Tag Archives: Hiking

Camino packing, Camino planning

Camino Packing – My Camino Shower Kit

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Where I last left the Camino del Norte in Santander I dipped in the ocean for a salty cleanse at the end of a long, hot day/week of walking. Pure luxury! As is the shower you take when you arrive at your accommodation each day. Heaven.

As I am currently packing my shower kit and trying new things here is a post for those of you who are also planning your camino. Toiletries are the achilles heel of my packing. What can I say? I, unashamedly, love a product. I like to keep my face cleansed and my skin moisturised! Oh and I wash my hair every day on the camino, hours of walking and sweating I can’t not! However, I do want to get more minimal and I want to be as sustainable as I can and avoid throw away plastic.

So this is what I will go with …

  • 1 x Lush soap bar that also moisturises in tin
  • 1 x Lush shampoo and conditioner bar in tin
  • 1 x Lush face cleanser bar in tin
  • 1 x Bottle of face rose-hip oil
  • 1 x Deodorant
  • 1 x Razor
  • 1 x Comb plus spare hair tie
  • 1 x Toothbrush, floss and mini tubes collected from hotels and flights
  • 1 x Quick dry towel (140 grams) because I am doing or aiming to do Albergues
  • 1 x Fold away mini pack (50 grams) to use to go to the shower (also used on plane or when out and about after a day of hiking)

Camino Tip! Wear your clothes in the shower and wash them first then take them off and wash yourself. Or you can do it in the wash sinks if provided. I prefer to do it as I shower and then it’s done and I can get my feet up and resting.

My Camino Shower Kit

Weighing in at 400 grams

Other essentials: i.e. sunscreen, tiger balm I pack in My Camino FirstAid Kit which weighs in at 300 grams.

It is basically 1kg of my packing weight! Plastic bags have been suggested for the soaps but I really want to avoid that kind of convenience. The plastic ones I use for my sandals and the towel have been reused many times! If I use some for soap I am not sure they will go the distance. Any thoughts?

I may also pack a lipgloss and some mascara for the city stay at the end!😉

All Camino routes (resources), Camino pilgrim stories

Which Camino Route, Which Section? Endless Options!

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If you’ve started your camino research, it’s likely you’ve realised that your camino options are endless. You can find almost 300 listed caminos criss crossing countless countries. You can choose from any one of these routes, walk the entire route, choose a section of a route, bus some or even come back next time to where you left off. Mountains, oceans, forests, inland, coastal and urban trails, wine regions, tapa regions, quaint villages, farmscapes, popular or more desolate paths. The options are endless. Traditionally, a pilgrim began their camino from home, some pilgrims still do!

While walking the Camino Frances I met Miriam from Amsterdam. For the past 14 years she has set off for two weeks in April to walk her camino. Each year she picks up where she last left off, each time getting a little closer towards Santiago and to gaining her compostella. Funny story, she also lived most of her life in the same village we currently live in. We had trained walking in the same forests. A classic camino/travel coincidence! This was back in 2018 in Cirauqui, one of the quaint hilltop Spanish villages along way to Santiago de Compostella. I guess she has walked into Santiago by now.

Perhaps Miriam will even walk back to Amsterdam from Santiago!?! This is also not completely uncommon. Last year along the way I met John, an American who had learnt Spanish during the covid lockdowns. When the camino opened again he decided to walk it to practice his Spanish. John, a retiree with time on his hands, decided upon his arrival in Santiago to turnaround and walk back to St Jean Pied de Port (SJPDP). Naturally, he is fluent now. Clever John, I did not learn a language during lockdowns! I am trying again now though John. Meeting these characters and hearing their interesting stories is one of the reasons I keep going back. You never know who you will meet and who will inspire your life along the camino.

The most popular camino with its brilliant pilgrim infrastructure is the Camino Frances and the most beautiful is thought to be the Camino del Norte, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Camino Primitivo is the most challenging and the Camino Ingles is where the English and Irish pilgrims would traditionally begin after crossing the channel into Spain. Or, perhaps walking the Portugese coast interests you. Walking your camino is now more popular than ever with 2022 recording the highest number of pilgrims in the past decade. A camino, it seems is high on many people’s ‘wish to experience in life’ list.

Of course, it isn’t doable or even desirable for many to start from home like Miriam, or to walk to and from SJPDP like John. So it’s a choice of which route, or which section along the camino. When you come from a long way, like OZ or the Americas it isn’t always easy to dedicate the 4-5 weeks required to walk the entire length of the camino. Depending on time available or distance desired many choose to start at Sarria. This is the last 100kms point and is the distance required to gain a compostella certificate. Some, like sweet Al (above) from Canada choose to walk from a bigger city such as Leon. Or, like my mates Jenny and Piet (below) from Sydney, whom I met last year when I was walking the first section of the Camino Frances with my son, a combination is better. They started in SJPDP, walked a few weeks, took a bus through a few sections and hoped back on the trail later. Your camino is a real life ‘choose your own adventure’ story.

Personally, I have competed a full Camino Frances, the shorter Camino Finisterre and Muxia and have four other caminos on the go. Yes, four! (There’s apparently a term for that … a camino tragic.) I am nearly ready to complete the third section of the Camino del Norte. I am one section into the Camino Frances with my son. We will return later this year for the next one. Also, later this year my bestie from Oz is coming to do the last couple of hundred kms of the Camino Frances with me, or more I am going with her! And like Miriam, I also began walking from my home. My from home camino is to Rome and it follows European camino paths. lt’s a slow boiler this one, I seem to struggle to fit this camino in! I am looking forward to sharing these caminos with you in these pages.

Basically! Your camino begins wherever you choose to start! The one you plan and travel to or simply when you put your shoes on and walk outside.

Camino packing, Camino planning, Uncategorized

Camino Packing – My Camino First Aid Kit

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Yes! It is true, you can find a farmacia (pharmacy) vending machine stocked with FirstAid supplies along the camino. This did give me a giggle when I first spotted one. You will also find many farmacias along the camino to purchase all your first aid requirements. Just look for the neon green cross, if it’s on, you’re in luck.

We’re all trying to keep those packed kgs low. What do they say ‘carry less than 10% of your body weight’. BUT, if like me you like to be prepared, a little kit is a handy way to deal with any niggles as early as possible. Little niggles can become bigger problems later, and along our camino, we all want to stay healthy and keep walking. Right?!

Obviously prevention is best, so shoes, socks, training, foot care, hydration ya da ya da. However, even with our best efforts niggles and problems can occur. Over the years and many camino and hiking trips later I’ve created the kit list below that works for me. (Save some grams by not packing the packaging.)

💫 👣💫 If we don’t need to use what bring, just maybe we’ll come across someone who does.

My Camino essential FirstAid kit

  • Tiger balm (rub into feet daily after shower)
  • Small ball to roll under feet at the end of the day
  • Blister patches (compeed)
  • Bandaids
  • Electrolyte sachets (to pop in my water bottle on the big days)
  • Sunscreen and lip balm with UV protection
  • Antibacterial hand gel
  • Painkillers (paracetamol)
  • Anti inflammatories
  • Repellent, bug bite cream and antihistamines*
  • Sterilised needle and alcohol swabs**

My Camino FirstAid Kit

Weighing in at 300 grams.

* I have an allergy to bed bug bites. I know, no one wants to hear about bed bugs but they happen. I have had them in a donative, a private albergue and a pricey hotel. Not along every camino, but 3/5 of them. Being able to manage the itch and my reaction right away makes for a far more pleasant experience. I learnt the hard way after walking a whole day before finding a farmacia. I won’t share a photo but think hives, huge itchy red angry ones! Eeek. Just writing this makes me itch, fingers crossed for my next one. Oh and if I am out of antihistamines I buy them in Spain before I leave, the farmacias there are good like that.

** This is a new edition for me. How to treat blisters is controversial. I tend to go with deal with them directly as soon as you feel them by supporting and protecting them with compeed, rather than risk infection by popping them myself. Of course prevention is best. I have managed to avoid them for many caminos but the last two I was wearing a different trail runner and I wasn’t so lucky. I had a blister on the insides of my big toes and they needed the pressure removed. I waited too long and ended up with a lot of pain and losing toe nails. This time I will be prepared if it happens again. Also, I am back in my trusted brand of hiking shoe so hopefully no issues. There are places along the way to get foot care if needed and of course seeking proper care is smart and preferable. Your albergue can often help you locate where.

*** My husband (the gear freak) always packs an emergency blanket. I read recently of a few people who became hypothermic after crossing the Pyrenees in bad weather. I won’t be in any big mountains so will leave it out this time. Perhaps when I get to the Primativo camino again.

Right … digging out the silk sleeping liner that apparently those gross little bugs hate and booking in a pedicure now to be sure my toes are in top shape before I leave!

Any other suggestions?

I share my shower essentials here in My Camino Shower Kit.

Other resources:

Camino pilgrim stories

The First of Your Camino Pilgrim Stories, Mine!

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During April and May of 2018 I hiked my first camino. As this was my first camino I chose the popular French way known as The Camino Frances. Yep, Frances walked the Frances! Ha ha see what I did there. Actually, I jumped on my sister’s camino plan. Luckily, she was happy for me to join her along the 800km ancient pilgrimage route that begins at the base of the French Pyrenees and meanders its way through the regions of Navarre, La Rioja, Castille and Leon and Galicia in Northern Spain. I walked across a country! Literally. It was a 28 day adventure with a backpack and a really cool story of how together with a swag of armchair followers we were able to send a whole class of girls in Sierra Leone to school for a year. To this day it continues to impact my life. I continue to return to the camino to walk and here I am creating a new something with all my camino experiences.

Why did I walk my first camino?

After having returned to ‘normal’ life after a six month sabbatical with my husband and four kids travelling through Southern Europe in a campervan during 2017/18 I was a bit disenchanted with the online travel space. It seemed loud and without boundaries. I was also in need of some post adventure purpose. I love an adventure and the lure of a long hike with a backpack, along this trail they call the camino seemed to be calling me.

Inspired by my 10 year old daughter, who before we had left for our sabbatical together with her friends become ambassadors for girls of the same age. Girls, who by birth were denied the same privilege. They fearlessly set about creating events to raise money to educate girls. In the words of Morgan Koegal, who, at the time was the CEO of One Girl Australia …

” … when something feels wrong in your gut – do something about it.”

and those 10 year old girls did exactly that! They fundraised by among other things raffling sustainable donated prizes to be able to create educational opportunities for girls in Sierre Leone.

Now, a year later it felt like my turn. I wanted to find a way share a different story about travel and to contribute to that space creatively and sustainably. I wanted to combine my love of adventure with charity and to get ‘busy’ fighting a good fight. Girls being denied an opportunity to go to school, simply by being born a girl – that’s not right. So I began a story in which I would find a positive way to share travel. An epic adventure. And hopefully, I would also contribute positively to the online travel space as well as get people out hiking!

My experience along The French Way …

My camino was an incredible experience on so many levels. I walked this ancient path that dates back to the 9th century in a year that 327,378 fellow pilgrims also received a compostella walking the various caminos. Together with my sister. We laughed (hard), cried (also hard), we groaned (primally), moaned (and laughed again), bantered and joked. We made friends for life and for the day and looking back mostly we loved our time doing this together. What a gift that time together was. I can honestly say I did not for one moment wish to be somewhere else. Sorry kids! Ha no there was no need for me to worry, they were well taken care of at home. I do have an incredibly supportive husband.

Physically, it was doable for me, although of course not without challenges. I pushed through sore feet, fatigue and ended my walk in tears with shin splints, both shins. Joy. For me the biggest learning along this camino was about people and how I relate. It constantly met me in the face. I spent time with fellow pilgrims from all over the world and all walks of life, it challenged so many of the preconceptions (read judgements) good and bad that I was often so quick to form about people. The camino taught me a new kind of humility. It also taught me I needed to connect with people more that I thought I did. I was perhaps a more extroverted introverted than I had believed myself to be.

As we experienced the absolute privilege of living this experience, the beautiful time together, the camaraderie, the meditative beauty of motion that is walking, the simplicity of living from our backpacks, the awe of the Northern Spanish landscape, historical hamlets and culturally infused cities there was another, perhaps bigger story in the making. The story of the walk for one girl. That story ended as a walk for 30 girls. Along the way I was supported by so many people. People who read my daily bog posts and donated to the charity. People I knew and many I’d never met. It was an absolute momentous experience to share with people, mostly women from around the globe.

Along the way and towards the end I met Andrew from Germany. His sister had walked the camino years before. Something he told me has always stuck with me. His sister had said to him…

“… you won’t understand your camino until you come home. It will take some time.”

I think I’m getting that now. Walking a camino has a different meaning to each of the pilgrims who walk it. Some people articulate it directly but it has taken me some time. Perhaps, it also changes and evolves with time. Now, whenever I am at a party someone corners me about the camino, more and more people are asking me about walking a camino. It feels like an invitation. An invitation to find myself again off the camino by sharing my stories from the camino. A way of tying the wisdom gained from such an experience with how I live my daily camino, the camino that is my life. Ok, we’re getting deep now. That’s the camino experience. It is a profound journey and for some of us it keeps giving. In fact, there is a saying along the camino and that is ‘the camino provides’. That is whatever your need, it will be provided. It is an invitation to trust.

Have I been back?

Yes! I’ve been back a few times, solo, with a friend, most recently I walked with one of my children. In fact, I have three caminos currently in progress. A solo camino towards Rome, via Francigena. I started this one from my front door and currently I’ve walked out of The Netherlands and into Belgian for this one. The northern camino which I started in Irun and am currently in Santander for this one. The Camino Frances with one of my sons, we started in St Jean Pied de Port and are ready to pick up where we left off in Puente la Reina in a few months. One of my best friends is coming to do section of the camino Frances later this year and it will be a hoot. It is very possible to do a camino section by section.

Should you walk a camino?

Only you can answer this, but if you’ve been called … you probably will. Start with walking everyday. There are so many ways to walk a camino. It can be done with all kinds of budgets, ailments and at any age. The more I walk the more I know this to be true. Traditionally, pilgrims took the route for religious reasons, many still do but now as Leslie Gilmour (pilgrim and writer) says …

“… modern Pilgrimages seem to be a lot less about religion and more about peace, finding something in life, a time to think, and for some a challenge”.

I think in this modern world many of us are craving more of this! And we’re figuring out how this can be the ‘normal’ in our daily lives. To me the camino gives you a handbook for this. Get up, leave yesterday behind, travel with just what you need, walk through the day, walk towards somewhere, at the same time being right where you are, smell the fresh air, move your body, see yourself, be in awe of yourself and what you’re capable of, experience challenges, figure things out, do what needs to be done, enjoy the company of others, enjoy food, sleep. Repeat.