Part Two: What to prepare for an eight-day hike on the Camino de Santiago

The Husband and I hiked 160km over eight days through peaceful French and Spanish countryside on a route that clocked up a 4,000m elevation gain and about 3,000m descent, my Garmin watch measured. (For comparison, Table Mountain’s cable car takes passengers 765m up the mountain to a point of just more than 1,000m above sea level. A hike up Melville-koppies in Johannesburg has a 50m elevation gain.)

Read Part One: Eight days hiking the Camino via Saint James, the French way, for the day-to-day record of our journey. Below is the story of how we prepared for our pilgrimage; I've detailed everything we did to prepare, including our packing list and what you need to know before visiting the Pilgrim Office.

Planning Your Way

The first “how to” Camino guide was published somewhere in the late 1130s to the early 1140s.

It is named Codex Calixtinus, attributed to Pope Calixtus II, and was intended as a guide for religious pilgrims following the Way of Saint James. That is, a pilgrimage from wherever they lived to the shrine of apostle Saint James the Great at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, north western Spain.

Today, most people — religious or not — travel to some point on the nine most popular routes (depicted in our graph) and start from there. These ancient routes pass by shrines, cathedrals, monasteries, churches and through one-horse-towns and metropolitan cities dotted on an ever-changing landscape. Much of the medieval infrastructure still in existence was built to accommodate the pilgrims.

The French Way (800km in total) and the Portuguese Way (620km) are the most frequented routes.

I found the cellphone applications “Buen Camino de Santiago App” and “Wise Pilgrim All Caminos” the most helpful to our planning. The websites followthecamino.com, caminoways.com and ricksteves.com are good starting points, too.

Buen Camino includes some very helpful real-time maps that twice saved me from taking the wrong turn.

Wise Pilgrim lists the villages and cities on your chosen route in sequence, along with the hiking distance between these stop-overs. Very helpful to me was the suggestion of where most people stay over. If the average person managed a 25km hike on a particular day, I could easily do it too, was my thinking.

You will pass between two to 10 villages between these suggested stop-overs, meaning you can easily tailor your hike to shorter or longer distances every day, too.

The village-list is also accompanied by icons depicting the amenities available. Some villages, for example, have no grocery shops, pubs or restaurants, medical facilities or pharmacies, bus or train terminals. Important information when you carry your life and sustenance on your back.

Illustrative map of the Camino Hike (Image: Camino map / Freepik)

We chose to hike the iconic French way, starting from the medieval village Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port at the foot of the Pyrénées mountains.

The pretty village was an easy, short train and bus trip away from Paris, a city The Husband and I both adore, which we visited en route from South Africa. I was enchanted by Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on a day trip once before, and vowed to go back to stay over at least one night.

Another reason was that I wanted to hike over the Pyrénées — for the challenge, for the views. Despite the constant ascent for 20km up the mountain at about 1,300m elevation, it remains one of the most popular routes.

Top Tip: The mountain route is closed from November until March due to unpredictable weather. The alternative and flatter route (if you can call almost 900m elevation “flat”) through Valcarlos remains open during these months.

The science of backpack packing

Your Camino joy is directly congruent to the ease with which you carry the weight on your back.

My first backpacking rule is to generally not carry more than one-fifth of my weight. For challenging trails like the hilly five-day Otter in the Garden Route, where you carry your food, clothing as well as cooking and sleeping gear (but not a tent), my pack starts out weighing in at a maximum of 13kg. It is more than one-fifth of my body weight, but the first two days on this route are short in distance and I eat my backpack lighter along the way, so that remains manageable.

The Fish River in Namibia, usually a six-day hike, is more challenging with longer distances covered per day, albeit mostly a flat route through loose sand. Here you are required, at the very least, to carry more water, communication devices, medical kits and some sort of shelter.

I found the Camino to be not as challenging as either. The French Way wanders mostly along tarred roads. The trail sections are not as technical as either the Otter or the Fish River and you don’t have to carry your food, bedding or a tent (unless you are camping). Fresh, clean water is frequently available, too.

The section between Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Pamplona is however not to be underestimated.

The ascent may sound daunting, but it is the downhill sections, some of those descents quite gnarly and one fairly technical, that eats into your joints. (Depending on your fitness and strength, be sure to prepare with at least three months’ worth of glute exercises. Focus on downhill hiking while carrying weight on your back. The Husband claims 1,000 sports pavilion steps a day in preparation will do the trick.)

For this reason, I’ve considered carefully whether to pack my road runners or trail running shoes. Many of my friends were happy with their road tekkies on the Camino. In the end, I stuck to my trail runners and although you don’t have to, I’m happy that I did.

Your shoes will carry you through this. Best you make a comfortable decision.

My third backpacking trick is about where, and not what. Ensure that you concentrate the heaviest material flat against your back, below your collar bones and above your lower ribs. Your core should easily deal with the extra weight. This is, for example, why you carry your water bladder in the same spot. At up to 2,5kg, your water is (hopefully) the single heaviest item in your pack. I found it unnecessary to carry that much water on the Camino as there are many opportunities to top up along the way. At most, my bladder held about one litre of water.

If your pack is heaviest anywhere above your collar bones or way down at or below your hips, your centre of gravity will change. This ensures that you are top-heavy or lag backwards, triggering an uncomfortable posture and altered gait. An abnormal gait puts more strain than necessary on your body — a sure way to trigger sore muscles, joints and possible injuries. You are also more likely to topple over in case you lose your footing when weight is concentrated around your head or below your hips. None of this is supportive to an enjoyable hike.

Camino-ready. The contents of my backpack at home. 19 August 2023. (Photo: Pauli van Wyk)

The Husband and I both invested in sturdy Osprey backpacks. Mine is a 38L pack and his is a 45L pack. Neither of these was ever packed to capacity on the Camino.

Your pack should never — I cannot over-emphasise how important this bit is — rest on your shoulders. You carry the weight with your hips, allowing the waistband to settle onto your hip bones. The shoulder bands are simply there to keep your pack flat against your back. A valuable rule is to ensure two to three fingers can fit in between your strap and shoulder.

My last trick is plastic ziplock bags to divide your contents into manageable parts.

(My plastic-hating friend and experienced traveller Anim van Wyk will frown at me right now. She is not wrong.)

Ziplocks have the added bonus of keeping any leaking substance in — or outside the bag, away from my clothes and socks. I also never have to dig through my bag to find a loose item that drifted to the bottom.

I tend to group necessities for a hiking day together in one or two bags. That is one breathable top, a sports bra, pants and a pair of socks.

Toiletries, except sunscreen, in another bag. Medication for emergencies in a different one.

I included a light plastic container and some more ziplocks for eats. I’m a dedicated lover of food. There is no way I can travel through Europe and not buy cheese, bread and deli meats along the way.

Here is a list of things in my backpack. I had to carefully consider my packing list as we stayed two days before and after our hike in Paris and had one resting day in Pamplona.

The packing list

High summer in Europe made this packing list for seven days’ hike and five days’ city exploring easier:

• 3 pairs of socks — as a rule, I only buy Balega blister-resistant socks;


• 3 sports bras;


• 3 lightweight, quick-drying short-sleeved tops;


• 2 lightweight, quick-drying short pants;


• 1 comfortable pair of long pants and a long-sleeved top for some evenings;


• 3 lightweight dresses — for after the shower and exploring the surroundings;


• 1 pair of comfortable sleepwear;


• 1 sarong — a shield against the sun or a cool breeze, a cushioned seat for a stopover and a towel after swimming;


• Underwear;


• Bikini;


• Trail runners — currently I prefer Salomon Speedcross 6;


• Flipflops.

My gear included:

• Water bladder — struggling up and down a mountain with a water bottle banging against your body is so 1914;


• 2 soft hydration flasks tucked into the front pockets of my Osprey bag — mainly for electrolytes or energy drinks and once for wine;


• Hot chocolate sachets and rooibos tea;


• Sour worm jelly sweets;


• Biltong;


• Eight sachets Revive electrolytes — you never know when you desperately need electrolytes. I pack them on all my hikes, whether I use it or not;


• Plastic container for food such as cheese;


• Ziplocks;


• Headlamp — for an early morning, exploring after dark or that moment you awake in a strange dark room;


• Band-aids;


• Medication for headaches, allergies or stings;


• Magnesium supplements for hard-working muscles;


• Antibiotic and anti-mosquito ointment;


• Broad-spectrum antibiotics — we didn’t pack these, we should have!


• Broad-rimmed hat. I prefer visor caps on all my hikes, but in the unshielded heat of a European summer, you really need a broad-rimmed hat;


• Sunscreen;


• Sunglasses.

Toiletries:

• Chafing cream — you’ll be thankful when you need it;


• Small containers with shower gel — enough to wash your clothes with also — shampoo and conditioner;


• Moisturiser;


• Mascara;


• Wetwipes — handy en route, after lunch, for a warm face or other casualties of life;


• Toothbrush and toothpaste;


• Travel-sized hairbrush and extra hairbands — I’ve been caught with only one hairband on the Otter trail once and when it broke, I promised myself never again;


• A book. Mine was The Grand Scam, a tale about fraudster Barry Tannenbaum, by my friend Rob Rose.

Top Tip: 

Pack your book, sarong, swim gear, jelly sweets and sunscreen in the top compartment of your backpack for easy reach during the day. Any packed food or wine would conceivably be heavier than your gear — pack these on top of everything else inside your bag, next to your water bladder. The heaviest item, like a bottle of wine, closest to your spine. In this way, you manage your balance and shield the food from most of the heat burning down on your bag.

My hips are about five centimetres narrower than my bag’s waist belt accommodates. I tend to fill the gaps with sponges or my sarong to ensure my shoulders carry no weight — it has the added bonus of cushioning your hip bones. Every hiker who ever tried to sleep on night two with chafed or tender hip bones will nod in agreement.

Buen Camino!

The sense of community on the Camino trail is tighter than the handshake between Suzuki Jimny drivers in the Western Cape.

You are never completely alone, yet you have all the space and quiet time you need.

Fellow pilgrims cheerfully wave or nod at each other and say “Buen Camino!” — a greeting that not only conveys the literal meaning to have a “good way” or a “good hike”, but appears to say “I recognise we are both on this journey for our own reasons, in our own time and in our own way. Welcome”.

It seems not to matter to pilgrims that their countries may be at war, or that one’s community may have fundamentally (even violently) disagreed with the other’s. In fact, there is little emphasis on your history or lineage and much focus on your current experience and inner peace.

I’ve witnessed strangers carry each other’s load and share food and water, medical aid, advice or jokes. Some never talk to each other; they simply greet and wave in passing. Or not. And that is okay, too. One foot in front of the other.

My first sense of that community feeling was standing in line at the Pilgrim Office in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the afternoon before our journey started.

First steps. Leaving St Jean-Pied-de-Port France, 22 August 2023. (Photo: Pauli van Wyk)

Camino signs at the door of the Camino office in St Jean-Pied-de-Port France, 22 August 2023. (Photo: Pauli van Wyk)

The office is staffed with volunteers from across the world, usually open every day from 7.30am to 8pm. You don’t have to stop here, but it is handy and comforting as the office has the latest weather updates, and can probably address any insecurity about the route you may have.

All the tourist trappings congregate here too: I bought myself a scallop shell — the symbol of the Camino de Santiago — and two embroidered Camino patches for our backpacks as well as two “Pilgrim Passports” or “Credencial del Peregrino”.

The Husband still rolls his eyes at me because I dragged him into many cathedrals on our route, searching for that spot’s unique ink stamp meant to enhance our “pilgrims credentials”.

These actually only become significant when you are bent on receiving the Compostela Certificate, in Latin, issued by the Cathedral of Santiago. The certificate signifies that you walked the last 100km or cycled the last 200km to Santiago de Compostela. The evidence nowadays is in these stamps.

At one stage pilgrims collected scallop shells as pilgrimage proof, but — you won’t believe it — unscrupulous pilgrims committed scallop shell fraud and that idea got canned.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port stocks everything — literally — you could need for your hike and may have forgotten at home. Of course, you’ll pay more than you ought to, but don’t panic if something breaks or goes missing. It’s replaceable.

The village also sports a number of eateries for your last supper.

I recommend you skip all of these. Wander down Rue d’Espagne and pick up fresh produce for a picnic next to the river Nive de Béhérobie.

Best meal in St-Jean-Pied-de-Port. (Photo: Pauli van Wyk)

We had one of the best meals of our lives with wine, fresh tomatoes and bread from grocery shops Maison Francis Miot and Gurmantia’K, Iberian ham and cheese (don’t skip the truffle cheese!) from Maison Gastellou, foie gras (I know, I know. Sorry. Not sorry.) from Aggeria and cannelés from pastry shop Maison Berthold. Save some for your first day’s lunch.

Top Tip: 

The Pilgrim Office is at 39 Rue de la Citadelle, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

If the line is long, strike up a conversation with your fellow pilgrim, or buy a coffee and Nutella pancake higher up in the street and keep an eye on the line’s progress.

Carrying luggage is not your thing? Organise transport services through the local post office or private companies operating on the Camino route. Make sure your service is clear about the drop-off point. DM