Camino Pilgrim

Keeping your body in good condition after a long day of hiking becomes even more important if you go on the Camino non-stop without rest days.

The concepts I describe here are things that have worked for me. I’m not a medical expert of any sorts. For professional advice consult a doctor and/or a physiotherapist.

Evening shoes

After a long day of hiking the feet like to swell up a lot. You should definitely have a nice soft pair of flip flops in your backpack to wear in evenings. The more fresh air your feet can get, the faster they heal. Having sandal type shoes with open toes will be a great benefit to your toes.

Air out your feet

During the day find opportunities to let your feet breathe a bit. Keeping them in shoes is a fast way to blisters. You might want to swap out socks during the day for maximum comfort. Additionally placing bare feet on a stone floor that is in the shade very quickly reduces swelling, although might be slightly painful if feet are already terribly swollen.

Cold water

Your first goal in the evening is to reduce swelling in the feet. Cold water is the best medicine for that. Dipping your feet in a nice cold swimming pool is the best option. That is rare to have. As an alternative I have quite often used a plastic washing bowl that are usually for washing clothes. I have tested also Ice Power Cold Gel on my first two Caminos, but they seem to be overall less effective compared to cold water.

Stretching

Hip, hamstring and back stretches should be done every day after a hike if possible. Ensuring good mobility in your most used joints during hiking will keep injuries away. A stiff body will break instead of bending.

When it comes to the bottom of the foot, then massaging is not an issue and improves blood circulation so healing from a long day of hiking happens faster.

Where I personally made a mistake last Camino was that I did also stretching of toes. There are a huge number of muscles in the foot and stretching toes might alter the way muscles are used in the foot. While this can be a good thing for overall foot health during the off season, then on the Camino you are doing constantly such long walking days, that the feet will not have time to adjust and do insanely long distances day after day.

Sleeping equipent

Every albergue has a pillow on the bunkbed, so carrying your own travel pillow will be useless. There usually also are paper bedsheets provided within the albergue fee (sometimes you need to pay like 2€ extra for those). Normally every albergue also has warm blankets that you can use if you feel chilly that night. If you don’t see any in the room then just ask the hospitaliero (person who runs the place).

Since many things are already provided then a winter sleeping bag will not be necessary unless you hike on the off-season. Summer sleeping bags might even be overkill if you are on the trail between May and August. Especially if you have a set of clothes you use for sleeping then use a hiking blanket instead. It does not add great warmth, but it also takes no space in the pack.

Sleeping mask

Since you are not the only person in the albergues, then often you will have pilgrims coming in and out of the room. Some might turn on lights at random hours. If you are very sensitive to light then bring a sleeping mask. If that is not so critical then you can just use a buff. Those are so multi functional when it comes to keeping your neck warm in mornings or protecting your head from the sun during the day.

Earplugs

These are essential for Caminos. There will always be at least one person snoring loudly in the room. Worst case scenario there are several and all around you. The only real solution is to use earplugs. I use cheap wax solutions and they have worked just fine for me over the years.

Just keep in mind to bring more than one pair with you. Its quite common for me to lose a single earplug. Earplugs do not really add any weight to your pack, but getting a good nights sleep on the Camino is a must if you plan to hike day after day. Getting bad sleep will ruin your next day of hiking.