food and drink on long stages?

[sulu]

How do others cope with the lack of food and drink places on many of the Caminos?
Having just walked from Toulouse, where there seems to be even more villages without shops or bars than there are in Spain, and I know there are many in Spain, I found I was carrying food and drink for the day, emergency supplies in case there was no food in the evening, supplies to cope with Sundays and Mondays!! It was only when I stopped that I realised how heavy my food bag had become. Does anyone have some secret coping mechanism? how do others manage?

 

[Kitsambler]

Agreed, the section of the Le Puy route past Auvillar does pose its own set of logistics challenges. In addition to Sunday closings, there is the weekday closing, which may fall on Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday. Restaurants have closings, which differ from or occasionally coincide with food market closings. And then there are the holidays and the "ponts" or bridges where the real holiday is Thursday but it is stretched for four days. Nothing is for certain, it seems. (Except, I was convinced that "closing day" was whenever I showed up.)

So, what to do? Make sure you have provisions for two days with you. That means seeking out calorie-dense and sturdy comestibles. I favored raw carrots (sturdier than apples), tinned sardines or pate, and hard cheese to go with a baguette. Dried apricots or shelled walnuts make a good addition. If possible, book demi-pension so that you will have the evening and morning meal provided, regardless of closing days. When you call ahead to book, make sure to ask about closing days and the availability of provisions or meals. Your upcoming hosts will have accurate information on the situation in their own towns. Water is widely available and you can usually refill somewhere during the day.

 

[newfydog]

Last minute advice given a friend by Aunt upon leaving for first trip to Europe.

Remember: Beer is food.

 

[tyrrek]

Last minute advice given a friend by Aunt upon leaving for first trip to Europe.

Remember: Beer is food.

It makes a welcome change from bananas and yoghurt at breakfast time and has loads of calories. :shock:

Buen Camino!

 

[dougfitz]

I faced a similar problem walking St Olav's Way this year. For one stage, the guidebook recommended stocking up with five day's of food because there were no shops, which I did, and my food bag was enormous. This included

• snacks (dried fruit, shelled nuts, chocolate)
• canned (meat, fish)
• dried (mashed pototo, noodles, soups)
• semi-dried (salami, semi-dried dates and apricots)
• fresh (tomatoes, garlic, apples, oranges, banana)
• condiments (salt, pepper and sauce sachets collected when I bought meals, and a tube of Vegemite I had brought with me from Australia)
• non-perishables (digestive style biscuits and crispbread).

I was cautious not to have too much dehydrated food, as I wasn't carrying a stove and cooking gear, so I couldn't boil water during the day to prepare a de-hydrated meal. I had thought these might have been available along the way, but I was wrong about that. The small local supermarkets didn't carry specialist trail meals or the like.

As it turned out, most of the places I stayed on this stage provided some form of evening meal and breakfast, and where breakfast was available, one could also pack a lunch (although the charges for this could be quite steep). On balance, I really only needed to have food for two days, and at a push, only one if I had been prepared to eat into my reserve and risk having nothing left at the end of the last day through the Dovrefjell mountains.

The biggest impact I found was on walking speed, and I was noticeably slower for the first couple of days, even allowing for the steep climbs that were also involved on those days. In the circumstances, this didn't worry me, but I did alter my arrival time estimates for each day's walking.

 

[newfydog]

It makes a welcome change from bananas and yoghurt at breakfast time and has loads of calories.

Yeah, and on the Prague to LePuy trip, we found it is actually served for breakfast.

They wouldn't get the joke---------------- Beer: It's not just for breakfast anymore.

 

[sulu]

Thanks. It seems that there is no alternative to carrying extra weight.

Last minute advice given a friend by Aunt upon leaving for first trip to Europe.

Remember: Beer is food.

That's fine, nothing better than a beer after a long walk but beer weighs too

A baguette, some cheese, some sausage or ham, and perhaps a tomato, Doesn't weigh that much and will carry me over to the next day.

That assumes you can get a baguette :!:

I carried a packet of soup, pasta, coffee, muesli bars, a tube of evaporated milk and whatever else I had acquired in the last town. Things always seem to be sold in triplicate, I guess I should just be better at leaving stuff behind. I didn't really notice the accumulating weight until I finished and got rid of it all but it weighed
The reason for the question was that I developed 'plantar fasciitis' and I wonder if the extra weight contributed to that.
Sue

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Sulu, I think the food situation was probably similar on the stretch from Cluny to Le Puy, and I didn't always get it right. Sometimes I carried too much weight in food that I didn't need to, and sometimes I never carried enough. The May public holidays I knew about, but the variable closing days in the towns/villages sometimes caught me by surprise. Then there was the place where the oven broke down, so the boulangerie with its associated epicerie, the only one in town, was closed. Sometimes I had to stay a bit hungry overnight, but I still got there in the end...
Margaret
RE the plantar fascitis- I developed some of that before I left home. I saw a physio- who I'd met when I broke my arm- and she said that one of the most common reasons for it was calf muscles that were too tight and needed stretching, and she taught me the right stretches. I know there are other causes for it, but stretches worked for me.

 

[Kitsambler]

Detour Alert

Ah, plantar fasciitis! I can surely relate. After the first Le Puy walk, I endeavored to improve the insole arrangement in my boots, and ended up significantly reducing my arch support as a consequence (what can I say? I'm an engineer, and the chosen measures seemed like a good idea at the time ... :? ). So on the walk from Cahors, I had terrible plantar fasciitis. This was with a pack load that was 2-3 lb (1-1.5 kg) lighter than the previous year. Every single step was painful. So I visited my local foot doctor immediately upon return, and was fitted for custom orthotics. Bliss! No foot pain at all on this year's walk. I understand that tightness can contribute; in my case it was the almost total lack of arch support when it was desperately needed. As usual, your mileage may vary.

And now we return you to your regularly scheduled program

 

[sulu]

Detour Alert

As the OP I'll accept the detour I'll look into the excercises and just put up with carrying food. My boots were alright before. I'll try not to walk long days but sometimes that is inevitable.
Thanks for the advice.
Sue

 

[unadara]

On Camino Madrid you can expect long stages without hot food?. One night we asked the bar for coffee in a bottle, and we drank it cold next morning. I wouldn't have thought of that but Jose my spanish friend always puts cold/not warm milk in his coffee so never drinks it hot. Just a thought if you like cafe!
Cheese, curado is a must, nuts , and chocolate. If all else fails well you should get food tomorrow. I look forward to walking the French long routes.

 

[northyukon]

At first I worried about carrying enough food and my pack was heavier than I wanted it to be. I found there were very few days when there wasn't a bar/cafe you could stop at and refill your water bottle or buy coffee/drink and a croissant or other food. Even on the days when the book advised carrying more supplies I found someplace that I could buy something, so learned to carry lightweight food. I also brought along dried fruit which could be chewed and weighed very little.

 

[sulu]

At first I worried about carrying enough food and my pack was heavier than I wanted it to be. I found there were very few days when there wasn't a bar/cafe you could stop at and refill your water bottle or buy coffee/drink and a croissant or other food. Even on the days when the book advised carrying more supplies I found someplace that I could buy something, so learned to carry lightweight food. I also brought along dried fruit which could be chewed and weighed very little.

Hi Northyukon,
I think you were on the Frances. Finding a bar on the Frances isn't a problem. On many of the other routes it is possible to walk 30+ kms and not find a bar or shop, or not a bar that is open.

On Camino Madrid you can expect long stages without hot food?. One night we asked the bar for coffee in a bottle, and we drank it cold next morning. I wouldn't have thought of that but Jose my spanish friend always puts cold/not warm milk in his coffee so never drinks it hot. Just a thought if you like cafe!
Cheese, curado is a must, nuts , and chocolate. If all else fails well you should get food tomorrow. I look forward to walking the French long routes.

In Spain I buy a small bottle of chocolate drink for breakfast if there is nothing else. I prefer cold chocolate to cold coffee, In France I found that the majority of the Auberges provided coffee making facilities, though not all, unfortunately you never know in advance which ones don't. I didn't find chocolate drinks in small containers, so I carried coffee, having breakfast was imperative as there was often nothing else all day. Except what one carried.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

Mornings started with trying to locate a bakery - usually by observing the locals :wink:

I usually find that locates the nearest bar..... :wink:

Stephen
http://www.calig.co.uk/camino_de_santiago.htm