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  1. Older Guy

    Shower footwear

    Yes, you need shower footwear. Your feet are critically important to your ability to move you along the Camino. Up until college, I never wore shower foot wear in gym and got some horrible athelets foot infections. Now when I work out in the gym or did the Camino, I take cheap flip flops...
  2. Older Guy

    hiking shoe - hallux rigidus

    Might as well as add a few more lacing tutorials. http://www.footpainreliefstore.com/library/lacing.htm https://www.aofas.org/footcaremd/how-to/footwear/Pages/Lacing-Techniques-for-Proper-Shoe-Fit.aspx https://www.verywell.com/lace-your-shoes-to-fit-right-3436348 The point is that a lot can...
  3. Older Guy

    hiking shoe - hallux rigidus

    I might as well contribute to thread drift. Once one gets a set of boots that sort of fit, there is a lot one can do to customize the fit through the art of lacing! I learned all about lacing from doing long distance running and then mountain climbing. Let's start with the bible on lacing...
  4. Older Guy

    Late October Camino Portugues, No Sleeping Bag?

    I do some glacier mountaineering and have pretty much totally given up on a sleeping bag even for that. Let me explain. I know a mountaineer who is into ultra-light climbing trips. He told me that the best thing to take with you is a set of down or synthetic puffed insulated belay pants and...
  5. Older Guy

    Is carrying your own backpack a thing of the past?

    Personally, I saw pilgrims on horseback, and a mule cart on my Camino. I met a pilgrim who suffered a hernia early on and shipped his backpack ahead each day as it was just too much for him. I think they all had full Camino's. Did I opt for the bag forwarding service on the climb to...
  6. Older Guy

    The ultimate pocketknife to take on the camino

    No offense to your Swiss heritage, but I purchased a "knock-off" in Pamplona at a Pilgrim store that had a beautiful wooden handle into which was engraved Camino Santiago and a shell with arrow. It is one of my keepsakes from my Camino. The most useful portions were the knife, corkscrew, awl...
  7. Older Guy

    Advice On Sleeping Bag Alternative Please

    On my May 2016 Camino, I did not take a sleeping bag. What I took was an ultra light mountaineering bivy sack, and a set of mountaineering puffy insulated belay pants. The Belay pants were great. Warm ultra compact, extreme light weight, etc. I have done glacier mountaineering and rock...
  8. Older Guy

    Is a laptop a good idea?

    WiFi is available just about everywhere, including inexpensive dorm lodging. I would suggest though that you will probably be tired enough that except on rest days you won't have enough time to do much of any computer work except a few emails and a little social media. I took a "netbook...
  9. Older Guy

    The electric coil changed my life on the Camino!

    As someone who has done a lot of backpacking and mountaineering, fire and having something hot to eat/drink is a critical survival skill. On my biking Camino earlier this year, I took an Esbit survival stove and fuel tablets along with a metallic cup, and some instant soup mix. Had I broken...
  10. Older Guy

    Sleeping Bag

    You will be fine even if you don't have a bag. Get some thermal underwear bottoms, it is inside camping, you are not going to be sleeping on a glacier. If worse comes to worse, you could put on a couple of pair of pants and put extra insulation over yourself in bed and crawl into your silk...
  11. Older Guy

    Sleeping Bag

    I think there are better options than a sleeping bag. When I was assembling my ultralightweight Mountaineering gear for glacier mountain climbing around 2010, I spent some time with a local climbing legend. He told me it had been about 5 years since he last took his winter weight down UL...
  12. Older Guy

    Running Tights & Leggings

    I am a guy, but I will give you my two cents. I use a certain brand of running tights for running, for skiing, for mountain climbing, for hiking and for bicycling. I used them on my Camino. CW-X stability tights are modern outdoor engineered clothing at its best. The provide built in...
  13. Older Guy

    1 Week to go. SHOE FEARS

    +1 on trying different insoles. Also it amazes me that so many people know so little about lacing shoes and how that changes the shoe/foot contact. I have running shoes and hiking boots that have a variety of shoe lacing styles as the shoes are cut differently. Also my full out endurance...
  14. Older Guy

    The dreaded socks

    Might as well add my 2 cents, since there will be no agreement. I like to wear running socks (the high tech kind that have a left foot and a right foot) for running, hiking and biking. I also adjust shoes/boots after wearing them a while to make sure no pressure spots. I further change my...
  15. Older Guy

    Compression socks

    My 2 cents. I am a big fan of CW-X Stability tights. I own two pair and used them for everything from skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, running, and biking. I also have some compression shirts that help as well. One of the things that compression shirts and tights do that socks don't is...
  16. Older Guy

    Pants or Shorts in Late May and June??

    Pants! I can't tell you the number of ultra red sun-burns I saw on the first couple days of my Camino, and the number of cold wet wind blown on the remaining days.
  17. Older Guy

    Footwear on a May CP

    My suggestion is that most orthotics are trial and error and you don't have much time for errors. You really need to know what it is about your feet that you are trying to take care of with orthotics. If you are sure that your only problem is high arch then get a high arch orthotic. If you...
  18. Older Guy

    Rain pants in May

    My perspective is that rain pants are not really that great. Good quality gaiters keep your boots dry. Dry them out at night, stuff newspaper in them if they need to get wicked out of moisture. If you want something to keep your legs warm, rain pants are not your friend. Maybe for wind, but...
  19. Older Guy

    Rain pants in May

    Gaiters might be a better option if it is only your boots you are concerned about.
  20. Older Guy

    Last minute footwear dilemma!

    If you haven't, then you probably have not done recent extreme athletic stuff in a while. There is so much great high-tech sports gear out there that can really improve performance. Really good socks, compression tights, and compression shirts can make a world of difference. In love my...

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