Camino packing checklist: docs.google.co... Sorry for the long video, but I think there's some good information in here as I give all of my thoughts on each item in the pack.
Great video. Buen camino to you and your son. I agree totally... I also feel better eating food in Europe. Can't eat bread in the U.S., but European bread seems more pure, and gives me no problem.
Informative video, as always! Me and my wife are walking our first one-week test of the Camino concept i June and have learnt a lot from your videos. We especially appreciate that you also give numbers in meters and Celsius when you talk about length and temperature. 👍
Greg, just watched your RU-vid videos and bought a few items on the outdoor research website and love my hoody and my convertible pants. thank you so much for all your help. Good luck on your Camino inJune. Heading back there this fall hopefully.! Every year!
lovely video Greg, exactly what I wanted to know. I plan on doing the Camino next may/june. Currently living on a sail boat in mexico. Time to get back to land based adventures
Looking forward to ur post Camino video. I’m retiring at end of Sept and plan to hike next April/May from SJPP. Just bought hiking polls cuz my knees are shot from 30 years as an ICU nurse
Same here. I'm having A little more trouble with my knees the last couple of months. Hopefully it doesn't interfere with the walk. If you have no place to be, you can get away with doing shorter days, under 10 mi. It would take a couple of months but doable.
As long as you are going in the main part of the season between April and October, you're probably fine with just a sleeping bag liner. If you get particularly cold, you could opt for something heavier, but I usually end up sleeping on top of the sleeping bag because it gets pretty warm in most of the rooms, especially as you get closer to summer. I have two options that I'm looking at... One is the silk cocoon liner. It weighs about 4 oz and packs about the size of a pair of socks. It has virtually no insulation to it though, so the idea is that you might wear clothes to bed, your warm jacket layer and the liner is just to feel like you're inside of something. It works really well for the warm months. The other option is a fleece liner. The fleece one weighs about 1 lb, but I cut off the zipper and had it sewn into a mummy bag, reducing it to about 10 oz. The fleece liner is pretty cheap, about $17 on Amazon, and insulates a bit better than the silk one. Fleece amzn.to/3IPG92g Silk amzn.to/3IOC2DO
Wow Greg--great description of all your packing decisions. And you do love the color black! Did you include your rock from home to put on the burden pile? And your shell? All the best for your trip and buen camino!
I tried to get away from black, but I've been wearing it since I was a kid. It's a hard habit to break. I'm not a colorful person by nature. My rock is just a little pebble, much smaller than my first Camino. And I just have a little silver shell on my backpack now. I've completed it twice, so I'm not so much into the real scallop shell. Kind of a long video, so I don't expect many people to get through it. But hopefully it helps anyone who's going for the first time.
I think I got my knees figured out. It seemed to be some kind of inflammatory/arthritic type condition. After a bit of research, I thought maybe I was deficient in iodine...so I got some liquid iodine supplement and the problem disappeared in a couple of days. I didn't want to celebrate too early, but it's been a couple of months now and no problem at all walking up to 10+ miles. In fact, they seem even better than before. I think it flushed out my thyroid maybe... whatever it is, it fixed it. Maybe I'll have to make a video about it...
I've never done the Norte, But here is the link to the Camino forum regarding drinking water on the Norte. This is a good place to go to communicate with others that are doing the same route: www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/water-fountains-on-the-norte.53829/
Great job as always Greg. Could you please put a link with the OR long sleeve shirt. I am having a hard time finding one. I am going in early June through mid-July. This is my 1st Camino.
Men's or women's? I'll give you both. Men: amzn.to/3GW7TBv Women: amzn.to/47cabHi Also, you can find all the items on my packing list. Any of the items that are showing as blue on the list have a hyperlink to the item I currently recommend. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11gY93VPuCbsrOJ87BRFGfcUC5u0ANVMuhufS8emkhMw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Also, remember June and July are warm to hot. So don't wear heavy boots. Lightweight running shoes are fine and it's mostly shorts weather, so don't pack any heavy stuff. Maybe one pair of very lightweight pants just so you can be comfortable in cathedrals and maybe a lightweight jacket, like a fleece or windbreaker. If there is a sudden cold day for some reason, you can always double up shirts.
Everyone says blisters come from friction and moisture. In spring or summer when I don't have waterproof shoes, if it starts to rain halfway through the hike, do I have to walk for hours with wet feet? How do I not get blisters?
Altra and Brooks both have a Gore-Tex shoe that are supposed to be pretty waterproof. The model indicator has GTX for Gore-Tex. I've never had a problem with blisters because I wear these softer running shoes. But if you are concerned about it you can get a Gore-Tex shoe and change your socks during the day. Another option is to wear hiking sandals if it's raining.. You will see a lot of people who switch to sandals at the end of the first week due to blisters.
Yes, should be fine. And shorts are apparently fine now as well. It used to be that you had to have long pants or at least your knees covered and they would give you paper pants if you didn't have any. But the last trip they were letting people enter with shorts. Lots of people wearing shorts at the Pilgrims Mass in Santiago. So you should be fine.
A little bit less crowded... June I think is probably one of the best months to be walking, as it's not too hot and the rain is pretty much done. September is the other month that is really great for walking. July and August would be the hottest.
It's at exactly 10 lb. Still pretty light considering how sturdy the backpack is. The hip belt on this osprey kestrel pack is pretty thick so it handles the weight pretty well. As I mentioned in the video, if I was leaving a month later I would remove the sleeping bag, the rain jacket and the sweater and drop down to my 22 l osprey Talon pack and I would end up about 5 lb less.
There's not much room in the dorm bathrooms for shaving, so in 2019 I just let it grow out and I've had it ever since. I guess you could hit the barbershop in the big cities once a week and they would clean you up a little bit. I just try to travel light and not worry about it.
