What NOT to bring with you on the Camino de Santiago

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Ivar Rekve — 17 Comments ↓

The question was:

It seems we all speak about how great MY backpack / MY shoes / MY sleeping bag etc was….
Very seldom do we admit to bad equipment or making bad equipment choices. So heres your chance……

Read a list of all the things pilgrims have regretted bringing on their Camino.

Tagged with: What not to bring
Posted in From the Camino de Santiago forum

Linda

I brought waaaaaaay too much – backpack should never be more than 10% of your bodyweight, if that – and ended up making 5 trips to the Spanish post office to send thigs home, plus donating along the way. First to go was my powder compact (what WAS I thinking!!); swimsuit (no need); and cotton turtleneck (not quick for washing/drying – lightweight long pashimina-type scarf worked wonderfully instead). Brought 5 pairs of great wool socks but sent home 3 pair. Ended up with only one set of day clothes and one set of clothes for relaxing/evening meal/sleeping. Washed day clothes at the Albergue and they were usually dry enough by morning (as long as the sun was out for awhile in the late afternoon before). Bought a thermal underwear top along the way in Leon and it saved me at night when the weather turned colder Oct/Nov.
- Ultra_dry_molson
  
  i fallowed the list on things needed and it ended up to be 25% of my body weight…when it was suppose to be max 10% :S this coast me my trip after 2 days of walking..id like to THANK YOU TO the ppl who gave me that list ill know better next time..to lisent to myself! have the minimum 1 t-shrit…1 of everything just wash over night in them auberges ….
- http://www.facebook.com/samuel.brierley.3 Samuel Brierley
  
  The whole 10% rule should ONLY be a guide to try and make you take less… I’m 56kg, 10% being 5.6kg – my pack being 5.6kg is NOT going to happen, us lighter people have to think about it in a relative perspective – for myself I’m aiming my pack to be around 8kg – had my first practice ‘weigh-in’ last night and am 7.5kg with NO water – still playing with it all. I havent walked the camino (going this September) but have done many other expedition walks where I am used to carrying all my own food and cooking equipment – people need to be realistic bout what they are used to as well – all you can do is try your best to keep things to a absolute minimum – BUT whats important to some and worth taking may not be for others….. to each their own – remember the stress of it will not help you mentally either! – the ’10% rule’ should make you stop and REALLY think bout what your taking but dont beat yourself up if your not hitting it – nothing you cant rethink whilst walking…. which I read most people do As far as communication devices, I’m going to take a ipod only – does all wifi internet stuff, light as a feather but most importantly for me I can have some nice tunes!
Gwendolyn

I too brought too much, because we were traveling for an additional 3 months after the camino in Europe. When I take this journey a 2nd time in June 2012, I will bring a very minimul amount of items, I had a heavy sleeping bag that I ditched in Castrojeriz, then was cold at times especially in Galicia. I brought too many books and music. We learn from our mistakes.
- Brian Colgate
  
  I hope you will update us after your current Camino, Gwendolyn
pete

Netbook with charger (I had got a big thing to complete) … totally crappy, heavy and overall useless. I used it once to check e-mails and post some pics. As I walked on the computer ended at the bottom of my backpack as a dead weight.
http://www.facebook.com/vjpulver Virginia J. Pulver

Do not bring a bad attitude or a suspicious tendency or a lot of expectations about how things should be or what a “real” pilgrim is like. Leave home a sense of self-satisfaction and a critical or judgmental tongue. Don’t bring a competitive mindset. -> I did not want to be encumbered or bothered with having stuff. I wanted to feel light and free. I carried a day pack and took very little – not even a guide book, not even a watch and no phone. I also cut out the tags and extraneous zipper pulls, etc from my stuff (I put it all in a plastic bag and weighed it – shaved almost 16 ounces off my load). Every clothing item served multiple purposes (socks were used as mittens on cold mornings; silk thermal shirt was a lovely outer post-walk garment that kept me warm as an under-layer and served as a sleep shirt too (it washes and dries like a dream and holds up better than other options). I did not bring anything that I couldn’t walk away without. I wanted to be in the moment and not spend time maintaining stuff and I did not want to ache from toting stuff or to worry about stuff gone missing. I also wanted to make do and improvise at times. I wanted to feel self-sufficient, but I also wanted to be able to need other people at times and by having less, sometimes I was forced to reach out and interact with others (having stuff can isolate a pilgrim – make them believe the illusion that any of us can make a pilgrimage and be a pilgrim by our own efforts…we really do need one another.) OK, just a few rambling thoughts…

- Ginn
In Sunny SC
- littleanne
  
  Hi Ginn . Loved your post. I might be doing the treck in sept oct this year
  ( 2013) . Looking forward to it and totally identified what you were saying in your post. Love Hiking for that reason.
- fallow
  
  Hi Ginn – I will be doing my first Camino in Sept this year (2013) and will remember your post when I do my packing/planning. Thanks.
http://twitter.com/mysticl mysticl

This post seriously made my day! Thanks for that, I needed a laugh … just reading your post alone helps give me permission to pack light … Thanks!
Kathy

Thanks for making me smile! I hope I can remember your lessons when I prep for my first Camino in May.(thinking of taking my iPad. Too much???)
- grace
  
  i took mine, and to be honest if you have an iphone that is so much smaller and lighter and it does everything anyway. i really resented taking it. though i was looking at the ipad mini with love because of its lightness and smallness …..
Grace

I brought my ipad, only used it for showing people photos. useless. will bring only my phone next time.
http://www.facebook.com/olya.volpe Olya Volpe

omg, made me laugh..
Justyna

Too much clothes!
Chris Yavelow

Hilarious! I particularly liked the part about the Ventolin; I have never had asthma, either.
Siena

Loved the post….I, for one, DO use Ventolin at home….and I had forgotten to include it in my packing list for this fall. LOL

What NOT to bring with you on the Camino de Santiago

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