MXB:
Potable water is commonly available on most of the
Camino Frances every few kilometers or so. The primary stretch where having more water is a good idea is on the Meseta portion, from Burgos to Leon. Available fuentes (fountains), cafes and other services are fewer and farther between.
On my first Camino last year, I used an Osprey Kestrel 48 liter pack. When I purchased it, I also bought the 2-liter Osprey water bladder. I even trained with it a couple of times. It worked well enough, and as advertised.
As I was training, I continued to search for the "best" water carry solution for me. When I read this forum, searching for "water bottle" I found that a very large tranche of people indicated a very strong preference for using plain plastic / PET bottled water bottles in sizes ranging from .5 liter to 1.5 miler as the "ideal" Camino water bottle. The typical method of carrying said bottle(s) was either in mesh side packets on a rucksack or somehow attached to their rucksack sideways - for the larger bottles.
All of my research gradually led me to the realization and finding that the Osprey bladder weighed 11 ounces / 312 gms when empty and nearly five-pounds / 2.3 kg when full to the brim. One .5 liter water bottle (Vittel) weighs 0.6 ounces / 17 gms empty, or 2.4 ounces / 68 gms for 4 empty bottles. This alone saved nearly nine ounces / 244 gms in empty container weight.
One thing you learn (or should learn early) is that ounces and grams quickly add up to pounds and kilograms. And carrying one pound less can actually be felt. So when planning and buying for a Camino, shave every ounce or gram that you can reasonably do so.
Another thing I learned my first day out on the Camino is that carrying weight, especially water, on the FRONT of your rucksack harness is a brilliant thing. I was taught this lesson by a group of New Zealand folks who wore rucksacks made by AARN (
www.aarnpacks.com). These rucksacks have a special shoulder and chest harness that holds two, accessory "chest packs." AARN call them "balance pockets."
Each chest pack is conformable to one's figure (note ladies) and has a stretchy pouch holding at least a liter of anything. They carried their water bottles there. The simply brilliant result is that, by shifting - say 2 kg / 2 liters of water from the back to the front, they shifted their center of gravity. Doing this allowed them to walk more upright. This provided increased stability when climbing up and walking down hills and resulted in less back and shoulder strain.
I spoke to everyone I saw with these rucksacks along the way and they all loved them. This is where I note that there distribution network is strongest in New Zealand and Australia, and the packs are very expensive. They DO have a US web site. I am uncertain what their European network is like.
I any event, among the findings I made before leaving home was that the empty Osprey bladder was not worth the weight, in view of the small PET bottle comparison, above. So, I sterilized it stored it, and recently gave it away.
Eventually, shortly before leaving on my Camino last year, I happened to see and buy four of these:
http://www.niteize.com/product/Drink-N-Clip.asp I recall they cost about USD 3.95 each. They are available online. I found that my local shops prefer to spend the more profitable, but heavier when empty plastic or metal water bottles.
I continue to feel (personal opinion here) that the ubiquitous PET water bottles available everywhere make the ideal water bottle for the Camino. They are lightweight when empty, reusable, recyclable, you do not have to clean them other than a daily rinse, and they are easily replaced at nil cost. Conversely, a bladder MAY be more effort than it is worth. But that is an individual decision.
Some folks even consider using empty PET bottles with a long plastic straw from a mesh side pocket instead of the bladder. These straw systems are cheap and available at Amazon in the US and UK. See these links:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GM6LWS/?tag=casaivar02-20
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Desert...arTube - the drinking system for Sigg Bottles
So, on balance (no pun intended) I am leaning again towards using the Nite Ize Drink-n-Clips to use more bottles containing more water, but arrayed on the front of my torso to counter-balance the rucksack weight.
There is no right solution or one way to sort this out. But the correct way for you is the one that works best given your waking style, weight carrying ability and need for hydration. Everyone is different. Suffice it to say that there are a load of alternative solutions out there.
I hope this helps.
