Scary
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Plan to walk from Leon to Camino de Santiago in 2017 with a friend.
Hi ,
I walked from 1st-21st june from Leon to Santiago and from everything i had read on here, all the warnings and advice from Bugs to heavy packs, i must admit it wasnt what i expected.
I had a small 35L bag that weighed 15lbs this sounded heavy to me but day 2 and i no longer felt it, it wasnt the burden i expected it to be.
I stayed in hostels or albergues ranging from 5€ up to 30€ because some nights i got myself a single room just for a good nights sleep.
I woke up each morrning early with the scuffles but went back to sleep and set off each day at around 8am , i then walked 25km everyday for around 5-6 hours gently taking my time and savouring the moments, sometimes longer if i stayed too long for lunch somewhere, i would then walk into the next albergue or hostel around 3pm dump my bag have a rest and wait for the siesta to be over at 5-6pm then id either go to the local supermarket and buy salad, bread, or anything i could cook on a stove top and take it back to eat or id find a nice restaurant. Either way i was able to go to bed as early as i pleased, i found a lot of people crashing at 6pm but i was able to wander and look around and.crash at 9-10pm.
Not once did i have trouble finding a bed and not once did i have trouble with bugs etc everyone was very nice and welcoming.
I couldnt understand why people were getting up at 5am? I presumed they were walking a much longer distance than me but i thought sleep was important as well as the enjoyment of it , i didnt want to just walk, sleep, walk, sleep, it was the only vacation i was gonna get this year so i was gonna enjoy every bit and i was not on a mission to reach the end , that was not my focus , my focus was to enjoy each day as it came.
The things that i took that i found usefull were safety pins rather.than clothes pegs, i saw many struggle with pegs on a windy day with lau.dry falling off the lines, safety pins secured them better, and they also allowed me to dry my socks on my packpack.
I took a water bottle as many people obsessed about them but i didnt use it once and i lugged it about for 2 weeks full before deciding to ditch it, there were so many coffee shops along the way i didnt need it. My goose down sleeping bag was well used and warm, some of the bedding provided looked a little worse for wear and i was glad to have my own.
Bum bag or fanny pack i wore constantly, handy for pilgrim passport, wallet and camara, at night id take it off and put it in my sleeping bag with me.
Croc sandels, found these just before i left, a pair of sandals made by crocs and i wore them every day in an evening. Compeed, moleskin and nuderm dressings came in very handy, i only got 1 small blister on 1 foot on the bunion area, it filled up with fluid and i put on a dressing kept it covered couple of days later the fluid had reabsorbed on its own and the blister was on its way to healing without the need for needles and thread and risk of infection. I had trouble with the joints of my toes so wrapped them with moleskin tape , this certainly worked.
I took 3 tshirts but used only 2 one for bed one for day, 2 shorts but wore only one, washed and hung to dry at night.
3 socks well worn. Rain jacket unused.
Towel well used, swim suit that im glad i took as some of the albergues had pools. 1 long sleeved merino wool top which i wore to death if not on then round my waiste, the temperature drops quick. I took 1300€ and spent €300 a week on alberques and food and drinks, the part i enjoyed the most was arou d 5km before Sarria there is a pilgrims resting place where volunteers had set up fruit and refreshments and hammocks and chairs, it was in the middle of nowhere so it was wonderful to come across.
Then out of Sarria where everything is green , reminded me of the English countryside with its fields of sheep and cows and woodlands.
Not sure if this helps anyone, thought id share anyway.
I walked from 1st-21st june from Leon to Santiago and from everything i had read on here, all the warnings and advice from Bugs to heavy packs, i must admit it wasnt what i expected.
I had a small 35L bag that weighed 15lbs this sounded heavy to me but day 2 and i no longer felt it, it wasnt the burden i expected it to be.
I stayed in hostels or albergues ranging from 5€ up to 30€ because some nights i got myself a single room just for a good nights sleep.
I woke up each morrning early with the scuffles but went back to sleep and set off each day at around 8am , i then walked 25km everyday for around 5-6 hours gently taking my time and savouring the moments, sometimes longer if i stayed too long for lunch somewhere, i would then walk into the next albergue or hostel around 3pm dump my bag have a rest and wait for the siesta to be over at 5-6pm then id either go to the local supermarket and buy salad, bread, or anything i could cook on a stove top and take it back to eat or id find a nice restaurant. Either way i was able to go to bed as early as i pleased, i found a lot of people crashing at 6pm but i was able to wander and look around and.crash at 9-10pm.
Not once did i have trouble finding a bed and not once did i have trouble with bugs etc everyone was very nice and welcoming.
I couldnt understand why people were getting up at 5am? I presumed they were walking a much longer distance than me but i thought sleep was important as well as the enjoyment of it , i didnt want to just walk, sleep, walk, sleep, it was the only vacation i was gonna get this year so i was gonna enjoy every bit and i was not on a mission to reach the end , that was not my focus , my focus was to enjoy each day as it came.
The things that i took that i found usefull were safety pins rather.than clothes pegs, i saw many struggle with pegs on a windy day with lau.dry falling off the lines, safety pins secured them better, and they also allowed me to dry my socks on my packpack.
I took a water bottle as many people obsessed about them but i didnt use it once and i lugged it about for 2 weeks full before deciding to ditch it, there were so many coffee shops along the way i didnt need it. My goose down sleeping bag was well used and warm, some of the bedding provided looked a little worse for wear and i was glad to have my own.
Bum bag or fanny pack i wore constantly, handy for pilgrim passport, wallet and camara, at night id take it off and put it in my sleeping bag with me.
Croc sandels, found these just before i left, a pair of sandals made by crocs and i wore them every day in an evening. Compeed, moleskin and nuderm dressings came in very handy, i only got 1 small blister on 1 foot on the bunion area, it filled up with fluid and i put on a dressing kept it covered couple of days later the fluid had reabsorbed on its own and the blister was on its way to healing without the need for needles and thread and risk of infection. I had trouble with the joints of my toes so wrapped them with moleskin tape , this certainly worked.
I took 3 tshirts but used only 2 one for bed one for day, 2 shorts but wore only one, washed and hung to dry at night.
3 socks well worn. Rain jacket unused.
Towel well used, swim suit that im glad i took as some of the albergues had pools. 1 long sleeved merino wool top which i wore to death if not on then round my waiste, the temperature drops quick. I took 1300€ and spent €300 a week on alberques and food and drinks, the part i enjoyed the most was arou d 5km before Sarria there is a pilgrims resting place where volunteers had set up fruit and refreshments and hammocks and chairs, it was in the middle of nowhere so it was wonderful to come across.
Then out of Sarria where everything is green , reminded me of the English countryside with its fields of sheep and cows and woodlands.
Not sure if this helps anyone, thought id share anyway.