Smartphone app for the Camino

As I have already mentioned in my post about packing for the Camino, you can loose some of your backpack's weight by using a digital guidebook instead of a paper one.

It can work out great if you use it together with one of many available Camino smartphone apps. I looked at quite a few of them and in the end I chose Camino Pilgrim.
It is a free application you can easily download through Google Play. It covers Camino Frances and Camino Finisterre branches of El Camino de Santiago. I was using version 1.4.0. You can see the app's icon on the photo below.

It has all the towns and villages listed in the same order as they appear on the Camino with distances from one to the next. Under the name of each town there are icons representing available pilgrim facilities (albergues, ATM, water fountain, pharmacy etc.).

By tapping on a town's name a list of available albergues opens up. Apart from basic info (address, phone, webpage, email address and opening hours) there is also other information available.
Albergues are arranged into three groups: Municipal, Parroquial and Private. There is another set of icons on this level. They represent facilities available in a specific albergue (kitchen, washing machine, wifi etc.). There is also information about price and total number of beds.

By tapping on an albergue a map by Google Maps with a position of the albergue opens up. When your smartphone has GPS connectivity turned on, your current position will also be shown on the map.

Camino Pilgrim application does not require an active internet connection to work. To be able to use maps off-line, you can even download them in advance. It is however advisable to open the app once in a while, when connected to internet, to allow its database to refresh.

There is still room for improvement:

• If you are doing the Camino on a bike the map feature might not be very useful - bicycle map is not included.
• At the moment the app is only available on the Android platform. No iOS support so far.
• Some photos of albergues would be a welcome addition.
• The same applies to non-existent user ratings and comments about individual albergues.

There is a useful tutorial available on-line for those in need of step-by-step instructions.

Camino Pilgrim is a simple app which proved to be very valuable on many occasions on the Camino. For instance when the path got crowded and we were walking in a group, getting a bed late in the afternoon was not a sure thing any more. Tapping on a phone number next to an albergue name in the app and placing a reservation, made our walk even more enjoyable.

I highly recommend this app. Try it out yourself - it is free. You are welcome to leave your observations in the comments section below.

This review contains my own unbiased opinion which was not influenced by anyone. I also did not receive any kind of compensation.
User interface photos were downloaded from Google play and therefore I do not own any rights to them.

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Packing for the Camino

What does one take with him on a month long trek? If you take into account you have to carry your stuff on your back for the whole 800 kilometres this is not an easy decision at all.

Packing of our hiking backpacks took quite some effort during the preparation period. It all started by choosing just the right hiking shoes and backpacks.

Choosing a pair of good quality, comfortable hiking shoes is the most important thing. My guidelines were comfort, weight, ankle support, waterproof material, durability and breathability. Also keep in mind that your feet will probably be a bit swollen after a few weeks (one size larger is better than a perfect fit). For a short while I was also thinking about light running shoes but gave up the idea because of lack of water resistance and ankle support.
If you are leaning towards a lighter shoe, imagine walking on a muddy trail for 8 hours while sinking into thick mud over your ankles with every step. Without rain it is a whole different story, but unfortunately weather in May can be quite unpredictable.

It is advisable to keep the weight of the backpack under 10 percent of one's weight. However, if you weigh 50 kilograms (110 pounds) it is almost impossible to stay under 10 percent. In the end we both ended up with 2 kilograms over the recommended limit.

We chose one 34 litre and one 55 litre backpack. 55 litres was more than I needed, but it came in handy when we had to redistribute our stuff for airport regulations compliance.

Only when we were happy with our backpacks and shoes, we started thinking about what exactly to put on the checklist. This is what I took with me:

Camino Checklist

Item	Quantity	Packed
Personal ID card	1	Y
Personal ID card paper copy	1	Y
Cash (EUR)	400	Y
Credit cards (Maestro, Visa)	2	Y
Money belt/pouch	1	Y
Backpack	1	Y
Mobile phone & charger	1	Y
Digital camera & charger	1	Y
MP3 Player	1	N
Camino de Santiago Guidebook	1	N
Hiking shoes	1	Y
Trekking sandals (e.g. Teva)	1	Y
Flip-flops	1	Y
Trekking poles	1	Y
Sleeping bag (lightweight)	1	Y
Rain-coat / poncho (lightweight)	1	Y
Goretex jacket	1	Y
Fleece jacket	1	Y
Long sleeve shirt	1	Y
Trekking zip-off pants	2	Y
T-shirts	2	Y
Trekking socks	3	Y
Underpants	2	Y
Multifunction scarf (Buff)	1	Y
Hiking hat	1	Y
Towel (large lightweight)	1	Y
Towel (small lightweight)	1	Y
Medical bag (pills, bandage, anti-inflammatory gel, anti-blister accessories, rehydration pills, etc.)	1	Y
Toiletries (toothbrush & paste, toilet paper, shaving foam & razor, body & hair shampoo, etc.)	1	Y
Laundry soap	1	Y
Body & face cream	1	Y
Sunscreen	1	Y
Lip gloss (protective)	1	Y
Water bladder (2L)	1	Y
Swiss army knife	1	Y
Sunglasses	1	Y
Head lamp	1	Y
Ear plugs	1	Y
Clothes pegs	3	Y
Cigarette lighter	1	Y
Scallop shell	1	Y

A few comments on the above checklist:

I also took a mosquito repellent with me, but it proved to be useless - during the day I was walking too fast for mosquitoes and during the night there were usually many other targets in the same room.
A head-lamp is not essential, but may come in very handy if you start walking before sunrise. A mobile phone with built-in flash can serve as an emergency replacement.
A music player can also be easily replaced by your smart-phone. All you need is a pair of earphones and enough of free memory on your phone. I did not use it even once, but it did help M. to get over one of many steep hills on the way.
I chose not to pack a paper guidebook. I used a digital version on my phone. I also found one of many free Camino phone applications to be very useful.
My medical bag included:

• painkillers with anti-inflammatory effect (e.g. Ibuprofen),
• anti-allergy pills,
• anti-inflammatory gel (e.g. Voltaren),
• rehydration pills,
• magnesium & potassium powder (for muscle regeneration and cramp prevention),
• plasters (e.g. Compeed - worth a higher price),
• blister prevention stick-gel (e.g. Bodyglide, Compeed),
• elastic bandage.

I packed only a few of each and restocked in one of many pharmacies on the way if I ran out of anything.

In the end my backpack weighed 9,5 kilograms (21 pounds) - that is without any water or food. This could be easily fixed by buying a lighter backpack and changing my heavy DSLR camera for a compact version. The empty backpack and my heavyweight camera weigh 4 kilograms (9 pounds).

If you travel to the starting point of your Camino by an airplane, be careful not to pack any prohibited items into your carry-on luggage. Since we had quite a few such items on our checklist, we decided to declare one of our backpacks as checked baggage. It is usually quite a bit cheaper if you think of this at the time of booking.

Feel free to comment on this checklist and offer a suggestion of your own if you think I left something out.

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El Camino de Santiago

Every journey begins with a single step. So did ours...

As some of you already know, about a month ago I went on a trip across Spain. We did this together with M. - my companion in travel and in life. This time we decided to do a bit more walking than usually. Actually... roughly 800 kilometres of it.

We chose a well known route across Spain known as El Camino de Santiago, Way of Saint James or simply The Way. It is a millennium old pilgrimage route which starts in various places around Europe and leads to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. That is the place where remains of Saint James are buried.

Since 11th century there have been pilgrims coming to Santiago from all over the world. Due to heavy publicity the Camino has become quite popular in the last years - the Hollywood movie The Way (starring Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen) is just one such example.
More and more people decide to walk at least a part of the way every year and religion is not the only reason any more. Many also do it for cultural reasons or make a sports challenge out of it. Walking, biking and also horseback riding are the means of transport on the way.

We decided to begin our walk in Saint Jean Pied de Port on the French side of the Pyrenees. Since this route begins in France it is called Camino Francés or The French way. We chose it because it has the best infrastructure. In addition to everything else this also means there are many affordable albergues on the way. Albergues provide hostel like, budget-oriented accommodation for pilgrims.
The fact this route is the most popular among all and therefore at some points also pretty crowded did not discourage us. We were however not too excited about the fact.

Since we only had 26 days reserved for walking, we knew this trip was going to be a little bit of a challenge. People usually have at least a week more to walk this kind of a distance.
According to our plans we were supposed to walk approximately 30 kilometres per day. It might not seem like a lot if you look at a single day, but our plan meant we would have to do it every single day, no matter the weather or our daily physical condition. A shorter distance on one day would mean a longer one on the next day.

After reading a few Camino related books, some on-line research and a couple of training walks we felt we were ready.

... and so we went.

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