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Camino: Things I found useful / Tips
I want to share some of the things I found useful or not during my journey. This includes items I took with me.
Rucksack
I kept my rucksack as small as possible - only 25 litres
My friend commented that with a bigger rucksack, you will only fill it and have to carry it. Many times on our journey, people assumed it was a day pack and that we had support transporting our main pack. No. This was it. As it was July and August when we travelled, we did not have a sleeping bag, nor heavy duty rain coat or trousers, so this reduced what we needed to carry. |
Documents / Money
| Bum Bag: I kept any thing of value: passport, return flight tickets, money bank cards etc in a bum bag (as it was 2005, I didn't have a mobile phone at this time). The documents were in a zip sealed polythene bag to keep them dry. When I was near shops or cafes etc, I wore the bag. When I was walking it was tucking into the top of the rucksack. When ever I needed to put my rucksack down eg to go into a shop, I could quickly grab the bum bag, without spending ages searching for money / documents in various places in the rucksack. I was also able to take it into the shower room with me, wear it a night or have it under my pillow. It never left me. |
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Toiletries:
Soap: Rather than taking separate bottles of shampoo, body wash /shower gel and also a bottle of laundry wash liquid. I opted to take a bar of soap, which I used
for my body and for my clothes washing. I did take a small (50ml) travel bottle of shampoo. During the journey, I joined with my friend and purchased a small bottle of shampoo to top up my little travel bottle. Leaving the spare at a albergue as a donation for the next person.
This saved my about 300 grams in weight |
| Towel: I started off with a hiking microfibre towel, purchased from my local hiking supply shop. It was small and I thought perfect. However, I found it was useless and did not dry me or even take the moisture off me after taking a shower. After a couple of weeks struggling with it, I came across a little shop selling general towels. I purchase a hand towel, approximate 30 cm X 50 cm and left the microfibre towel in a donation area of an albergue. The small hand towel served me well. It was just large enough to dry me, without being excessively large of weighty. |
| Comb: I have short hair, so opted to take a small comb, rather than a hairbrush. Had I taken a hairbrush I would have opted for one as small as possible. It would do the job and take up only a small amount of room in the rucksack. I did have a funny experience as I lost the comb. I asked a young supermarket assistant, in my best Spanish, "where were the combs". Poor girl was rolling around in laughter, as I tried to explain what I required, with arm / hand actions. Eventually discovering I had actually been asking her "where are the penises". |
Miscellaneous things I took with me.
Safety Pins: I took about 10 large safety pins, (nappy pins). I used these as pegs for my wet clothes and also repairs on my rucksack and clothes. Also to hold my shorts up, towards the end of the journey after I had lost a lot of weight. Safety pins are more versatile and take up less space than clothes pegs. |
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| Small penknife with little scissors: As light weight as I could find. It had a small blade (useful for cutting fruit / cheese etc). A small pair of scissors and a nail file |
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| String: About 5 metres of string: We used this frequently when we stayed in small hotels. We could use the string as a washing line, tying it between anything convenient eg bed post, wall light etc. This, along with the safety pins was perfect for drying washing. It also came in useful as a replace lace on my walking shoes. |
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| Spoon: I took a small teaspoon. A spoon is more versatile than a fork. Have you every tried eating a yogurt with a fork? In more recent times, many camping shops sell what is called a spork - a combination of spoon and fork. This would have been perfect, but they were not about in 2005 when I walked the camino. Some are light weight and plastic. Other stainless steal, a little heavier and can incorporate a bottle opener, knife edge and other useful functions. |
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