Great advice Greg from somebody that knows from experience and it really works. Walking my 5th Camino, have downsized to a 25lt backpack, total weight just under 4 kilos, luxury item has a little more weight…Teva hiking sandals, wouldn’t be without these, saved my feet big time while walking the Geneva Way….keep inspiring keep walking..😃🇦🇺
Thanks Greg, always appreciate your insights. I will be a week in front of you this year walking my first. No doubt you will brisk past me with my overloaded pack. Taking heed of all you say and trying to ditch everything other than essentials.
Thanks for the update! I’m leaving Toronto on 8th April and plan to hit the Napoleon route from SJPP on Wednesday. Hopefully it will be open and the weather is going to be fine!
Hard to tell with any precision what next week looks like, but for now it appears Monday and Tuesday are the days to worry about and then Wednesday on it looked like good weather. They should know at the pilgrim's office what it looks like. Either way, you can always take the valcarlos route.
Yes. Just finished Lisbon to Santiago. I planned to do it in March, thinking that it would not be too busy. Very surprised by the amount of Pilgrims and full Albergues. Euro pilgrims said it was their Easter holidays.
Pretty much everywhere, with the exception of albergues in the more remote areas like the Meseta. Most restaurants, cafes, bars, retail stores, etc not only take cards but also have the tap to pay capabilities such as Apple pay and Google pay. When you get into the Meseta some of the towns are quite small and don't always have an ATM machine or even a real grocery store. I always make sure to keep cash on me and use cards as much as possible. When you use an ATM machine, there's usually a flat fee of about 6 euros regardless of how much money you take out. So I try to use ATM machines as little as possible. But if you do take cash out, might be better to take out a couple hundred rather than smaller amounts because the transaction fee is the same either way.
I don't really train with my pack on. It's not a bad idea, I guess...but I don't think there's really a way to FULLY prepare for walking 15 miles per day unless you do it for a living. Regular people who don't hike full time are going to experience some physical challenges no matter what we do. I don't usually push people to train with their packs because I don't think they will get enough benefit from one or two walks with the pack. Your body takes longer than that to build up tolerance. The main thing is you don't want to injure yourself before you go. Easy to strain your achilles or develop knee problems during training. Once you are on the Camino, you will just deal with it and get through it. But no reason to push too hard before going. My training each year is just walking 7 - 10 miles several times a week without a pack. This allows my feet, knees and achilles to build up slowly. I don't worry about doing any more than that and I don't try to do 15 miles. If you can go 7 - 10 without stopping, you can easily handle the Camino.
Thank you ! I appreciate your insights.. I can go (so far) 7 miles without stopping.. I’m going to try 10 this week . I am an avid walker usually 3-5 now 5-7. I agree no injuries before, I’ve looked forward to this for quite awhile. Thanks again 😊
If you can do 7 miles without stopping, you're good. Normally you will start around 7am and walk about that far over 3 hours, stopping at cafes. When you have all day to get there and you stop every hour and take your shoes/socks off, the miles melt away without any trouble. As long as you don't have blisters... The right shoes make a big difference.
Thanks..sadly I’ve been nursing a slight injury.. PT assures me I’ll be ready to go , so I’ve been working hard. I have a great pair of Brooks I’ve been training in, and they are great ! So one day at a time ! I leave Middle of June .. 😊
My best tips are to buy an 85l backpack and fill it with everything, especially heavy things. Second tip is to buy the wrong size footwear. Lets see if this reverse psychology works!
