your MVP

[buena!]

What was your most valuable posession on your camino?

 

[Anonymous]

1) Swiss army knife
2) Napkin
3) Trekking pole

 

[Deleted member 397]

EAR PLUGS

 

[Trudy]

Agree with the above except the Swiss army knife. I still can't work out what you'd do with one. I thought about taking one, but instead took only a plastic knife, fork and spoon, to save on weight. And ended up using only the spoon, to eat yoghurt. Shops sell sliced salamis and cheese, or you buy small portions, so why the knife?

 

[spursfan]

ear plugs, easy winner

 

[Dawn of a new Day]

equipment

EAR PLUGS and WATERBladder ( instead of water bottle)

 

[Wannes]

my big trusty Opinel Knife & lightweight sleeping bag

 

[William Marques]

Ear plugs, pillowcase and tiny torch.

 

[Anonymous]

Trudy - sliced sausage and small cheese packs horrendously expensive compared to buying big chunks. I carried a whole sausage as well as good hunks of local cheese - so knife blade handy! Sometimes bought pasta and a tin of pasta sauce before getting to refuge - boil pasta, add sauce, fine in some cheese and sausage - Voila! Rien de plus Simple!! Except that not always a tin opener - but there's one on the knife, also a toothpick, and tweezers for splinters, and carried thread and needle - scissors handy here, plus nails, beard trimming. In showers, loose fittings - two screwdrivewrs on my Swiss army knife - fab for tightening them! - we are talking LOW budget here - very handy tool and not much weight.

EErrmmm .. will think of more ...

 

[Ulysse]

Really, besides my walking partner Liv from Norway and my cousin Stéphane the most priced item was my Camel pack. Always full of fresh water it was a real companion.

 

[jbgreer]

Agree with the above except the Swiss army knife. I still can't work out what you'd do with one. I thought about taking one, but instead took only a plastic knife, fork and spoon, to save on weight. And ended up using only the spoon, to eat yoghurt. Shops sell sliced salamis and cheese, or you buy small portions, so why the knife?

I bought a very small Swiss army knife in Astorga chiefly to have a pair of scissors handy, which I used to cut bandages.

jbgreer

 

[paulmack]

ear plugs
sun hat
lightweight sleeping bag

 

[Michelle]

A Spanish/ English dictionary.

 

[Anonymous]

Crikey! things you forget!
Sunhat! Definitely (and sunglasses)
Ear plugs! how could I not remember that?!

Dictionary? Should have done but I seem to have a block about learning Spanish and I really don't know why - seemed to get by on a mixture of English (almost worthless), French (not too bad but they haven't forgotten Napoleon - OR Roland!) and my 50 words of German (surprisingly handy) and relying on God to provide a linguist three minutes into me being really stuck and in a stunningly silly pantomime pose!

 

[lynnejohn]

EAR PLUGS (obvious reasons)
Sarong (again, obvious)

 

[rolf]

Ear plugs, of course.
But also my notebook and the very basic weatherproof camera - still 5 years after my first camino I have the odd weak moment when I pull out the pictures and my diary, get a glass of Rioja, and just indulge in my memories.

 

[spursfan]

to add to my previous suggestion of ear plugs - compeed blister plasters, vaseline and a handful of clothes pegs

 

[Anonymous]

Yes! and a length of polypropolene cord to make the drying line for the pegs (get the sort of pegs that grip on small - narrow?) lines.

 

[buena!]

these earplugs that are so near and dear to everyone... i am wondering if they are the cheap spongy tube kind from a drugstore or something special. i tried the former, the cheapies, for a night while home and the moist sticky exterior I found was more disturbing than any noise. do you get used to it? is the noise that bad? (i am an excellent sound sleeper). or, or perhaps do i just need to try another kind?

 

[Deleted member 397]

My ear plugs were the cheap spongy ones that you compress between your fingers then put in your ears where they, theoretically, expand. I found them invaluable-although not foolproof as sometimes one fell out. But to steal a slogan-I'd never leave home without them.

 

[Anonymous]

Agreed - although I must admit that I was nearly always the main reason people wore them!

 

[summer2005]

Ear plugs are definitely number one. The foam ones work fine. There are some virtuoso snorers on the Camino. I stored my earplugs with my passport in a bag I never let out of my sight.

Safety pins are great for hanging laundry to dry, and weigh less than clothes pins.

If you can stand it, a bandanna makes the best towel. It takes up almost no space, dries quickly, and you can use it as a hat in a pinch.

I'm a camelback fan, but that's a personal preference.

I'll agree with the Swiss Army Knife. I bought one in St. Jean. It was handy for slicing sausage.

I'd also recommend a paperback book of some sort. I tried to get by without one, but picked one up within a week.

As far as blisters are concerned, I got by with just first aid tape and some antibiotic ointment. I found that the tape stayed in place better than most of the fancy bandages.

I'd also recommend diaper cream. Yes, the kind they make for babies. It's good for heat rash caused by socks, and for all sorts of other skin trouble.