- Time of past OR future Camino
- First one in 2005 from Moissac, France.
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Thank you @David. This needs several emojis:Hi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
Noel Coward is now my earworm for the day16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
That is a very important tip. A lot of people assume that midday is the hottest time of the day. But midday on the clock is not actually midday in Spain. Spain is due south of the UK, yet it is in the same time zone as the rest of Europe. This is a throwback to Franco's time. They also have daylight saving so the clocks are one hour ahead. This means that Spain is actually 2 hours ahead of the sun and the meridian is at 2pm, not 12 noon. To put it another way, if you leave at 6 am, you have 8 hours, if not more, before the temperature reaches its maximum. If you think temperatures are starting to fall by 4 o'clock, think again.10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
Mad dogs spotted on the camino. Not so many EnglishmenNoel Coward is now my earworm for the day
Hi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
Not to mention that the temperature often continues to build after the time that the sun is highest in the skyThat is a very important tip. A lot of people assume that midday is the hottest time of the day
I was quite surprised on my recent Camino. Looking at the weather app, I would check the weather for the days ahead, and then for the next day, Hour by Hour. Based on that, I would determine my start time, and the time by which I really needed to finish for the day.Not to mention that the temperature often continues to build after the time that the sun is highest in the sky
David,Hi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
3 ltr water bladderHi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
@David You mention « camelling your body ». What does that mean? I am not familiar with that obviously British expression…does it have to do with water?
Let’s hope that this new term reaches The Oxford Dictionary. Thanks for those great tips, btw, as it’s much appreciated: it gives us all points to keep in mind. Really good points especially after one has spent months in the desert.Ah, I just invented the term!! As I wrote I wanted to get the image of really filling the body tissues, each cell, with water, so came up with "camelling the body" as camels really know how to store water.
David,
Thank you for the informative post; however, why did you exclude hiring four Spanish laborers to carry you in a sedan chair (with a top cover of course)?. Health always comes first, no? Plus, as you pass the peasant walkers who cannot afford a sedan chair, it gives a mighty boost to one's ego. And I might add, it boosts the local economy. A win-win scenario in my opinion. Chuck
You don't sound like a selfish person to me from your posts I've read over the years. I've also watched the interview/s @Robo has done with you; another little snippet into the person you are. No one will care if your first aid kit is possibly a little smaller this time around. I hope your plan turns into a reality for you.Would be a more 'selfish' one, still do first aid but do the Meseta again 'for me'
I just wanted to add that when I did walk in hot weather, which I now try to do like the plague, I drink a full liter of water before I begin in the morning. I was a pharmaceutical rep (I know it can be perceived as a dirty word and I did quit because of certain big pharma practices) the mention of the pancreas working too hard and not being able to produce enough natural insulin is very true and because of sedentary lifestyles and horrendous eating habits is the reason a vast number of the type 2 diabetics develop this preventable disease. I am sure you know this better than I. I am 69 years old and thankfully my A1C and blood sugar levels are good. Walking and doing the camino are great ways to ward off diabetes and a whole host of other morbidities. A camino is a great way to lower both blood sugar and A1C. Being 69 in my mind does kind of suck. I would much rather be 29 all things considered but it affords me the opportunity to walk when temps are much more temperate and tolerable (Late October/November/December).Hi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - if you can, give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
Love this thankyou. I think I may well be the 'tall, large, slow moving pilgrim'!Hi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - if you can, give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
Geez! I walk in August/September when it’s really hot and apart from #6 (and I don’t soak my hat), #8 and #14, apparently I’m doing everything wrong! I wonder why I’m still alive?
If you are planning on starting early in the morning, when it is still dark, consider attaching a reflector to your backpack to make it easier for you to be spotted by motorists. There is a lot of road walking on the Camino!
I think many people don’t know about @ Franco time in SpainThat is a very important tip. A lot of people assume that midday is the hottest time of the day. But midday on the clock is not actually midday in Spain. Spain is due south of the UK, yet it is in the same time zone as the rest of Europe. This is a throwback to Franco's time. They also have daylight saving so the clocks are one hour ahead. This means that Spain is actually 2 hours ahead of the sun and the meridian is at 2pm, not 12 noon. To put it another way, if you leave at 6 am, you have 8 hours, if not more, before the temperature reaches its maximum. If you think temperatures are starting to fall by 4 o'clock, think again.
True probably, but I have read "Guernica", and "The History if the Basques". Both were prompted by a friend and I found them both very interesting.I think many people don’t know about @ Franco time in Spain
1. Start early. It's nice and cool in the mornings.Hi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - if you can, give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
There are also yogic ‘cooling breath’ techniques which help lower the body temperature. They are quite straightforward to do just google cooling breath.Hi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - if you can, give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
If you look at the hour-by-hour predictions from IPMA (the Portuguese weather/environmental department), the hottest part of the day in central Portugal is inevitably 2-5 or so, not noon. Partly the built environment, I think. So much concrete and hardscape that it acts as a heat sink and radiates a lot of heat back in the later part of the day. Of course, not so bad on the greener parts of the caminos.Not to mention that the temperature often continues to build after the time that the sun is highest in the sky
For those in Canada and the US, pre-caminos, this from Lee Valley could help...I have a sort of cotton necktie filled with crystals which you soak in water and which really cools you as it dries. It lasted longer than just soaking a piece of material.
Trouble is, I haven’t a clue where I bought it.
For those in Canada and the US, pre-caminos, this from Lee Valley could help...
In response to:True probably, but I have read "Guernica", and "The History if the Basques". Both were prompted by a friend and I found them both very interesting.
I think many people don’t know about @ Franco time in Spain
My (now faint) recollection from my readings for Economic History, was the "black" stuff sent to Arabia et al by the English wool trade.I suspect the Bedouins know a thing or two about clothing for hot weather...
Excellent suggestions! I willHi - I posted a shortened version of this as a response on another thread and then thought it might make a good standalone topic.
Please do join in and add tips - it can be pretty hot out there, mad dogs and Englishman and all that ...
So - think dusty Meseta, 34+ degrees, the hot air shimmering into distant water mirages ...
1. Walk slow, really slow - no, really slow, and relaxed. Oh, and be cheerful, it really helps.
2. Shorten distances each day.
3. Start early.
4. Make your pack super-light or use a trailer (buy it before you go, obviously).
5. Wear loose clothes.
6. Wear a wide brimmed hat made of a material that can be soaked and soak it at every stream or fountain or tap, the evaporation as it dries will cool you..
7. Carry a long handled umbrella and use it as a parasol (not short handled, arm will really ache after a very short time).
8. Carry a bandanna or linen napkin with you and often wet it and run it over your skin, especially your head.
9. Hydrate of course but drinking copious amounts of water equals copious amounts of urinating and sweating which leaches out the electrolytes our bodies need, especially salt, so use electrolyte replacement sachets regularly. - If you aren't sweating and/or urinating you are dehydrated, if your sweat isn't salty you have salt/electrolyte problem. Use as much salt (lots) as you want at each meal. As a note; salt is not 'unhealthy' for you. Not enough and you will get ill and faint. Too much and the body will just excrete the excess and restore balance. In the Navy salt tablets were issued daily in the tropics and we could be fined a day's pay for not taking them.
10. Don't walk between 2 and 4pm (that is what siestas are for).
11. Drink before you walk in the morning (and the night before), camel your body.
12. Don't eat sugar in any form (especially designer 'trekking' bars!) as blood sugar levels will be raised and give you a boost but only for twenty minutes and then it will quickly drop to below it was before eating the sugar = exhaustion. Each time the body releases insulin to re-balance, a few years of this and the producing gland exhausts and doesn't work anymore and, Hey Presto! Type 2 diabetes.
13. Same goes for caffeine - if you can, give it up; highs and lows, energy and exhaustion - give it up - or! save it for 4pm and have a pot of tea - when we had the empire 4pm tea was what helped us survive in hot countries as it is a really strong (temporary) energising drug.
14. Don't eat a large lunch and don't drink alcohol at lunch.
15. If you don't have an umbrella find a large heavy tall slow moving pilgrim and walk on the shade side of them.
16. Have a servant pulling a cart behind you that carries a solar powered freezer with cold delights inside.
Buen Camino!
If you do feel compelled to help, perhaps you need to get some basic chemistry correct. Common salt is sodium chloride. Sodium hydroxide is otherwise known as caustic soda or lye. It is a major component of many oven cleaners, and definitely not recommended for human consumption!May I just add a point for possible discussion or else to stimulate one's own research, because I also feel compelled to aid my fellow humans. My point is that consuming plenty of salt, which is sodium hydroxide, mimics the act of drinking seawater.
Hmmm, I don't think that sea salt is rich in iodine, unless it has been added.When I speak of salt I speak of iodine rich sea salt and not the awful dead commonly packaged table salt
Hmmm, I don't think that sea salt is rich in iodine, unless it has been added.
Mayo Clinic Q and A: Sea salt and sufficient iodine intake - Mayo Clinic News Network
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I rarely use table salt anymore when cooking. Instead, I like to use sea salt. But I've noticed that a lot of sea salts don’t contain iodine. Do I need iodized salt, or are there sources of iodine other than salt that are likely giving me all of the iodine I need? […]newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org
Thank you very much I do apologize for my error and I'm quite embarrassed. Thank you again. I do intend only to help.If you do feel compelled to help, perhaps you need to get some basic chemistry correct. Common salt is sodium chloride. Sodium hydroxide is otherwise known as caustic soda or lye. It is a major component of many oven cleaners, and definitely not recommended for human consumption!
Some of them didn't!Wonder how all those pilgrims from previous centuries survived.........
Did the clips work as well as advertised? I tried using my own home made clip without much success.#7. I carry a short handled umbrella but use it in a hands free mode. I used these clips to hold it in place and they worked very well. https://www.backpackinglight.com.au/products/gossamer-gear-handsfree-umbrella-clip Previously I used a mix of velcro straps and elastic.
Jenny, I absolutely love ice water year around, even at home. On the Camino, I always asked for Coke Zero with "heilo" for my mid day drink and if it's a warm day, I drink vino blanco with my evening meal; I always still asked for ice. The server sometimes looked at me oddly, but would get a big fat ice cube and drop in my glass...bliss!Terrific thread, David - thanks for opening the discussion and to everyone for your posts - like, Like, LIKE for all the posts!
Last year I walked the VDLP and the Sanabres until just before Ourense, when a fall and a heel fracture prevented me from continuing. (Planning to finish the Sanabres next May) … I walked April-May from Seville and had some terribly hot days. I had the luxury of my hiking trailer Spot as my Camino companion (Spot was created by David - thank you again and again David!) and because of this I was able to carry four litres of water. When I could, I’d freeze one of the bottles full of water in the albergue fridge the night before and by the time I needed a cooling drink the bottle would have been sufficiently defrosted to provide around half a cup at least. At the same time I’d also drink from my other two litre bottle which I kept at room temperature. I know that drinking room temperature water is much better for your body as you assimilate it more quickly and easily but crikey that icy cold water was refreshing! And coupled with a banana at a mid-morning break, it was bliss.
Here’s my icy water bottle on a waymarker just before Granja de Moreuela - so refreshing!
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Cheers from Oz -
Jenny
You can try these clips made for hydration tubes.The clips you linked to are $14, but shipping is $54(!).... I'll see if there's an alternative on Amazon
They worked well. Prior to that I used velcro cable ties. Almost as good.Did the clips work as well as advertised? I tried using my own home made clip without much success.
The clips you linked to are $14, but shipping is $54(!).... I'll see if there's an alternative on Amazon.
Sorry to hear you had a fall. I walked the VDLP from Seville this year April- May and also sustained an injury ( knee fracture ) so had to stop in Zamora. It was heatwave weather in April which was unexpected and I’m glad I had a handsfree umbrella. Now I’m trying to decide whether to return and finish the Sanabrés next year in April ( possibly very cold and wet ) or June ( hot )Last year I walked the VDLP and the Sanabres until just before Ourense, when a fall and a heel fracture prevented me from continuing. (Planning to finish the Sanabres next May) … I walked April-May from Seville and had some terribly hot days.
Definitely return and finish the Sanbres BBG. As JennyH94 has noted above, it's an awesome experience. It was a bit cold in the early May mornings but usually turned into a fine and warm day. The mountain scenery is great and the solitude is there if you want it. Do it!Sorry to hear you had a fall. I walked the VDLP from Seville this year April- May and also sustained an injury ( knee fracture ) so had to stop in Zamora. It was heatwave weather in April which was unexpected and I’m glad I had a handsfree umbrella. Now I’m trying to decide whether to return and finish the Sanabrés next year in April ( possibly very cold and wet ) or June ( hot )
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