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Not a plan, more a daydream.

Stephen

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Twice walked from St Jean to Estella and once from Sarria to Santiago. Maybe someday I'll find the time to do the entire walk.
I've found the time. Just completed SJPP to Santiago. 25 Aug to 1st Oct, 2016.
And now the Portuguese from Lisbon.
For a summer camino what would be missing, if anything, from this packing plan?
Change of clothes
Towel and a bar of soap
Water bottle
Sleeping bag liner
Guide book
Small camera
Toothbrush and toothpaste
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Love your very basic list! However, just off the bat, I would add:
Hat
Sunscreen
Money belt
Bandana - great in the heat after dipping into some cool water to revive a wilting head and tying still wet around the neck. Just be sure to wash it a few times prior to your start, as the dye on these bandanas, I've found, is not fast, and a dripping bandana can make an awful mess of your clothes.
Oh, personally, I would add walking poles, and I assume you have a pack.
Buen Camino :)
 
How about changes of clothes? Sure you can wash clothes every evening, great way to meet people by the sink or out hanging out the laundry or developing scullery rash. Several pairs of socks and unmentionables, another shirt or two, a pair of shorts and a long pair of trousers all together won't add that much weight and will allow freedom from daily scrubbing. If you are at all electronic minded perhaps a phone and something that plays music or Kindle. Me? I prefer books and travel incognito and incommunicado sufacing according to my desire/need.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
Stephan, I believe that your post brings the point that we really do not need much for the Camino. Even less than your list when it comes down to it. We all do like some of the sweet things though like a cell phone. guide book, camera, more clothes, more shoes, more of other things as well. Good post I say!!!
 
For a summer camino what would be missing, if anything, from this packing plan?
Change of clothes
Towel and a bar of soap
Water bottle
Sleeping bag liner
Guide book
Small camera
Toothbrush and toothpaste

A beautiful list ;) I personally would add a hat, sunscreen, and lightweight sandals (the biggest relief for me is removing my walking shoes at the end of my day- and I have no desire to put them back on until the morning!)
 
A guide to speaking Spanish on the Camino - enrich your pilgrim experience.
Light fleece and sandals for the evening. Hat. Penknife for making sandwiches for lunch (and the corkscrew of course!)
 
Hi Stephen - make sure to include a pebble or stone from somewhere near your home that you can place with the millions of others at the Cruz de Ferro, just past Foncebadon.

John Brierley, author of one of the best known Camino guidebooks, says of the Cruz de Ferro, the highest point on the Camino :

" Such a humble monument to mark such a noble gateway. This majestic spot stands 1,504m above sea level and a simple iron cross stands atop its weathered pole that has become one of the abiding symbols of the pilgrim way of St James. Pause awhile to reconnect with the purpose of your journey before adding your stone or other token of love and blessing to the great pile that witnesses to our collective journeying."

The experience of being at the Cruz de Ferro is a profound one, and leaving a stone or pebble from your home, with your energy and thoughts in that stone or pebble, really completes the experience. It's a very special Camino tradition.

If your Camino is on one of the routes far from the Cruz, you could leave your pebble or stone on one of the countless cairns that you see. One of those cairns will feel 'right' to you.

It's a wonderful thing to know that a small stone that you brought from home will always remain on the Camino with your spirit contained within that stone, along with the small tokens of millions of other pilgrims who have in the past, and will in the future, place their own stones or pebbles.
 
Being currently involved in the interesting process of successively reducing my own packing list, I find the above plan both excellent and inspirational. Somehow, one can’t help but think of what a simple pilgrim might have been carrying on the Camino Primitivo in 1715. From that perspective, today’s rucksack suddenly gets much lighter. :)
 
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Hat and crocs! and if I'm being honest - hipflask..
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
And here was me thinking the rain in Spain fell mainly on the plain. ;)
 
Heeding all the good advice I’ve decided to look again at the contents of my pack. I’ll take a hooded Berghaus jacket to protect me from any rain. Another shirt and another pair of pants won’t weigh too much and mean, as has already been said, I won't need to be washing clothes every day.

I won’t take the camera, instead I’ll bring a cheap tablet, a Hudl, though that means I’ll need to take the charger for it.

In moments of doubt recently I also felt I might be carrying three unwanted stowaways in the rucksack, Cavafy’s Laistrygonians, Cyclops, wild Poseidon..., from his poem, Ithica. For me they took the form of What if’s? What if I’m no longer fit enough? What if I can’t find a bed? What if crowded albergues are too stressful?

The poet said you won’t meet them if you don’t bring them with you and on that basis I’ll go and see.
It's just over a month 'til the start of my pilgrimage and I'm counting the days.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Your original list had "change of clothes". You should instead think in terms of layers of clothes that you can mix and match, depending on conditions. Your total set of clothes should include:
  • walking pants and some type of alternative pants (you need to wear something when the walking pants are drying)
  • walking shirt and alternative shirt (at least one of which should be long sleeved)
  • rain protection for you and your back pack
  • change of socks and underwear
  • hat
  • lightweight shoes/sandals for evening.
Your personal supplies seem a bit limited. For example, you should at least take sunscreen, as well as first aid supplies and blister prevention/treatment supplies. Everything else will depend on your own needs and preferences.
 

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