telling the time...

[venetia]

Hello,

i've just realised i don't wear a watch and usually check the time on my mobile which i won't be using on the camino. Is it important to know the time- do most people have watches. Silly not to have thought of it before but do people have alarms in the morning, because surely that would wake the whole room or do they just wake when they do?
Would love some feedback as i leave on Thursday.

Venetia

 

[spursfan]

I wore a watch (and presume most people did) but thankfully didn't hear any alarms - if I woke I tended to look at my watch and see how close to 6.30 it was

 

[venetia]

thanks- will get one!

 

[marktqm]

For the love of God, Venetia, please don't even consider the idea of bringing an alarm clock, even the one with the tiniest beep! As sure as the sun rises every day, you be awakened by the plastic bag brigade at the appointed time at dawn.

;-)

Mark

 

[Janeh]

I have bought a watch especially for the camino as I too don't normally wear one. My watch has an alarm which I will use ONLY if I sleep in a private hotel, I figure it will be so quiet with no bag rustlers to wake me that I might end up over sleeping! Being terrible at a sense of direction, my watch also has a tiny compass attached - I reckon as long as I head west I shouldnt get too lost.

 

[Cyd]

ditto for me on not wearing a watch and part of me really doesn't want to know what time it is when I am doing the Camino (May next year).

But...I can see the benefits of a watch to ensure that the destination you thought you were going to walk to that day is actually do-able in the time you have. As I plan to walk alone I don't want to be walking in the dark.

I'm considering getting a watch/compass combo - I would love one with a pedometer also but I don't think they exist. Anyone had any experience with these?

cheers
Cyd

 

[KiwiNomad06]

my watch also has a tiny compass attached - I reckon as long as I head west I shouldnt get too lost.

Jane.... I happened to be looking at compasses in a shop this afternoon. One thing the salesman said that I wasn't aware of.... some compasses are set only for the southern hemisphere. There was a super dooper expensive one that was suitable in both.
Margaret

 

[Janeh]

thanks for that Margaret - I wasn't aware either! Luckily I bought my watch over the internet from REI who are in Canada so hopefully it will work there.
However, I just looked at my watch and it is pointing correctly to the north. you sure the guy wasn't having a joke at your expense? :? Surely true north is true north wherever you are. There is only one north pole after all. Now I am really confused!
I will ask someone about it I think. The more I think about it the more I'm convinced it can't be true.........perhaps someone else on here knows the answer.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

No honest... I was talking to a salesman I really respect for his knowledge, an older man, who has sold me such things as the Bridgedale socks I love. I mix up left and right myself and have always relied on someone else's compass skills in tricky situations! But I thought I had better acquire some basic compass-map skills myself. The salesman said it was to do with a change in the magnetic field between hemispheres, but I am such a directional nerd I didn't really grasp what he was talking about. I have heard that water spirals down sink holes in opposite directions in each hemisphere.... but have never been standing straddling the equator to try it out!!!

Addendum:- thanks to dear old Google!
""For a compass to work properly, the compass needle must be free to rotate and align with the magnetic field. The difference between compasses designed to work in the northern and southern hemispheres is simply the location of the "balance", a weight placed on the needle to ensure it remains in a horizontal plane and hence free to rotate. In the northern hemisphere, the magnetic field dips down into the Earth so the compass needle has a weight on the south end of the needle to keep the needle in the horizontal plane. In the southern hemisphere, the weight needs to be on the north end of the needle. If you did not change the weight, the needle would not rotate freely, and hence would not work properly. "

You can get ones that work in both hemispheres (balanced) or just buy one in the hemisphere you intend to use it "
From: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=254162

Still can't work out from this forum how crucial the difference is though.....

 

[venetia]

Don't worry- i would never subject everyone to a morning alarm call- just checking!

 

[marktqm]

True north is different from the earth's magnetic north, if this helps in making things little bit more confusing. ;-)

Now that the discussion has moved onto compasses, let me state the opinion that it isn't needed and I've never seen one using it on the Road. It is only added weight. Follow the arrows and the well worn path. The sun will almost always be on your left side. The Camino Frances isn't uncharted wilderness.

 

[Georg]

I had a watch with me but it was in my backpack nearly all the time. It is part of the camino that you normally do not need to know the exact time.
You can carry a compass with you, but it will be only a gimmick you will nearly never use-it is nearly impossible to miss the camino, and if you do, you can normally ask someone.
There is a different between the geographic northpole and the magnetic pole:
The geographic pole is in the middle of the arctis and is the pole maps, as far as I know, are normally directed at ( so it's the "true" pole).
The magnetic pole is somewhere in northern Canada and moves a little bit every year. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Magnetic_Pole). Compasses point to this pole, as far as I know, but I think in Southern Europe this is not important, because it makes only a few degrees difference.

 

[peskywabbit]

I wore my trusty Timex Expedition watch during both walks. Now the strap is dark and sweat-stained. I only paid attention to my watch whenever I noticed my shadow shortening to less than a foot... which meant it was close to noon... which meant it must be close to lunchtime... which meant I should consider taking an extended break so I could look for something yummy to eat!

I did bring a small lightweight compass.... only top lose it somewhere along the Camino. Turned out I didn't need it, and it would have remained at the bottom of my pack anyway.

 

[Joseph Chan]

Being over 67 years old we carried walking aid such as walking sticks, mobile phone with alarm facilities, watch, USB flash memory, Sanyo Xacti Video, and other contraptions not available in St James's days. We had no qualms in using these modern aids although we are luddites.

I note the comments that although a mobile phone is carried it will not be used. I think to each his own, but there is a pervading feeling of the need for deprivation and physical and mental suffering for the Camino to amount to anything. Let us be more tolerant, and aim for a harmonious Walk.

Buen Camino

Grandpa Joe

 

[lynnejohn]

Coming from the New World, I could not, alas, bring my Blackberry with me unless I planned to win the lottery to pay my wireless bill(even with switching my SIM card!). I rented a Spanish phone, and very seldom used the phone mode, but used the text mode a great deal to keep in touch with folks on and off the camino. Very useful, very economical and not intrusive. (And also to tell the time!!).

Peace.

lynne

 

[marktqm]

My daily text messages home kept my folks sane while I was gone; they wanted to know where I was and where I planned to go each day. I'm sure other pilgrims did the same thing.

The only time I used my mobile phone, as a phone, was to call my Mom on Mothers' Day.

Mark

 

[Ulysse]

Lynne

I had my Rogers GSM phone (Motorola) that I use around the world. In a month it cost me $6.95 to connect to Spain networks, about $2.00 for a 5-6 minutes talk daily and $0 for dozens of SMS that I sent and received with another person that I knew and who was on the camino with me a day or so behind.

Hardly a huge expense for keeping my family in peace.

 

[peskywabbit]

My daily text messages home kept my folks sane while I was gone; they wanted to know where I was and where I planned to go each day. I'm sure other pilgrims did the same thing.

The only time I used my mobile phone, as a phone, was to call my Mom on Mothers' Day.

Mark

LOL, I did the same thing and racked up quite a bill. My dad kept track of our progress by asking each day: "How many more kms to go?"