Ok, I have taken the bare minimum that I think I can live with for 6 weeks and my pack is too heavy. I don't even want to admit to how heavy it is. I really, really don't want to travel across the world and not have everything I need. I have taken out things that I don't think are important but really don't think I have that much stuff. It sure adds up, doesn't it! You will know me when you see me from my monster pack!!!!! I know I'm going to regret it but I just can't seem to get it lighter. My damn cosmetic 3 liter bag weighs 3 pounds itself. If I could just reduce it by 5 lbs, I would be happy....I know I'm going to get a ration, but I probably need it.
Hi Debbye! I got most of the way down the discussion and realized that there is one thing not being talked much about: a "cosmetic bag" that weighs 3 pounds. If you put your toiletries (perhaps skipping the wipies?) into a ziplock bag, how much do they weigh?
And I second the advice to ditch all the duplicate stuff. I have been quite content to use liquid dish soap for body, hair, and laundry. (I ran out of the shampoo that I had been using for all 3, went into a Parfumeria shop, got the smallest dish liquid in there, and when we flew home from Madrid, I left a mostly full bottle behind in the room for staff to use as they wished.) I am now looking at what to pack again, and since in the past few years almost everything I buy to wear is lightweight and quick drying it's a struggle to remind myself that I don't need both the hiking skirt and the Icebreaker dress-that-was-on-sale, and I don't need both zip off pants and roll up pants and shorts to boot.
As I don't hold heat well and chill easily, I'm probably going to pack or wear: 1 pair yoga pants (snug, but not painted on I hope!), 1 pair zip off pants, and the aforementioned skirt or dress but not both. A sleeveless knit top that can be either by itself or under something. A fleece. A buff, either a regular one or the "infinity" type one that the Christmas angels gave me. The hat--movable shade is good. A woven shirt and probably a knit long sleeved thing that could be under or by itself. And will decide at the last minute what goes on me in the plane and what goes into the pack. That doesn't include other stuff, like toothbrush, tiny toothpaste, comb, passport and credencial, TP, pen, paper, camera. (It's my 12 ounces.) 3 or 4 pair of sox, 3 or 4 pair undies, 2 light yoga type bras. Oh, and the sticks, which go into the pack for the airplane flight, and come out if there is slippery stuff or a scary dog. The sticks paid for themselves both times for me, between wind in 2014 and dogs in 2015.
Added weight, new this time: a 7 3/4 ounce bag to put the pack into for the flight, which will fold into itself and could conceivably be a pillow. A small water resistant bag to carry into the shower with clothes inside as some of the showers splatter all over the stall. And since I have learned that having a stuff type sack to put the clean clothes mostly into is a sanity saver, by saving and using a sturdy plastic bag from a pharmacy purchase, a ripstop small bag of the "reusable grocery bag" shape, roughly 8 inches wide and the bottom corners boxed to make it about 2 inches the other way. I already have a mesh bag with a zipper that hangs inside the pack and holds the bandages, the Pepto Bismol, the aspirin. (Made that before the 2015 pilgrimage. Very handy not to have to dig into the very bottom to find one bandage for a blister in the morning.) Not bringing the Kindle this time, but bringing a tablet that will take photos and make blog posts for my nervous relatives. Spouse gets to carry guidebook which probably equals weight of the tablet. He also gets to carry the Spanish flip phone and I'm hoping I can sneak the sink stopper into his bag too. Maybe even the 10 foot long paracord and clothespins? But we'll see.
I put my loaded pack, with the belly bag and camera, onto the scale in the bathroom and it needs to not cross over 20 pounds. That does, obviously, exclude water and food but I'm okay with that inaccuracy. (Pack is a Deuter, so it's not weightless. I weigh it all together because that's what I will be carrying.)
This is not a 6 week trip into the trackless wastes of upper Canada. This is a series of day walks across a civilized country, and you will encounter food stores, pharmacies, parfumerias in all of the good-sized towns, plus bars selling cafe leche and bocadillos all over the place. Even if the place you stay doesn't have an automatic washing machine, it will have a sink. You will be fine. And you can buy more socks if needed, in the probably 3-5 outdoor/hiking stores scattered along the way. One is in Pamplona which if you go from St Jean on the Frances route is only about 3 days into the path.
Buen camino.
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