Camino Gear Summary

So I wanted to capture some notes on my gear from my camino.  I mentioned what I brought at the begining so hears a summary of how it went.  This is as much for myself as anyone else who may find it useful.  Note as a women some things are very specific, plus I get cold easily.

What I bought because I didn't bring.

  - 5 plastic cloths pins.  Although most places have cloths lines they don't always have pins.  And they just make it easier.

  - Aloe and Chapstick.  So I got burnt by the sun and my lips got brutally dried by the wind and sun.  So I needed these.

   - never bought it but a needle and thread would have been useful for blisters.

   - never bought but someone else had a double hook.  Many showers didn't have anywhere to hang your stuff so this would have been useful.

What I brought and did or did not use

- beanie hat.  Didn't need.  Although cold I found my rimmed hat under my rain jacket was okay for those rainy mountain days.

- baseball hat versus rimmed hat.  I had the opportunity to try both.  I love the baseball hat to keep the hair in check but the rimmed hat was better for keeping the sun off.

- convertible pants.  I brought two.  Not sure I needed both but at least once one pair was very muddy and due to the weather I couldn't wash so the other came in handy.  It's all about if you can wash or not.  These dried quickly, even when it was raining.

- spring dress and large scarf.  This was great.  I used it almost every day after my shower.  It was much nicer to let everything air out.  It had built in support so no need for the sports bra, which was nice after all day with it.  It also doubled as pajamas.

- Tshirts.  I brought two.  Honestly I kept getting burnt each time I wore these so one would have been enough.  They dried quick and didn't seem to make me smell as much as cotton but they snagged easily so they look beat up.

- long sleve jogging style shirt.  I wore this more than any other shirt.  It was warm yet light enough. Best of all it protected from the sun.  If I got hot I could get the selves wet and it made like air conditioning.

- wool long sleve.  I didn't actually hike with this but in the evening if it was cold it was nice to put over my dress.

- socks.  So I started with wool hiking socks and ended with light weight wool ankle socks.  The days it was cold it was wet so socks didn't matter, but the days that it was hot the hiking socks were too much.  I also had liners which I used more as light socks than liners.  They seemed a little tight if I wore them as liners by the end of the day.

- shoes.  This didn't go well for me.  I started with hiking boots.  They are 1 size bigger than I wear.  They worked great the first two days over the pyranees which were wet and cold.  But after that as soon as it warmed up they were too warm.  I also had issues with blisters on my heels and little toes.  I then switched to tennis but these were perfect fit not larger so after a day I ended up with heel blisters and a black toe.  So 90% of my hike was done in my Teva saddles.  I did hike with socks, my wool or just my liners depending.  Only problem was the rainy days, I had to change my socks and one day even tried a plastic bag between two layers.  Nothing worked perfect but I got by.  Suggestion here.  My feet seemed to swell at around 6 to 8 miles.  Take a real long hike then go to REI and try on shoes.  

- sleeping bag.  I had a liner bag, light weight but warm.  I think there was only one place it came In handy cause it was cold.  I hear bed bugs don't like silk, so I think if I do it again I would bring a silk liner and light weight bag.  But just cause I hate being cold and I hate bugs.  Never saw them but I did get a bug bite or two that swelled up, hard to know what it was from.

-pillow.  I had a camp down pillow I used each night.  I preferred my own over the ones on the bed.  It packed nicely in with my sleeping bag.

- mole skin, antiseptic, scissors, gauze, ductape.  Used all these for my feet almost every day.  I cut the mole skin to the size needed.  If a blister had broken I used gauze and ductape to make a bandaid.

- head lamp.  Used this early mornings to pack my bag.

- spork.  I didn't use this but my son did because he loved to get yogurts at the stores.

- fanny pack.  This was great to store my camera, phone and credentials for easy and safe access.

- camp towel.  Used and worked great. I got the bigger size which I'm glad, at one place I used it as a shower curtain.

- rain jacket.  Used this almost every day.  In the morning until it got warm or on a rainy day to stay dry.  My jacket has the breeze zippers under the arms, this was great when it was warm and rainy.  I also had rain pants but didn't use.  It would have been useful two days that were exceptionally wet but it was usually too late to go thru the hassle of putting them on.

- bandanna.  Used on hot days to get wet and use with hat.

- sports bra.  I brought two.  I think a lighter cami style one and one sports bra would have been fine for me.  I didn't run up or down any hills, and some hot days something lighter would have been nice.

- hiking sticks.  I used these on the down hills and many times at the end of the day when I started getting tired.

- camino book.  I used is each day to see how far to the next bar or town.  And the sleeping options.  I carried in my fanny pack for easy access.

- arnica cream.  I used this on my heel and knee a few times when things really hurt.  Stretching is key, needs to be done throughout the day and after the day is done.

- backpack and rain cover.  Both by Osprey, 44oz. They worked well.  My sons however didn't have a frame it was a smaller one and packing it was difficult.  I was going for light for him but padding and comfort would have been better.  

- water bottles. I started with two one liters.  Two halfs would have been better, there were very few times that there was a long distance between fountains or bars.  I ended up just using half liter plastic bottles.

- electronics, as mentioned earlier I had my ipad, iPhone and camera.  Ipad and camera were used the most.  The phone with a local sim was used for google maps when I got off the path, but not much else.

Stage 27: Ribadiso to Santiago de Compostela

Children don't try this at home.  The following single day walk was done by a not so smart professional.  The day started at 6:17am and ended at 7pm.  This included 42.2 km and 4 hot coco stops. (It was cold).

Started out a bit muddy but I lucked out and my wool socks kept my sandled feet dry for over half the day.  It started with a warm hazy rain, but most of the day was mild to heavy rain, that did not stop.  This tree below on the left has these flowers that create a real cool effect.

Very strait, dark and gloomy planted forest.

I really like these flowers.

A peaceful walk for most of the day.

These guys improvised using orange garbage bags to stay dry.  Doubt it worked well cause me with my gear got wet in all areas not covered.

Grape vines in full coverage now.

Checkout this wall.  They don't build them like this anymore.  We have seen a few spots along the way that have eroded but for the most part no issues. It's amazing how the old engineering holds up.

So part of today took me under a runway.  I've been close to planes taking off near LAX before but this is real close.  I saw one guy take off but I was still a ways away at that point.

Heading into a few towns.  Today over hot coco I met a guy who started off doing a coast to coast trail across the pyranees, Atlantic to Mediterranean.  But I guess a bit past st jean de port they hit snow that made the way impassible. So they decided to take a secondary French route that eventually joins the main camino into Santiago.  They stopped early today however because they had a soccer game to watch, I think it was Belgium playing.

This is the last hill before Santiago.  They have left it as natural trees common to the area versus the eucalyptus we have seen the last few days.  Another old fence too.

Welcome to Santiago.  One difficulty with the approach to Santiago is your destination is the cathedral.  But it's 4.5km from the hill top with .5 to get into town and 4km across town.  

I found my self excited at every turn for awhile to see of I could see the cathedral.  On a clear day your suppose to see it from afar.  Today not until I was on top of it.  Here is the city.

 This is a back door of the cathedral.  The front is all under construction with scaffolding.  So this was nicer.  Tomorrow I go find out how to get my Compostella and go to mass. 

 Today as I approached the plaza I ran in to two ladies from our first few days.  So Im excited to see how many people I recognize tomorrow.  This has been an awesome experience.  Both traveling with the family and doing it on my own have been great.  Two very diffrent experiences but equally rewarding.  Anyone who likes to walk I encourage you to look into European walking options.  There are many, and you can do as many days as you want.

Even after 27 days of walking I lay here typing the blog while my feet have the occasional throbbing pain that makes you jump.  It may be fun but if you don't take your time it can hurt.  You will learn to read what your body is telling you, if you choose to ignore it no complaining. ;). For me 20km has definitely gotten easier but 28km and buenos still make my feet throb.  I must say though the cold river yesterday were we soaked our feet cured that problem for yesterday anyway.

Stage 26 : Eirexe to Ribadiso

So just some last minute notes about yesterday.  So the routine is to checkin, shower and find a chair to relax.  That chair is best if it's in view of the camino so you can view and chat up the people who walk by.  Later around 7pm we go to dinner.  Last night at dinner we had my California friend, Irish friend, Belgium friend, and a new French couple.  They spoke a lot of French at dinner.  Now I feel like I'm in a foreign country.

As we ate dinner out the window is a guy walking 6 cows down the road.  Next thing you know the cows are grazing out the other window.  One of the cows had a real itch, he was using a tree to relieve that itch.

Now on to today, we walked around 34km so we can position our selves for a nice entrance into town on Sunday.  Mass is at noon.  The morning started out at 5:50am but then after walking a few meters I realized it was too dark for me.  So I waited and around 6am I started again with my Irish friend.  It was a beautiful morning thru the woods.  

This house must have been high end in its time it had a private hand washing system.  You can see the ridges on the top bin.

Some of these gradine rise have been restored real nicely.  Not sure what they use them for now.  This area is very diffrent than before.  Here the towns are single houses, not all adjoined.  Their fields are small, not the mass production as before.

Believe it or not but this is an old house you can just make out the door.

The churches are much smaller and all the graves encircle the church yard.  Maybe the ground is too wet to dig or the church just doesn't have the space.  Both old and new graves are done this way.

Many of the houses have here beutifully flowers.  The camera didn't quite capture the blues.  There have been three diffrent colored ones, all very pretty.

Here is the walk thru the woods with all the traffic.  Today was not bad, people seem to walk at similar paces so a group would go by then your left with no one.  

One funny thing about the camino is the old style telfone service.  It started with a real call last night to see if we had seen our Dutch friends pilgrims passport.  Which we hadn't.  Then today we saw a group of four we play leap frog with.  The German in the group had found her passport, so the word was passed by the time we stopped at the albergue, she happened to be there, she knew who had it and was just watching for them to walk by.  It's very cool.  I also heard that someone had someone's shirt once and it was passed along and eventually made it back to its owner.  I also talked to today to a lady staying here that remembers us from Roncesvalles.  Amazingly cool.

Lovely walk thru mostly oak forest I think.

These trees I think are eucalyptus, were loosing their cloths(bark).  I assume they do this every year because old and new trees were doing the same thing.

 This is our Albergue for the night.  6 Euros and it includes anriver to ice your feet in.  My feet have not been so happy in days.  It did take a bit of time to get in, boy was it cold.

Here is the bridge where the above picture was taken. Little fish keep jumping, it's a great way to relax laying on the grass chatting and enjoying nature.

Here is a foto in one of the buildings where if you have food you can eat it.  There's also a kitchen but no pots, pans, plates or utensils.  Not sure how useful it is but oh well, it's nice.

Tonight at dinner I lost count at the number of friends at the table.  I sat next to our Finish friend who is great.  She was doing yoga earlier next to the river.  There were many stories, I heard there was a blind Italian doing the camino with his grandson as his guide.  Also they had met the postman with his wife who was in an electric wheelchair.  They are from Oklahoma.  Tomorrow will be my last night of the camino, I am excited yet sad.  It's been an amazing experience and I have met some wonderful people.

Stage 25 : Ferrerios to Eirexe

Started at 6:30am, we played hop scotch today as we walked past each other.  It's kinda funny cause everyone walks their own pace and stops at diffrent bars for snacks, or coffee in the case of the Irish lady.

This church was the first thing I saw this morning.  The double arch is suppose to be very unique.

We start to leave the wet lands out into more farm land.

Km told the little building off to the left was were they would store grain to keep the animals out of it.  It looks like a tiny church.

The valley below with clouds.

Houses have a lot of pretty flowers on their roofs here.  The stone fences too.  I saw one fence that went right thru a grove of pine trees.  From the look of it the fence was there before the trees.

The main town we passed thru today.  Was not very impressed and the rest of the day was very blah.  Walking next to the road.

This was the nicer part of walking next to the road.  So I reached the destination we had all discussed and didn't see anyone so kept walking.  Next thing I knew my Dutch friend came up and said they were at the last Pension I had just passed.  So I decided to head back, I'd like to walk into Santiago with my friends.  Plan is two long days and then a short day to walk in to go to mass at noon in Santiago.  That means 3 days to go.

Stage 24 : Samos to Ferreiros

So today started at about 12:45 at night.  We had a number of snorers in the room so someone decided to clap extra loud to try and scare them awake.  Next think I knew the guy in the bunk next to me fell out of bed.  Note this was the top bunk.  So I couldn't get down from my bunk, there was no ladder so if I got down I would not be able to get back up.  So from my bunk I asked if he was okay and others went to check and he groaned okay.  So we went back to bed, next thing he starts getting up and walked a few beds away and then trickle, trickle, he was peeing in the middle of the room.  Later we found out he peed on someone's stuff.  Anyway everyone yelled at him so he started walking closer to the wall and was about to start peeing again. So someone went over and said, let me take you to the bathroom.  Anyway then a few people got a bucket and cleaned up a bit.  The guy in the morning remembered nothing, guess the bartender was egging him on to drink tequila.  Few too many.

So the walking began around 6:30am and ended up doing about 28km.  Great overcast day thru more green moist lands.

Many of the towns seem abandoned.

We did walk thru one large town but nothing to really see.   The church was closed and there were a bunch of people.  Aparently to get you "Compostella", recognition for the walk, you have to at least start here which is 100km away.  So I have less than 100km to go.  Yahoo.

A lot of little creeks to pass over.

This house had pretty pink flowers all over its roof.

Right before where we stopped for the night we ran into these guys at a bar entertaining everyone.  They are pilgrims as well just resting.

Walked with my California friend at the end of the day.  We met two spaniards and a Dutch girl who all started today.  We also met our Irish friend from previous evenings.  And a lady from Belgium who started walking from her home April 1st.  We are all staying at a private small albergue with about 6 elementary aged kids and their moms.  The plus is this place has a washer dryer so no hand washing tonight and hot water. Yesterday there was only slightly warm water so I skipped the shower part, I was already cold, a cold shower was not going to cut it.

We all hung out at the bar watching people as they walked by, saying high to many we had met along the way.  We later had dinner and then headed to bed.  It was like a slumber party, such fun!  

So supposedly things start getting really busy now and booking up.  So we will see how this all plays out, may have a long day of walking just to find a bed.

Stage 23 : Cebreiro to Samos

Started the day at around 6:15am.  In an albergue a bunch of alarms go off at about 10 to 6, you then have a decision, go back to sleep of get going.  This morning I decided to get going.  Unfortunately that ment before the sun and in the rain.  So I started with sandals.  Quickly determined this wasn't working, feet were cold.  So on go the shoes.  This worked for a few hours but then my non water proof shoes started going squish, squash.  So I stopped at a bar, got a hot chocolate and egg sandwich.  There I put on dry socks, plastic bags, and then my wet socks, back in the sneakers.  Ofcourse after I was warm and all set I go outside and the rain had stopped.  Still felt better, it's suppose to rain tomorrow so we will see what I do in the morning.

Due to the rain pictures didn't really turn out early on.

One thing I remember the guys from Barcelona told me is about blisters.  A guy told them that blisters are things from your head that have worked their way down your body to your feet to get to the camino.  To do this they create blisters.  So the less blisters you have you would think the clearer in the head you are, no I guess that just means you have to walk more.  They said he guy seemed a little off.

Couple things to note in this picture.  You see the short wall on the left, well the thing covered in green on the right is he same.  A kind of retaining wall, huge one all stacked rocks.  Seems really old.

There were a lot of almost abandoned towns along they way.  It was thru this small river valley.  A beautiful walk.

One town had this unique sign posted.  Yup no dumping of any kind allowed.

The area reminds me of Portland.  Everything is covered in growth.

Check out this fish tail roof.  They are actually all over but is was a newly do me one so it stuck out more.

Tonight I'm staying at an albergue as part of a Monestary.  We took a tour, it's the biggest in Western Europe. There at 14 friars living here.  Seems like they have a lot of work to do. We went to mass and they did a bunch of chanting and had the organ going.  It was very nice, love the acoustics in the church.

This unique fountain in one of the courtyards of the Monestary.