Is It Really Day 10?

Today we walked 25 km from Caldas de Reis to A Escravitude.

After a good night’s sleep in our air conditioned private room, we hit the road at about 7:30 am. We made it close to 10 km before stopping for a nice breakfast.

The scenery continues to be breathtaking.

The Camino wound through an enormous Sunday market in Padron.

We got to our albergue around 2:00 pm and were glad to see this great backyard AND great laundry facilities!

Since I’m sorting and repacking clean clothes, this is a good time to talk about gear! This picture was taken about three weeks ago as I was getting organized.

Now let’s talk about things I forgot or wish I’d brought with me - Nothing! Honestly, there’s not one piece of gear or clothing that I wish I’d brought. Good planning!

The all-stars included my Tilley hat, the hiking poles, and the buff. The hat was great for the rain and the sun, the hiking poles were amazing for taking the weight off and keeping me sure-footed, especially on the climbs and descents, and the buff was great to pull up over my ears on cold, windy days, and to keep the sun off my neck on sunny days.

I loved having the water bladder in my backpack as well and not having to carry water bottles.

I feel like I was prepared in the footwear department too. I wore merino wool socks every day. I also brought some waterproof socks, but fortunately have not needed to break those out. The hiking shoes were great for the first week or so, but blisters and some other toe issues started to set in, so I switched to sandals for much of the rest of the journey. They’ve honestly been great, and I don’t think I’ll switch back to shoes unless we get some rain, which looks unlikely at this point. And flip-flops are great for the showers and around the albergues.

Speaking of rain, we were well-prepared, but because we were fortunate with the weather, the ponchos and waterproof socks have gone unused so far. I’m not going to say we overpacked these items; it’s better to have brought them and not needed them than the other way around.

Now let’s talk about what I should not have brought at all. My biggest mistake was overpacking clothes. I could have easily gotten by with a couple of shirts and a single pair of hiking pants, but I doubled up on all those things. I also brought a couple of pairs of shorts which I haven’t worn at all, opting instead for the lightweight pants to keep the sun off my legs. Most of these clothes just added extra weight.

I also have all sorts of gear that I packed based on published lists and “just in case” scenarios - cord for clotheslines or miscellaneous uses, clothespins, extra carabiners, ziplock bags, safety pins, zip ties, spoon and fork (TSA took the butter knife off my hands), tissues and wipes, etc. I’ve used very little of these things since all our accommodations have been pretty well equipped, and we haven’t really had any significant equipment failures. I didn’t use the journal either, opting instead to just use the blog to record my thoughts. I also didn’t use the sleeping bag at all. All of the albergues where we stayed had great bedding. All of this stuff could have been left at home.

A few other mentionables. We are well equipped for the few medical issues we’ve had - mostly foot care - so the first aid kit was appreciated.

I liked having the eye mask and earplugs. The portable charger was also very convenient to have. I could fully charge it overnight and then charge my phone and watch from that as needed without any concern about running out of juice. And the headlamp was great at night in the albergues, especially using the red lens so as to not disturb the sleepers!

Let us know in the comments if you have any questions about our gear or preparations!