Informative video, as always! Me and my wife are walking our first one-week test of the Camino concept i June and have learnt a lot from your videos. We especially appreciate that you also give numbers in meters and Celsius when you talk about length and temperature. 👍
Greg, just watched your TH-cam videos and bought a few items on the outdoor research website and love my hoody and my convertible pants. thank you so much for all your help. Good luck on your Camino inJune. Heading back there this fall hopefully.! Every year!
Great video. Buen camino to you and your son. I agree totally... I also feel better eating food in Europe. Can't eat bread in the U.S., but European bread seems more pure, and gives me no problem.
lovely video Greg, exactly what I wanted to know. I plan on doing the Camino next may/june. Currently living on a sail boat in mexico. Time to get back to land based adventures
Looking forward to ur post Camino video. I’m retiring at end of Sept and plan to hike next April/May from SJPP. Just bought hiking polls cuz my knees are shot from 30 years as an ICU nurse
Same here. I'm having A little more trouble with my knees the last couple of months. Hopefully it doesn't interfere with the walk. If you have no place to be, you can get away with doing shorter days, under 10 mi. It would take a couple of months but doable.
As long as you are going in the main part of the season between April and October, you're probably fine with just a sleeping bag liner. If you get particularly cold, you could opt for something heavier, but I usually end up sleeping on top of the sleeping bag because it gets pretty warm in most of the rooms, especially as you get closer to summer. I have two options that I'm looking at... One is the silk cocoon liner. It weighs about 4 oz and packs about the size of a pair of socks. It has virtually no insulation to it though, so the idea is that you might wear clothes to bed, your warm jacket layer and the liner is just to feel like you're inside of something. It works really well for the warm months. The other option is a fleece liner. The fleece one weighs about 1 lb, but I cut off the zipper and had it sewn into a mummy bag, reducing it to about 10 oz. The fleece liner is pretty cheap, about $17 on Amazon, and insulates a bit better than the silk one. Fleece amzn.to/3IPG92g Silk amzn.to/3IOC2DO
I've never done the Norte, But here is the link to the Camino forum regarding drinking water on the Norte. This is a good place to go to communicate with others that are doing the same route: www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/water-fountains-on-the-norte.53829/
Great job as always Greg. Could you please put a link with the OR long sleeve shirt. I am having a hard time finding one. I am going in early June through mid-July. This is my 1st Camino.
Men's or women's? I'll give you both. Men: amzn.to/3GW7TBv Women: amzn.to/47cabHi Also, you can find all the items on my packing list. Any of the items that are showing as blue on the list have a hyperlink to the item I currently recommend. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11gY93VPuCbsrOJ87BRFGfcUC5u0ANVMuhufS8emkhMw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Also, remember June and July are warm to hot. So don't wear heavy boots. Lightweight running shoes are fine and it's mostly shorts weather, so don't pack any heavy stuff. Maybe one pair of very lightweight pants just so you can be comfortable in cathedrals and maybe a lightweight jacket, like a fleece or windbreaker. If there is a sudden cold day for some reason, you can always double up shirts.
Wow Greg--great description of all your packing decisions. And you do love the color black! Did you include your rock from home to put on the burden pile? And your shell? All the best for your trip and buen camino!
I tried to get away from black, but I've been wearing it since I was a kid. It's a hard habit to break. I'm not a colorful person by nature. My rock is just a little pebble, much smaller than my first Camino. And I just have a little silver shell on my backpack now. I've completed it twice, so I'm not so much into the real scallop shell. Kind of a long video, so I don't expect many people to get through it. But hopefully it helps anyone who's going for the first time.
Everyone says blisters come from friction and moisture. In spring or summer when I don't have waterproof shoes, if it starts to rain halfway through the hike, do I have to walk for hours with wet feet? How do I not get blisters?
Altra and Brooks both have a Gore-Tex shoe that are supposed to be pretty waterproof. The model indicator has GTX for Gore-Tex. I've never had a problem with blisters because I wear these softer running shoes. But if you are concerned about it you can get a Gore-Tex shoe and change your socks during the day. Another option is to wear hiking sandals if it's raining.. You will see a lot of people who switch to sandals at the end of the first week due to blisters.
I think I got my knees figured out. It seemed to be some kind of inflammatory/arthritic type condition. After a bit of research, I thought maybe I was deficient in iodine...so I got some liquid iodine supplement and the problem disappeared in a couple of days. I didn't want to celebrate too early, but it's been a couple of months now and no problem at all walking up to 10+ miles. In fact, they seem even better than before. I think it flushed out my thyroid maybe... whatever it is, it fixed it. Maybe I'll have to make a video about it...
The shorts I wear are like a swimsuit with an elastic waistband. They have a liner so no need to wear anything under them. The pants I bring are usually lightweight track pants, also elastic waste, or lightweight hiking pants that have a built-in belt / strap. So other than that I don't bring a belt. All of those little things add up and it's hard to decide which to leave out when you start allowing one or two. When I go to Asia, sometimes I'll bring a belt because I'm not walking everyday. The one I bring is this one I got on Amazon. They have some really cool patterns and there's no metal so it goes through airport security without having to remove it. amzn.to/40HDrpC You can download my packing list. It has pretty much every item you would consider bringing on the Camino, along with links to all the websites and apps I use. I don't bring everything on the list. I travel light so I just bring the basics. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11gY93VPuCbsrOJ87BRFGfcUC5u0ANVMuhufS8emkhMw/edit?usp=drivesdk
@@davex5424 No, my phone has the time and on the Camino I try not to look at the time. It doesn't really matter. I keep my phone on airplane mode to preserve the battery and mostly just use it to take pictures and video.
Yes, should be fine. And shorts are apparently fine now as well. It used to be that you had to have long pants or at least your knees covered and they would give you paper pants if you didn't have any. But the last trip they were letting people enter with shorts. Lots of people wearing shorts at the Pilgrims Mass in Santiago. So you should be fine.
A little bit less crowded... June I think is probably one of the best months to be walking, as it's not too hot and the rain is pretty much done. September is the other month that is really great for walking. July and August would be the hottest.
It's at exactly 10 lb. Still pretty light considering how sturdy the backpack is. The hip belt on this osprey kestrel pack is pretty thick so it handles the weight pretty well. As I mentioned in the video, if I was leaving a month later I would remove the sleeping bag, the rain jacket and the sweater and drop down to my 22 l osprey Talon pack and I would end up about 5 lb less.
Informative video, as always! Me and my wife are walking our first one-week test of the Camino concept i June and have learnt a lot from your videos. We especially appreciate that you also give numbers in meters and Celsius when you talk about length and temperature. 👍
Greg, just watched your TH-cam videos and bought a few items on the outdoor research website and love my hoody and my convertible pants. thank you so much for all your help. Good luck on your Camino inJune. Heading back there this fall hopefully.! Every year!
Great video. Buen camino to you and your son. I agree totally... I also feel better eating food in Europe. Can't eat bread in the U.S., but European bread seems more pure, and gives me no problem.
Thanks Greg. Excellent video. Well thought out and explained practical advice.
lovely video Greg, exactly what I wanted to know. I plan on doing the Camino next may/june. Currently living on a sail boat in mexico. Time to get back to land based adventures
Thanks Greg! I really appreciate your thoughtful explanations of why you bring what you bring.
Looking forward to ur post Camino video. I’m retiring at end of Sept and plan to hike next April/May from SJPP. Just bought hiking polls cuz my knees are shot from 30 years as an ICU nurse
Same here. I'm having A little more trouble with my knees the last couple of months. Hopefully it doesn't interfere with the walk. If you have no place to be, you can get away with doing shorter days, under 10 mi. It would take a couple of months but doable.
Buen Camino!
Thanks for your videos, Greg. I am starting from St Jean on 5 May. I'll maybe meet you and your boy on the way.
Great video Greg, thank you. Can you share the link to the sleeping bag? Your Google doc isn't coming up. Thanks
As long as you are going in the main part of the season between April and October, you're probably fine with just a sleeping bag liner. If you get particularly cold, you could opt for something heavier, but I usually end up sleeping on top of the sleeping bag because it gets pretty warm in most of the rooms, especially as you get closer to summer. I have two options that I'm looking at... One is the silk cocoon liner. It weighs about 4 oz and packs about the size of a pair of socks. It has virtually no insulation to it though, so the idea is that you might wear clothes to bed, your warm jacket layer and the liner is just to feel like you're inside of something. It works really well for the warm months. The other option is a fleece liner. The fleece one weighs about 1 lb, but I cut off the zipper and had it sewn into a mummy bag, reducing it to about 10 oz. The fleece liner is pretty cheap, about $17 on Amazon, and insulates a bit better than the silk one.
Fleece amzn.to/3IPG92g
Silk amzn.to/3IOC2DO
@@TheCaminoGuide Thank you!
Thank you very much, Greg! Would you know if there are enough water fountains along the Del Norte?
I've never done the Norte, But here is the link to the Camino forum regarding drinking water on the Norte. This is a good place to go to communicate with others that are doing the same route:
www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/water-fountains-on-the-norte.53829/
Thank you for the Camino Forum link.
Great job as always Greg. Could you please put a link with the OR long sleeve shirt. I am having a hard time finding one. I am going in early June through mid-July. This is my 1st Camino.
Men's or women's? I'll give you both.
Men: amzn.to/3GW7TBv
Women: amzn.to/47cabHi
Also, you can find all the items on my packing list. Any of the items that are showing as blue on the list have a hyperlink to the item I currently recommend.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11gY93VPuCbsrOJ87BRFGfcUC5u0ANVMuhufS8emkhMw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Also, remember June and July are warm to hot. So don't wear heavy boots. Lightweight running shoes are fine and it's mostly shorts weather, so don't pack any heavy stuff. Maybe one pair of very lightweight pants just so you can be comfortable in cathedrals and maybe a lightweight jacket, like a fleece or windbreaker. If there is a sudden cold day for some reason, you can always double up shirts.
Very helpful, thanks Greg. Do you wear the same set of clothes on the airplane on the way over?
Yup 👍... Travel light
Great list!
Wow Greg--great description of all your packing decisions. And you do love the color black! Did you include your rock from home to put on the burden pile? And your shell? All the best for your trip and buen camino!
I tried to get away from black, but I've been wearing it since I was a kid. It's a hard habit to break. I'm not a colorful person by nature. My rock is just a little pebble, much smaller than my first Camino. And I just have a little silver shell on my backpack now. I've completed it twice, so I'm not so much into the real scallop shell. Kind of a long video, so I don't expect many people to get through it. But hopefully it helps anyone who's going for the first time.
Nice tip on the dish towel
Everyone says blisters come from friction and moisture. In spring or summer when I don't have waterproof shoes, if it starts to rain halfway through the hike, do I have to walk for hours with wet feet? How do I not get blisters?
Altra and Brooks both have a Gore-Tex shoe that are supposed to be pretty waterproof. The model indicator has GTX for Gore-Tex. I've never had a problem with blisters because I wear these softer running shoes. But if you are concerned about it you can get a Gore-Tex shoe and change your socks during the day. Another option is to wear hiking sandals if it's raining.. You will see a lot of people who switch to sandals at the end of the first week due to blisters.
excellent informative video
about your knees.. Check out the book Born To Run. Eric Orton is a great coach.. it could be how you are walking and/or your shoes.
I think I got my knees figured out. It seemed to be some kind of inflammatory/arthritic type condition. After a bit of research, I thought maybe I was deficient in iodine...so I got some liquid iodine supplement and the problem disappeared in a couple of days. I didn't want to celebrate too early, but it's been a couple of months now and no problem at all walking up to 10+ miles. In fact, they seem even better than before. I think it flushed out my thyroid maybe... whatever it is, it fixed it. Maybe I'll have to make a video about it...
Question: you do NOT bring a belt. Is that correct?
The shorts I wear are like a swimsuit with an elastic waistband. They have a liner so no need to wear anything under them. The pants I bring are usually lightweight track pants, also elastic waste, or lightweight hiking pants that have a built-in belt / strap. So other than that I don't bring a belt. All of those little things add up and it's hard to decide which to leave out when you start allowing one or two. When I go to Asia, sometimes I'll bring a belt because I'm not walking everyday. The one I bring is this one I got on Amazon. They have some really cool patterns and there's no metal so it goes through airport security without having to remove it.
amzn.to/40HDrpC
You can download my packing list. It has pretty much every item you would consider bringing on the Camino, along with links to all the websites and apps I use. I don't bring everything on the list. I travel light so I just bring the basics.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11gY93VPuCbsrOJ87BRFGfcUC5u0ANVMuhufS8emkhMw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Question: I assume that you DO wear a watch?
@@davex5424 No, my phone has the time and on the Camino I try not to look at the time. It doesn't really matter. I keep my phone on airplane mode to preserve the battery and mostly just use it to take pictures and video.
Great info
can you go into churches with sandals?
Yes, should be fine. And shorts are apparently fine now as well. It used to be that you had to have long pants or at least your knees covered and they would give you paper pants if you didn't have any. But the last trip they were letting people enter with shorts. Lots of people wearing shorts at the Pilgrims Mass in Santiago. So you should be fine.
What is the advantages of starting May 1st as opposed to June 1st?
A little bit less crowded... June I think is probably one of the best months to be walking, as it's not too hot and the rain is pretty much done. September is the other month that is really great for walking. July and August would be the hottest.
You are my packing guru
Thanks... I'm kind of surprised people find this useful. I'm sort of scatterbrained sometimes and tend to overthink things.
What's your bag weight now?
It's at exactly 10 lb. Still pretty light considering how sturdy the backpack is. The hip belt on this osprey kestrel pack is pretty thick so it handles the weight pretty well. As I mentioned in the video, if I was leaving a month later I would remove the sleeping bag, the rain jacket and the sweater and drop down to my 22 l osprey Talon pack and I would end up about 5 lb less.
The food there seems better for sure...