Mark Greenwood
Mark
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2024
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How much water to carry depends on time of year, daily weather and how many possible refill options you have along your route that day.Hi just a few weeks to go now, and my bag is more or less packed.
I've decided not to take a water bladder, but to use bottles instead.
So my question is, bearing in mind that a litre of water is a kilogram in weight plus its container. How much water do you experienced pilgrims carry and in what sized bottles?
Also do you include the weight of your water in your pack weight. Obviously it's reducing periodically as you walk?
Thank you, and Buen Camino.
I do exactly what David does. I buy water when I arrive and use those plastic bottles, replacing when they get ugly. The only route I've used or needed a bladder on was the VDLP in the summer. Otherwise, along the other routes I've walked, the stages are short enough and there is water in every village, especially on the Camino Frances.Hi just a few weeks to go now, and my bag is more or less packed.
I've decided not to take a water bladder, but to use bottles instead.
So my question is, bearing in mind that a litre of water is a kilogram in weight plus its container. How much water do you experienced pilgrims carry and in what sized bottles?
Also do you include the weight of your water in your pack weight. Obviously it's reducing periodically as you walk?
Thank you, and Buen Camino.
Thanks for the positive comment about a water bladder. I don’t have great flexibility in my shoulders and have a hard time getting the bottles out of the side pockets and really don’t want to clip one in front. I switched to a bladder a couple of years ago and found I drink more. I do carry a small empty bottle with me for plane rides and that sounds like a good option to hang onto since I’m an electrolyte drinker too. Will be on the hunt for the perfect flip top size! Appreciate the affirmation that everyone’s choices need to be personal.On the frances there were so many fountains and places to refill a couple of 500ml supermarket bottles of water would do.
For me, if it's hot and sunny I drink a lot of water.. I've a 3l water bladder i usually fill halfway or more plus a supermarket 500ml bottle stowed in the side pocket of my backpack (sometimes i add a sachet of electrolyte powder)
I walk with a bladder, and a 250ml 'emergency' bottle in case my bladder runs dry. ( the only issue with bladders is you have no way of monitoring levels unless you take them out).Hi just a few weeks to go now, and my bag is more or less packed.
I've decided not to take a water bladder, but to use bottles instead.
So my question is, bearing in mind that a litre of water is a kilogram in weight plus its container. How much water do you experienced pilgrims carry and in what sized bottles?
Also do you include the weight of your water in your pack weight. Obviously it's reducing periodically as you walk?
Thank you, and Buen Camino.
I have done the CF 7 times over 3 seasons, plus a few other Caminos. I carry two 1/2 liter cheap water bottles for daily use, plus another empty one crushed up in my pack for occasional use on long dry stretches or to fill with wine, orujo, or juice. I always leave town with at least one full bottle, usually two. I drink profuse amounts of water before starting in the morning and as I walk, so even if my water suddenly disappeared, I could continue 4 hours before resupply. Fortunately, I have only run out of water on 2 occasions, but was able to resupply within an hour. This happened on Camino Ingles last year when numerous municipal water supplies became contaminated, and they shut off the public fountains---and it being Sunday morning, I found nothing open until noon.Hi just a few weeks to go now, and my bag is more or less packed.
I've decided not to take a water bladder, but to use bottles instead.
So my question is, bearing in mind that a litre of water is a kilogram in weight plus its container. How much water do you experienced pilgrims carry and in what sized bottles?
Also do you include the weight of your water in your pack weight. Obviously it's reducing periodically as you walk?
Thank you, and Buen Camino.
Sorry to hear about the heat injury. Happened to me, too, but not on the Camino. It's real and it's dangerous. Actually it wasnt so much about the heat per se or not drinking enough, it was the D%#* sun!!!! I can totally relate to taking "advantage of a sliver of shade".All dependant on weather, season and distance to water points. This winter I carried a 333 ml bottle and never drank it all during the day's walk. It was cold and rainy. Lots of water points shut off for the winter.
Summer I carried up to 750 ml for walking on the same stretch. Plenty of water points and I could refill regularly. I always note when there won't be water points the day before and buy a extra bottle or two for those longer summer stretches.
We were caught out two summers ago when I was carrying all the water and CPAP machines and medications for both or us on the Aragones and we had sent Phil's pack ahead. I wasn't drinking enough and it was very hot and I had a heat injury that day which ended our Camino walking for the trip. Know your water points and take the heat onto account.
I wasn't drinking enough because it is a pain to take all my gear off and go to the bathroom in the weeds and I let Phil drink most of the water so I didnt have to carry it. Looking back now, it seemes a little silly, but it was not fun or funny then lying on my pack in a ditch full of stickery weeds and trash trying to take advantage of a sliver of shade cast by a cemetery wall. Phil wanted to call the Guardia Civil although he settled for a taxi driver (who probably saved me from further harm.) Thankfully, I did not join the cemetery crowd that day.
Hi just a few weeks to go now, and my bag is more or less packed.
I've decided not to take a water bladder, but to use bottles instead.
So my question is, bearing in mind that a litre of water is a kilogram in weight plus its container. How much water do you experienced pilgrims carry and in what sized bottles?
Also do you include the weight of your water in your pack weight. Obviously it's reducing periodically as you walk?
Thank you, and Buen Camino.
It really depends on where you are walking and what time of the year. I had only two bottles of 500ml on Camino del Norte in June 2017, Via Tolosana in April/May 2022 and Via de la Plata March/April 2023. What I did was drink enough before I left the village, so I did carry the water inside me and the one liter in the bottles. But I was lucky and it was never too hot.
Personally I buy large plastic bottles ice cold water from cafes etc along the way I don't drink from wells as I have had stomach problems in the past few times nearly always plenty of options each day to replenish new bottles.always make sure by research what is your longest distance between points with nothing in between and have enough water with you.but sometimes a catering van pops up out of nowhere and gives you a delightful surprise.Good question. I wait until I get there and then buy 2 x 750 ml clear plastic bottles from a supermarket which I refill. Ideal size for me and prefer them to 1 litre bottles.
I also drink until full before stepping out.
Re pack weight and lists - people often leave out water, snacks, emergency food supplies, etc - so they tend to be unreal. It is fully loaded that you will carry that counts. I saw one list recently that was said to be 3.5 kilos in total .. but ... light pack of 1 kilo, two litres of water - well that is 3 kilos already!
. I don't use any of those inspector gadget looking setups with fish aquarium tubing criss-crossing about my body and pack, looking like the alien in that old movie Predator.
No. Pack weight excludes water and food.Also do you include the weight of your water in your pack weight.
Personally, I no longer use plastic water bottles, especially the single use type. Not only are they very bad for the environment when discarded, it now appears that they could shed microplastics into the water, and therefore into you! Stainless steel is a bit heavier and more expensive, but a much healthier alternative.
As far as size, a couple of 750ml bottles should be fine in most cases.
100% agree with Bob. The world wd be a better place without plastic bottles. I use Decathlon aluminum bottles which are amazingly good value.Personally, I no longer use plastic water bottles, especially the single use type. Not only are they very bad for the environment when discarded, it now appears that they could shed microplastics into the water, and therefore into you! Stainless steel is a bit heavier and more expensive, but a much healthier alternative.
As far as size, a couple of 750ml bottles should be fine in most cases.
100% agree with Bob. The world wd be a better place without plastic bottles. I use Decathlon aluminum bottles which are amazingly good value.
Plastic bottles are the problem. The filling, the transport, the storage, the disposal/recycling are all a poor use of our resources here on earth. Have you not seen the massive floating islands of plastic in our oceans, the amount of plastic in fish, and the amount we are ingesting into our bodies from plastic bottles? I use a glass at home and my metal bottles are used for a few weeks a year. Those plastic bottles from the store are the cheapest plastic and not made for re-use at all. Look up how many water bottles are actually re-cycled and what does that cost in resources?
I do not know any restaurant that would use aluminum pans. They are not good for cooking.
it now appears that they could shed microplastics into the water, and therefore into you!
It is true that plastic bottles leak tiny particles into the body, especially the cheaper ones, but so does aluminium - stainless steel is the best way to go I think.
Buy a bottle of water when you set off and use that bottle. Refill it as required. There are plenty of water fountains etc. if you see a sign on a water fountain that says “no potable” then the water is not really for drinking. If the bottle gets damaged, buy another bottle of water and repeat. Re weight, I wish I’d heard of the following, earlier…….Many Pilgrims, myself included, initially, get consumed with the weight issue. Rather than trying to lose a few grams or so here and there with what goes in your backpack or not, go on a diet for a week or so before you leave for Camino and shed a pound or two instead of overthinking the grams issue. Your legs will then be carrying less weight to start with, you’ll walk yourself Camino fit in about 6 days and then you can make constructive decisions about what you actually need in your backpack. Buen Camino.Hi just a few weeks to go now, and my bag is more or less packed.
I've decided not to take a water bladder, but to use bottles instead.
So my question is, bearing in mind that a litre of water is a kilogram in weight plus its container. How much water do you experienced pilgrims carry and in what sized bottles?
Also do you include the weight of your water in your pack weight. Obviously it's reducing periodically as you walk?
Thank you, and Buen Camino.
Love this idea! I knew silver did not carry bacteria which is why nurses belt buckles used to be silver but did not know that it actually killed bacteria.Re water containers - bottles, bladders ... we are out there for weeks in often hot and sweaty conditions ... and it is fairly easy to turn our water containers into Petrie dishes.
The American cowboys kept a silver dollar in their water canteens to keep the water and container pure.
Silver is antibacterial - some more expensive plaster dressings contain it on the medicated pad -
so .. maybe we should adopt this? A coin of pure silver in each container?
In the UK any silver coin before 1922 was pure silver (then 50% silver, then cupro-nickel) - should be easy enough to find a pure silver coin in any country .. Ebay beckons!
Just a thought.
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