Teresa and I just returned from walking the Camino de Santiago Frances (walking doesn't accurately describe the experience but more on that later). An epic 779 km trek across Spain that normally takes anywhere from 30-40 days. If you average 25 km a day it is 33 days.
The pilgrimage is physically and mentally challenging and much more difficult than Teresa and I were expecting. It is a unique experience like nothing else we have ever done. We met numerous people who had walked the Camino multiple times. Although this was our first time and we are definitely not experts, I think that being a novice gives us a perspective that maybe seasoned pilgrims no longer have. So while the experience is still fresh in our minds I created this post with 10 things that can make your Camino experience more enjoyable. Here goes:
Consider transporting your bag versus carrying it - This is certainly not a recommendation that you will get from all pilgrims who have walked the Camino. In fact, some people will say that if you do not carry your bag, your Camino experience is not "authentic". Others will go as far as to say that transporting your bag is "cheating". I think that is total baloney (insert bull**** to get how I really feel). Just for reference, I did carry my knapsack for the 35 days it took us to finish the pilgrimage. One of the truly amazing things about the Camino is that there are no rules. You can travel the way you want and enjoy the journey your way. This includes many things, but a very important one is the decision on whether to carry your knapsack. The cost to transport your bag is 8-10 euros for each segment - approximately 280-350 Euros or 420-520 Canadian for the whole trip. Transporting your bag is a great option for the following reasons. The average person, even someone who is active (I put myself in this category) is not used to carrying a heavy knapsack for 35 days or more. The guideline for your pack is 10% of your body weight. For me, that means my bag should have been 16-16.5 lbs. Before we started, even after taking stuff out of my bag, I could not get it down to that weight (and believe me even 16 pounds is heavy for 35 days). My bag was 20+ pounds when we left the house and by the time I filled up my water bottle and added a few snacks it was likely in the 21-22 lb range. Far too heavy for someone who has never carried a knapsack for a whole day let alone 35 days. Although I would pack differently if I were to do something like the Camino again, the fact is, I was not physically prepared to carry a knapsack - as were many others on the route. A couple of other things to consider. Although many articles and blogs describe the French route as a walk, it is not a walk. I would estimate that 60% is a steep (up and down) demanding hike. It would be strenuous as a day hike but remember you are doing this for 35-40 straight days. You are also increasing the chance of injury whether it be to your neck, back or knee(s) when carrying a bag, an injury that could cause you to abandon your pilgrimage. So, if you are a purist and think carrying your knapsack is an integral part of the Camino experience or you don't want to spend the money on transportation, then carry your bag. We met a couple of Spanish men travelling together who had a great idea. They packed both their belongings into one suitcase and sent that ahead while carrying a smaller pack when walking for the day. By sharing a suitcase they only paid for one bag. As someone who lugged around a 22 lb knapsack for 35 days, I would encourage you to seriously consider bag transport. Lots of people send their bags ahead, so you don't have to feel weird about it and I think it would make your Camino experience more enjoyable.
Make sure you have comfortable shoes - Your shoes are certainly one of, if not the most important thing you need for your trip. I can't tell you how many people we met that suffered from some kind of foot problem. Blisters were the most common. People had 5, 10 sometimes 15 blisters on their feet. This meant they were forced to walk very slowly/gingerly, and in some cases stop walking. We also met people who had problems with their heels, ankles and swollen feet. As you can imagine, when trying to walk 779 km, worrying about your feet can be serious. I am not a shoe expert but I can share with you some thoughts on what we did. I think the best scenario would be to take a pair of shoes that are appropriate for the Camino (more on this later), that you have worn and know are comfortable, and can buy a new pair for the trip. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Teresa and I. From everything I read, running shoes were too light, not supportive enough and the soles too thin for the hiking portion of the Camino (which is 60-70% of the distance). In some cases, hiking shoes and certainly hiking boots would be too thick and heavy for the Camino. We decided on trail running shoes. They have a thick enough sole and support for hiking but are light enough for the overall trek. I was also looking for waterproof shoes, although just to be clear, no shoes are waterproof when you walk for 6-7 hours in rain or through 3-5 inches of water. Our choice was the Altra - Lone Peak All Weather Low. These trail hiking shoes have a wide front known as a wide toe box, are light, waterproof and have a relatively thick sole. There were only a few times when the trail was so rocky and jagged that I felt the soles on these shoes were not thick enough. These shoes also have a zero drop, meaning the height of the heel and toe are the same. The idea is that it replicates the feeling of walking in bare feet. We found these shoes very comfortable. I did not get any blisters. Teresa did get a couple but nothing that stopped her from walking. Here is where you can see these shoes. Mens - https://www.altrarunning.com/shop/gifts-for-the-hikers/mens-lone-peak-all-wthr-low-2-al0a7r6j?variationId=280&_br_psugg_q=lone+peak. Womens - https://www.altrarunning.com/shop/womens-lone-peak-all-wthr-low-2-al0a7r7i?variationId=254&_br_psugg_q=long+peak. I highly recommend that you take the time and spend the money to get a good pair of comfortable, appropriate shoes. It will make a huge difference to your adventure.
Train (and train some more and some more ...) - As I said, most of the blogs I read describe the Camino as a walk. It is definitely not a "leisurely" walk. The majority, roughly 60% is a hike, a strenuous hike. On many days, I would have considered the route a moderate to difficult hike, but on the Camino, it is just one of roughly 35 days. The trail can be difficult, going up steep ascents (the first day is a 1,400-metre ascent) and just as hard coming down. In many cases, the terrain is treacherous, rocky, ragged, and slippery. Remember, you may be doing this in the rain which makes it downright dangerous. Teresa and I always laughed (or cried) at how the blogs described the first day as very difficult as if the other days were easy. There were flatter parts on the route, but in our case, it was 35°C for multiple days with no shade. There were no easy days on the Camino. This all leads to my recommendation to train for your Camino. After the reading we had done, Teresa and I were preparing for a walk. We regularly walked 12 km as part of our prep (about half a typical day on the Camino), but we never really carried our knapsack fully loaded before arriving in France. We carried it partially loaded for short distances, but not nearly enough! Here is what I suggest: If you are carrying your knapsack, train by carrying a fully loaded (with your real stuff not just weights as this can cause injury) knapsack for multiple days so you get used to how it feels. This will ensure you have the opportunity to figure out how to carry your pack comfortably. Even if you are only carrying a day pack, train carrying this so you are used to it before you get to the Camino. Train on hills, as steep as you can find. The Camino is mountainous so training only on flat terrain (as we did) will not properly prepare you for your trek. Walk long distances for multiple days in a row. This is really the only way to properly prepare yourself.
If you want to carry your knapsack ... TAKE LESS STUFF - You can see my post here on what to and what not to pack - click here. But the net is a strong, very strong suggestion to take as little stuff as possible. The guideline is to have your bag weigh about 10% of your body weight. Actually, it should probably be about a pound less to allow for water and snacks which you will add when you get on the Camino. Examine every item that is in your bag. Do you need 3 sets of underwear or will 2 do? (2 will do as you can do laundry). 2 socks versus three. Some of what you take will depend on the season, but you can cut back on the amount of clothes as well as toiletries and electronics. In retrospect, if I had gotten my pack to 16.5 lbs the 5-pound reduction would have made a huge difference and would have made hiking much easier. TAKE LESS STUFF!
Don't Rush your Camino Experience - Part 1 - Teresa and I started following an itinerary that would have us complete the Camino Frances in 33 days. This is an average of 25 km a day. The issue is that for the hilly/mountainous portions of the Camino, we were only walking 18-20 km. This meant to finish in 33 days there were going to be many days when we would have to walk 28-30 km. In my view, for the average person, this is too much. In retrospect, we should have planned to take 35-40 days, and walked 25 km on the flatter/easier sections (there aren't many of these) and 18-22 km on the other days. In the end, I think this schedule would allow us more time to physically recover each day, reduce our chance of injury and leave more time to enjoy the scenery and sights. Don't Rush your Camino Experience - Part 2 - In addition to allowing yourself more time for the overall Camino I would also say you do not want to rush the individual day experience. Our normal routine was to wake between 6:00 - 6:15 am, have coffee and breakfast if available and start walking before 7:00. Early on this allowed us to walk 2-3 hours before it got really hot, the first hour and a half being in the dark. This schedule also allowed us the opportunity to see some amazing sunrises. We also had time for a break in the morning, time for lunch and still get to our destination between 2:00 - 3:00 pm. Arriving early meant time for a shower, do laundry if needed, have a beer, meet fellow pilgrims, explore the town, get to the pilgrim dinner at 7:00 and be asleep around 9:00. We covered a good distance but were still able to relax and enjoy the places we were visiting. I firmly believe that if you rush through each day, you will miss out on much of what the Camino experience is meant to be.
Get an unlimited data eSim - This was the first time we used an eSim and it was fantastic. If you don't know what an eSim is read here - https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/esim-explainer/. There are a lot of logistics involved in traversing the Camino and you will want/need to use your smartphone often. We decided to purchase our eSim from Holafly - https://esim.holafly.com/. They had the most affordable unlimited data plans that I could find. For USD 70 we got 60 days of unlimited data along with an hour of phone calls anywhere in Europe. It meant that we could send iMessages, WhatsApp messages, video calls, use Google Maps, Camino apps, email, news, etc without worrying about data limits. This made it easy to reserve albergues, keep in touch with family and friends, and stay up to date on world news. The coverage was fantastic and the eSim was easy to purchase, install and activate. I would strongly recommend purchasing an eSim for any travel outside of Canada, particularly for the Camino.
Book your Albergues 2-3 days in advance - You can read more about the albergues we stayed in here - click here. Teresa and I decided that we didn't want to arrive at our destination and not have a place reserved. Booking 2-3 days in advance will ensure you have a good place to stay but allow changes to your schedule as required. Accommodations are one of the most important things that impact your Camino trip (cost, comfort, sleeping, even dinner) so take time on this and read the post mentioned above.
If it looks like rain get your rain gear on early - You are going to be trekking across Spain for 35-40 days. Unless you are incredibly lucky, it is probably going to rain. It may just drizzle for a couple of hours or half the day or it may be a torrential downpour all day long (we even got hail one morning). It is also often very windy when it is raining. Believe me, you want to keep yourself and your stuff as dry as possible. There is nothing worse than walking all day in cold wet clothes or unpacking a knapsack where everything inside is wet. If you wait until it starts raining to get your rain gear on, you and your belongings are going to get wet. You have to find your gear in your knapsack, get it out and get it on. Pulling rain pants on over your shoes is tricky and taking your shoes off in the pouring rain is not a good plan. It may also be windy which makes everything that much more difficult. So in the morning, if your weather app says there is a high percentage of rain, then start the day with all your rain gear on. You can see more about rain gear in my post on what to pack - click here. Like shoes, this is something you want to make sure is comfortable and high quality. Look for a gortex-quality rain jacket and pants and a high-quality rain cover for your knapsack, even if you are only carrying a day pack. I would also suggest getting a poncho that covers you and your knapsack to deflect heavy rain. Be prepared.
Learn to unpack and pack your knapsack the same way each (and every) time - In the course of each day you are going to unpack and pack your bag at least 4 times. Unpacking when you arrive to get your stuff for a shower and change of clothes, packing after your shower when you want to go and explore the town. Maybe getting something out of your bag before you go for dinner. Unpacking when you are getting ready to sleep and then packing in the morning. This doesn't include unpacking when you stop for snacks or lunch. The reason for this tip is that all this packing and unpacking creates a lot of opportunities to forget or lose stuff. Losing a pair of socks or underwear is not a big deal and is easily replaced, but losing your phone, wallet, passport, pilgrim credentials or some important/sentimental personal item can be devasting. In addition, there will be mornings when you are packing your bag in the dark if you are awake before other pilgrims. When packing in the dark or dragging your stuff out into the hallway to pack you want a consistent system to ensure you don't forget anything. This may sound minor but once you get out on the trail you will realize how important it is.
Take the time to connect (really connect) and talk to people - Although this is my tenth tip, it is probably the most meaningful to your Camino experience. For me, I felt like I got dropped into a large global community known as the Camino. This community includes people from all over the world, from different backgrounds and walks of life but they have come to Spain to do the same thing you are. There are hundreds of opportunities to connect with the people in this community and talk to them. You learn where they are from, what it is like where they live, why they are walking the Camino and their worldview. This leads to fascinating conversations, laughing and even some crying (or close to it). It is very easy to fully enjoy this experience. Certainly, communal breakfasts, dinners and time in the albergues are some of the easiest ways to meet others. However, you can also meet people while taking a break on the trail or in a cafe. Pilgrims are easy to identify - they carry some kind of pack, likely with a shell on it. You can strike up a conversation and they will pleasantly reply. We only met one miserable person on our trip who didn't seem to want to talk to anyone, which we concluded was her choice. I would also suggest you talk to the local people you meet. You will learn from and enjoy conversations with the owner of the albergue, the barista making your coffee, the people in the church you are visiting, or the staff in the restaurant. Included in this tip I would suggest WhatsApp as a way to keep in touch with pilgrims you like and seem to get along with. We were able to keep in contact with some Camino friends which made for some great opportunities to get together for dinner. In a couple of cases, we were able to meet up with people in Santiago at the cathedral as they were finishing their pilgrimage. This was incredibly emotional and one where our connection with our fellow pilgrims was a truly joyful experience. If you don't come back from the Camino where one of your highlights is talking about the people you met and the connections you made, then you have missed out. Don't miss out ... talk to people!
Bonus Tip - Carry Snacks (but not too many) - Before Teresa and I left for the Camino, I remember describing to our daughter Lauren how I envisioned our typical day. I said we would wake up at 6:00 - 6:30 (got that right), start walking before 7:00 (right again) and then stop for a coffee, and snack around 10:00 (wrong most of the time). Once on the Camino, you realize quickly that just because you are ready for breakfast, lunch or a snack doesn't mean that the right place will be available to you. The Camino Frances route is very mountainous and rural, interspersed with many small towns and a few larger ones. This combined with the strange hours that most Spanish establishments keep - open late, close early, not open at all, not open on Saturday afternoons etc - means that often when you are ready for a break and something to eat you find yourself in the middle of nowhere (sometimes even finding a place to sit is difficult). The obvious solution to this problem is to carry snacks with you. But if you are carrying your knapsack/daypack you can't carry too much, it will be too heavy. This combined with the fact you likely don't have a cooler bag or ice means you have to pick your snacks carefully. Here is what Teresa and I carried for snacks:
Water bottle - this really can't be considered a snack it is a life-saving necessity. Make sure you fill up your water bottle at every opportunity, even if you have only drank a little, you do not want to run out of water.
Two oranges - Oranges in Spain are delicious (you can buy locally grown ones) and they travel well. We normally split the orange so two gave us an orange for two meals/snacks and that usually lasted us until we could find a grocery store to replenish our orange supply.
Laughing Cow Cheese - This processed cheese also seemed to travel well without a cooler bag or ice (when we got to an albergue with a kitchen we would put it in the fridge). We normally had one and a half containers of the cheese at any one time which again ensured that we never ran out. (added bonus - this cheese was a special treat when I was a kid so it brought back nice memories).
Crackers - obviously to go with the cheese we again tended to carry one and a half boxes at any one time. The challenge was finding a relatively small box of crackers and ones that would travel well. Melba toast was a favourite along with some local Spanish crackers
Bag of trail mix - We brought this with us from home and just replenished it with items from a grocery store. We tried Spanish trail mix (not great) so eventually just bought packages of mixed nuts and mixed them with the existing trail mix and bags of peanut M&M's. Delicious and served as "dessert" for many of our trailside snacks and meals.
Well, that is it, 10 tips that I hope make what should be an amazing experience for your trip even better. Be sure to read my other blog posts on the Camino - The 5 Best Albergues we stayed at - click here , where you can learn how to ensure you make the best of one of the most important elements of the Camino, your accommodations. Read here - click here for What to pack (and what not to pack). And finally, my overall impressions of the Camino experience can be found here - click here.
If I can help in any way or answer any questions you can reach me at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com
Our two Spanish Camino friends, Theo and Francisco, whom we met at the albergue in Zubri (the third night of the Camino). We saw them at least 6-8 times as we progressed through the Camino. They would yell out to us when they saw us on the trail. We would hug and greet each other warmly. We saw them at other albergues and restaurants. They knew Teresa had hurt her knee and would ask how she was. Although they could not speak English and we could not speak Spanish we definitely understood one another. They arrived in Santiago the day after us and we were fortunate enough to greet them as they entered the Catherdal Square. It was very emotional and amazing to see them at the end of our journeys.
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