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FWIW I was able to carry on my lightly packed Osprey kyte 46L on Iberia yesterday. They gate checked it —and a couple dozen other bags— for free for the Madrid-Pamplona leg.
If it is any consolation, the medieval pilgrimage to Compostela was just as commercialized, just as full of touregrinos and people who wanted a packaged "spiritual" experience on demand, as well as grifters and irritated locals, etc. as the modern one. And the camino does start at your front...
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