPs will be required and more specifics will be shared as the date gets closer.
Friday, December 4th, 2026: Save the date to help us ring in the holidays as we again participate in the annual Holiday Parade in downtown SLO. We will enjoy a tailgate dinner starting at 5:00pm downtown before the parade.
REMEMBER, BRING YOUR CENTRAL COAST PILGRIMS CHAPTER PASSPORT TO COLLECT STAMPS AVAILABLE AT EACH OF OUR 2026 EVENTS, AND BE ELIGIBLE FOR SOME COOL PRIZES TOWARDS THE END OF 2026!
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“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” – Douglas Adams
Old proverb: “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.”
“Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.” Steven Wright
Welcome to the home page of Central Coast Pilgrims!
Our mission is to support pilgrims and pilgrimage for those living in the central coast area of California. We are a volunteer organization that offers advice, encouragement, fellowship, and community to all who might be interested in pilgrimage, and the many people who have already made a pilgrimage. We are passionate about the Camino de Santiago, pilgrimage, and walking. We love sharing our experiences with our local community and beyond.
We meet the first Saturday of each month at 9:30 a.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, located at 800 Bello Street in Pismo Beach. We gather for fellowship, coffee and donuts until about 10:00 a.m., followed by a Camino-related presentation, start our walk around 10:30 a.m. for about an hour or so, enjoy lunch, and then walk back to St. Paul’s afterwards. Several past participants have told us that these walks "are almost like being back on the Camino", sharing steps, conversation, beautiful scenery and a meal with fellow pilgrims. Please also check our “Upcoming Events” section above for more details, as occasionally this schedule changes.
