I have been remiss in my postings of late ... training walks and just no time. But lets see if we can talk more about gear. I recently weighed everything - well most of it - and for a first cut, I am looking at 326.25 oz or 19.76 lbs which includes water and food. Since the suggested weight one carries is 10% of your body weight, I am a bit over. I weighed 155 lbs when I retired early in March; now with my training walks, I am down to 150 lbs. So for all my training, my "allowance" also drops! Since food and water get consumed by the end of each day, my "end of day" pack will weigh 17.5 lbs.
First of all ... nothing made of COTTON!
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| Basic Clothing |
Let's start in the top left corner and work clockwise. First - the green jacket. This is NOT the USGA prized award for winning The Master's Golf tournement, it is a green shell which is water repellent. Not much at all, but worn on top of layered shirts, it really retains warmth. It's main purpose is not to keep me dry in the rain; for that we will have a poncho.
I will have two pair of pants ... this one and another which is called a convertible. It zips off the bottom parts of the legs so that you have a pair of shorts. Both are lightweight (12 - 14 oz) and quick drying.
The little kit at the bottom is a sewing kit. I have decided not to take the full kit as you see here, just the small scissors and tweezers - for emergency use. I have needle and thread in another packet - for blister care.
Socks. To go along with the all important footwear, I will have three pair of REI hiking socks, and four pair of silk liner socks. After using bag balm or Vaseline to grease my feet each morning, I will don the liner socks and then the hiking socks, and then the Merrill hiking shoes. That combination I have been using in training and so far ... no blisters.
Next, the obligatory items of recognition. A scallop shell, the symbol worn by almost all pilgrims of the Way of St. James. This was given to me by a dear friend when I retired two months ago from Boston Centerless, Inc. - Kathleen Howell. And a patch provided by the Pilgrim's Forum, blue and yellow in color ... identical to the fleches amarillo (yellow markers) which will guide us along The Way.
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| Essentials - Shoes, Poles, Sleeping Bag |
Here we have three items. Walking poles are, in my mind, essential. It's like having two extra legs to lean on when going uphill ... or even just when it's flat, but I'm tired. Mine are adjustable, but I pretty much leave them at 125 cm long. With removable snow-baskets, I can use them for snow shoeing in the winter as well.
Next, the all important shoes! Some people use high tops, some use sandals and some, albeit very few, even go barefoot! I have Merrill low cut walking shoes. After approximately 150 training miles, they are most comfortable. I think my feet like them!
Underneath poles and shoes in the picture is a 55 degree sleep sack by Kelty. It's basically a sleeping bag with different weight material on each side. One side is basically a sheet; the other is more insulated for cooler temperatures. We won't be sleeping outside, so this will work fine in the albergues. If it really gets cold, I hear that they do have blankets available.
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| Incidentals to Consider |
This picture has lots of incidentals to discuss. Start with the duck tape and move clockwise. Actually duck tape has a variety of uses, but a full roll can get heavy. One primary use on Camino is for placement on ones feet when blisters arise. It helps prevent blisters ... so I am told. But since I have had good luck on training walks with vaseline and liner socks, I will simply roll a couple yards of duck tape around a pencil and carry that ... much lighter than a full roll. Emergency use only.
The green spoon is a SPORK. Obviously very light in weight. The orange jar is a small jar of Tiger Balm. My wife Kathy insists it works and is encouraging me to take it along. Next we have an orange emergency whistle. The purple rectangle is a bar of Dr. Bonner's all purpose soap for body, hair, and cloths washing. The black strap holds an LCD headlamp - much more convenient in the dark than a flashlight. Moving along, we have a few bandaids and a pouch of Ibuprofen - very expensive in Europe. In the top left corner, some imodium for obvious reasons! First aid tape and a roll of yellow plastic cord - for use as a cloths line when drying washed cloths each day.
In the middle we have the gold colored scallop shell which identifies one as a Pilgrim.
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| Very Important Items |
First off, as I have mentioned previously, Vaseline and the white liner socks. Actually, I had an empty container of Vaseline so I cleaned that container and filled it with a good supply of Bag Balm which was in their trade mark green tin - to big and bulky to carry. Now, filled with Bag Balm, the Vaseline container will be perfect. And the socks are "white" for now since they are new, but not for long after they are worn and washed. These will be the inner foot covering, topped by a mid-weight Merino Wool hiking sock.
The tan object with the red symbol on it is a money belt which I will wear constantly and keep my passport and credit cards in "close to the vest" as they say! The grey cloth on the bottom left is a 36" x 48" micro-fiber towel. The orange objects in the pack are ear plugs for use at night when all the strangers in the room are snoring!!
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| Not to be forgotten |
On the bottom is one of two long sleeved t-shirts. I will take a short sleeved t as well. There is a blue bandanna which has since been replaced with a 24" x 24" microfiber towel for the same purpose but not made of cotton. the grey cloth in the middle is lightweight underwear by Patagonia. Here's the deal - one to wear and one to wash and dry for the next day. That's pretty much how it works for the socks as well. Everything else - wear it til it stinks, change and continue! The black cloth is a lightweight skullcap for use at night if ones head gets cold sleeping. Not sure how much use that will get.
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| LuxuryLite Carry All |
For use in towns, instead of carrying around a "heavy" backpack, we will use a very light napsack. It weighs just ounces and is generally used to carry purchased food from towns and villages back to the albergue before turning in for the night. I lucked into this one as a friend let me borrow it; otherwise, the recommendation is to have a cloth shopping bag like we frequently use at the grocery store in place of plastic or paper bags. Of course the shell and the Camino patch.
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| All Together |
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It looks like a lot ... probably is, but as I continue, I will cut down some, change some, tweek something else. On May 16th, it's either in there or it stays home! Keeping things down to under 20 lbs. including the back pack.
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| Putting it all together. |
Nope, not a cell phone on the pack waste band. That's my camera ... just so you all know I am taking picutres. These pants are the convertible ... with the lower part zipped off. Thanks to my friends at Boston Centerless!
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