Arrive SJPDP May 18! Yippee!

[BobM]

Well, most of the training and reading preparations have been done and I can't wait to get going.

I am going "minimalist" (consistent with decency) so far as clothing and stuff to carry are concerned. My 35L Kathmandu day pack and is just about the right size for my stuff. In fact I am bumping up against 10kg, including camera gear. I am not the biggest bloke in the world, so weight is a big deal for me.

No. 2 haircut for hygiene - and no shaving, to save weight. No deodorants or pampering products. Most pilgrims will presumably smell the same after a while.

Finally settled on rain gear after reading various opinions: poncho + rain pants. My poncho alone drips rain onto the legs and sox/boots, hence the pants. The pants can double as a wind layer if weather gets cold on the higher stages. Still debating the value of gaiters to keep sox/boots dry. I will be wearing leather hiking boots (Scarpa) and they can be difficult to dry overnight.

I am a keen photographer, but the 1.6kg weight is a turn-off. Every paradise has its serpent!

Has anyone experienced bed bugs this year? I suspect it is too early in the pilgrimage season. There was an excellent thread here a couple of months ago on bedbugs that gave a couple of good links - one was to Wikipedia, but I have lost the other one. Maybe the thread is archived here somewhere.

Anyway, enough garrulous rambling. I hope to meet any other pilgrims who are also starting from SJPDP on May 18. I will be the short, hairless, bearded, smelly bloke festooned with a camera!

Regards

Bob M

 

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any recommendations re: taking deodorants vs anti-perspirant, I think that's what u call the latter one? If so, which product would u recommend in the States/Spain?


Bob M, I say ye, eliminating shaving gear helps with the weight, though I do like to take one of those disposable razors.

For rain gear I take my wind jacket. Nothing has protected me from the rain as much as I've wanted, & I stop for a while under a tree, or something like that when walking and singing in the rain, except during a section of the C Aragones where there was nothing to guard me from it. I do like putting newspaper pages inside my shoes when they get wet, susprising how much that helps drying them.

Not experienced bed bugs this or any other year,suggest being aware of the poss and maintain ur hygene.

What's the meaning of the word. "thread," as u use it?

No "garrulous rambling," u'd be surprised how much posts like urs help.

Buen camino,

xm 8)

 

[JaneB]

xm - 'thread' in this context is all the replies to an initial post on a messageboard such as this. Hope that makes sense?!

(therefore this is the 3rd post in this thread)

 

[Anonymous]

Ah, ok, thanks, JaneB. Best, xm

 

[buena!]

I second the comment--

[No "garrulous rambling," u'd be surprised how much posts like urs help. ]

You convinced me that rain pants are a very good idea indeed! My poncho will surely drip as you mentioned (no rain yet to try it out in) and now something else is settled. I am also debating the gaiters.... I remember being a kind and my mom using bread bags. Of course they're not very breathable but would work in a cinch. Do you know exactly how rainy it is out there these days?

buena!

ps in regards to the camera dillemma, i am with you there too. the brierly guide actually suggests considering not taking a camera. that kind of thinking really challenges me because i am so accustomed to (and enjoy) taking pictures. however his advice 'live for the moment, not the memories' is worth considering (for me), since i know i easily and often live for the memories at the expense of the moment. i hope the camino will help me with that. i still am not sure what i'll do, i wanted to actually take two cameras! (my digital and my holga) i'm sure you'll do fine if you go with whatever feels best. i'll be just a few days ahead of you, i'll keep my eyes out for ya!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi buena! I'd nix the rain pants. June-August is mostly dry, with some rain here and there. Galicia is diff, of course, but there the rain is magic... Definitely take a camera. If it wouldn't be for the pics taken of the beautiful places I've walked on and the good (+ not so good) people I've met along my Caminos I'd think they were all fantasies. Best, xm 8)

 

[BobM]

Couple of good tips here

For rain gear I take my wind jacket. . . . I do like putting newspaper pages inside my shoes when they get wet, susprising how much that helps drying them. xm 8)

I agree about the wind jacket. I will take a flimsy plastic jacket as well as the poncho. Having second . . third . . nth . . thoughts about the rain pants, due to the need to trim a bit more weight.

The paper in the boots is a great tip and a new one for me! Dry newspaper is a great water absorbent - that's why paperbacks often swell and fall apart in humid tropical climates.

Re the gaiters, I am thinking of trying a different approach and would welcome comments from others who may have tried something similar. My idea is to punch holes in two supermarket shopping bags, pull them over the boots and fix to the ankles with string or maybe a rubber band to get a moisture proof seal. The bags will sort of drape down over the boots - if that is comprehensible.

I guess I will be fine-tuning my gear until I hit the road.

Bob M

 

[sillydoll]

April/May Camino

Bob, I walked in mid-May to mid-June and it rained on and off for the first week - in the Irago mountains - all the way to O'Cebreiro (and down again). Oh wow! the mud, the shoe-sucking, foot skidding mud! The weather is so variable and with global warming its hard to predict what the seasons are going to be like.
I have a lightweight, black Regatta rainsuit (bought in England) and it was marvelous. I wore it when it was cold and needed to dress in layers and then moulted when the sun came out. I wore the trousers when my one pair of long trousers was too muddy/wet to wear again. The jacket was my 'little black number' at night when we went to dinner. The trousers hang over the top of my boots/shoes and although the shoes still get wet I don't have rain running down into the socks.
Take yours with you. If it looks like sunny weather all the way, you can post it ahead to yourself.

 

[Anonymous]

Ah, mud, mud, mud...in so many places...my worse experience so far has been in my loved Camino del Interior, aka as Primitvo. Best, xm

 

[LaurenE]

Bob, I am starting from St. Jean May 18. I'll actually arrive lateish MAy 16th and take a rest day before starting. I think so, anyway. Maybe we will overlap or be starting the same day? If so, it will be nice to recognise a face on the first day!
Lauren
P.S. Sierra Designs make very light rainpants, around 5 oz., that pack quite small too. I think if I do encounter heavy rain I'll be very glad I have them.

 

[Anonymous]

...light rainpants ...encounter heavy rain I'll be very glad I have them.

I've been using a parka in previous Caminos that has protected me (somewhat) from the rain and from the cold, talking about summer mos., here. A couple of days ago, marabili!, I discovered/bought, a GOR-TEX parka, which I didn't even know existed. Am of course substituting the latter for the first. That, along with my GOR-TEX (trekking) shoes, & nylon trousers, should be enough of an outside gear to protect me from the rains, or shouldn't it :?: Best, xm 8)

 

[LaurenE]

xm,
Gore-tex rain gear is hard to beat. It's great stuff. It often has a membrane inside that wicks consensation and keeps you more comfortable, too, since even goretex is not totally breathable. Sometimes it weighs a bit more, but the real high-end stuff can be great.
The pants I got are really just nylon, (water-resistant, not water-proof) but I think considering the size/weight and the fact that they cost me $13 makes them adequate enough.

 

[Anonymous]

LaurenE, thanks for ur mail.

...has a membrane inside that wicks consensation and keeps you more comfortable, too, since even goretex is not totally breathable.

Hadn't thought about that, would u say that it's more, or, less, breathable, than other, sans GOR-TEX?

Sometimes it weighs a bit more, but the real high-end stuff can be great.

Please explain: the real high-end stuff can be great :?

Best, xm 8)