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How much water to carry on the Camino?
Water is vital on any hike, on the Camino de Santiago you have a bit more infrastructure than most other hikes. But even then, carrying your own water and refilling is necessary. I recommend you take at least 1.5 liters of water with you. And refill as needed during the day. I also like to camel up at any water source (or drink extra and refill). But I am a (small) Dutch guy at 1.88 meters or ~ 6.2 feet. So I burn through a lot of water during the day on hikes. Filling up your water along the Camino All along the Camino, there are water fountains you can…
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Trail Meal | Crackers and Stuff
One of my favorite ways to have breakfast, lunch, snack, or even dinner out on hiking trips is to have crackers with stuff on them. Yes, it is not the most original or exciting way of eating, but it can be a quick and high-calorie meal that requires no cooking. Let’s discuss all the different toppings and kinds of crackers you can easily keep in your backpack. Some crackers are better than others and can be a great lunch or a crumbly mess in your backpack. In different militaries all over the world, there are staples in every MRE or equivalent. Backpacking food and military food often share items. Crackers…
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Mistakes made on the Camino de Santiago
All plans tend to fall apart when getting hit in the face, and with big hikes like the Camino, plans, ideas, and preparation sometimes don’t work out that way. Here are the mistakes I made on the Camino Frances and Portuguese. Not bringing hiking poles from the start Hiking poles took a while for me to be a cheerleader for, but when I finally gave them a proper chance I’m not going back to hiking without. I would highly suggest that you give them a try if you haven’t yet, and either pick them up at the beginning of the Camino you’re on or take them with you from the…
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Do you need hiking poles for the Camino?
Lots of pilgrims walk with hiking or trekking poles on the Camino Frances, or any other Camino for that matter. I did the Portuguese Coastal without, and the Camino Frances with. And I have become a convert like many others. I never did much hiking with hiking poles in my younger years, and always felt weird with them whenever I tried them out. Hikes I did without trekking poles include the Hadrian’s Wall path, Dutch Limes, Camino Portuguese Coastal, and a section hike on the Appalachian Trail of Big Bald Mountain. I had it in my head that trekking poles were for the weak, and that they made an annoying…
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Spyderco Tenacious | Knife review
The Spyderco Tenacious is a long standing budget favorite among knife enthusiasts and for years it has been the de facto first purchase for many Spyderco first-timers. It has everything that makes a Spyderco knife great, for a leaner budget than the regular lineup. Here is my review of the Spyderco Tenacious. Spyderco is a knife brand that offers a great selection of knives, their premium line or regular lineup is made in the USA, Japan, Italy, and Taiwan, which also comes with a price tag. For that reason, they have released a Byrd lineup that’s made in China, and a few models without the Byrd branding. The Spyderco Tenacious…
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How long can a Fancy Feast stove cook?
Ever since I built my first fancy feast, I have been wondering how long it can cook for or burn. In this post, I share my experiment with the absolute max fill-up off fuel 65 grams or milliliters of bio ethanol. My fancy feast stove has quickly become my go-to alcohol stove for its simplicity and reliability, it can bring water to the boil pretty quickly, it’s easy to light, and it’s easy to snuff out with the addition of another can. And, no pot stand. All the specifications for my particular fancy feast stove can be found in my post about it. For this experiment, I’m using a homemade…
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Trail Meal | Vermicelli soup
Vermicelli pasta is great for converting into trail meal recipes since it cooks fast and can provide a lot of filling power in a small package. A staple ingredient in any Dutch vegetable soup, vermicelli can also be adapted easily as a change of the ever-popular Instant Noodle Soup. Read on for the recipe! Vermicelli is a small pasta that can be found in almost any grocery store in Europe, and can be a great plus cheap way to make some trail meal recipes out off. In this first recipe that I’m making with the ingredient, I explore a soup, since that is what I am most familiar with when…
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Trail Meal | Brotsuppe
A good way to use up old stale bread in Germany is to throw it in a soup, since seeing that around here I thought that was also a good one to turn into a Trail Meal recipe for hiking and camping. Read on for the recipe! Brotsuppe or Bread soup is one of those dishes that takes care to use up every leftover and scrap, since I’m Dutch I did not grow up on German Brotsuppe, so I don’t have a long history with it. It does however appeal to my Dutch cheapness. You can find it with a lot of ingredients or the most basic, and the core…
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Tomshoo 750ml pot | Review
Many different brands produce the same kind of Titanium pot that many ultralight hikers use, this Tomshoo 750ml pot is a budget version that is an option for their cooking setup. Here is my review of the Tomshoo 750ml pot. Titanium The main advantage of all these types of pots is that they are made from Titanium, after many years of using mainly aluminum pots, Titanium is the clear winner when it comes to its lightness and sturdiness. Aluminum is also often coated or anodized which wears off over time, as seen with my cook pot kit of many years, the Esbit cook pot combination. Size and weight The size…
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How much weight to carry for Camino de Santiago?
The Camino de Santiago is not a wilderness hike, as such, carrying weight is not as big a deal on many other hikes where you have to bring a tent and everything that goes along it. In this blog post, I share the recommended weight for your backpack and some examples. The weight of your backpack on the different Camino’s should not exceed about 10 to 15% of your body weight. You can however carry more or less depending on what you need or are used to. Mine weighed a bit more than 9 kilos altogether on the Camino Frances, but that was mostly because I had to carry a…
Finding Purpose in every Step
