El Camino

I've done some background reading and I am liking the sound of the Camino pilpramige more and more. I am intrigued by it's pre-christian roots. Mostly because it speaks to a great antiquity and not due to some highly fashionable anti-christian sentiment.
The main Camino trail is 780 kilometers and is pretty civilized. You can do the whole thing without a tent as supposedly the longest streatch without a place to stay is 15 kilometers. I'm told rates are reasonable at 7-10 euros a night. Two months at $20 per night is $1200 lodging, lets double that for food and it becomes comparable in price to doing the AT. Three times as expensive but in one third the time.

I know what you're thinking - I still haven't gotten to Europe yet. Well that's part of the attraction of the Camino for me. I figure I could combine the hike with another trip I've been wanting to take. Namely to cross the Atlantic on a cargo ship! I understand that rates are reasonable and I think if I started my pilgrimge by walking down to the docks in Toronto and getting on a container ship to Barcelona would be an awesome start to a pilgrimage.

My big hangup is that while it's on a different continent, the Camino seems less adventurous than thru-hiking the AT. Partly because it's shorter but mainly because it's not a wilderness trail. That allways brings to mind a quote from, I think it was, Yvon Chouniard about how you never see country people climbing high mountains, only city people. He explained it by saying city people need the extreme wilderness of the high moutains because they have to get their dose of "nature" in the tiny amount of time their job allots them. Country people live with nature everyday so they don't need the reader's digest. something to that effect anyway.

What does that have to do with anything you ask? Well I plan to leave the city and go live on a farm in the country, hopefully a pleasant bike ride from a smallish town. That brings up the question of do I really need the exterem dose of nature that would be the AT or would I be better served by a long walk through a well civilized countryside as my transition?

Opinions?

PS: If anyone else is doing a hike soon I would certainly like to hear about it. Maybe a linnk to a blog or a coment post, hint, hint.