up this indoor set up. The woman at the refugio was quite upset
to find this, hanging up your laundry indoors is forbidden!
How else was it supposed to dry in the rain!
This week, the laundry gave up a few hidden "treasures." My pink bedsheet let go of a dish towel and a missing sock came out of hiding in a nightgown. But my turquoise "Camino panties" still haven't made a showing!
Shopping for hiking gear was one thing, getting those things needed for the Camino was quite another. Just about every book or website offers a list of items recommended for Camino. No two lists are exactly alike and all of them deal with the things a person would need to walk the entire 800 kilometer Camino Frances. As my Camino companions and I were making up our own lists, it was obvious there were some things we wouldn't need for our shortened version of the Camino Portuguese, nail clippers for example.
I'll save gear for my next post, today I'll talk about Camino clothing. I had one pair of hiking pants which served me well. Our group usually only hiked once a week and on those few occasions when we did hike a bit more, jeans worked fine. Not a lot of bushwacking on Rails to Trails paths and the like! So the first thing needed for Camino was three sets of everything, one for clean, one for dirty/drying and one for wearing.
Since we were heading to sunny Spain in late May, there was summer stuff to buy. I hit all the winter clearance racks at REI, LL Bean and Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) in search of bargains. I found the ugliest color brown hiking pants for $11.97, a performance t-shirt for less than $10 and a lightweight long sleeved hiking shirt for around $15 on sale at REI. Good start! A shopping expedition with Joe and Karin at EMS got me another t-shirt and a really nice sleeveless shirt (so my arms could tan) at bargain prices. I found another cheap t-shirt at Dick's so I was set as far as tops go. But other than that ugly brown item, I could find no lightweight hiking pants on sale. But, this was sunny Spain and I had a pair of watersport shorts that would work so I'm thinking even if I had to pay full price for another pair of pants, it wouldn't be so bad!
Then, there was the pajama dilemma. Every Camino guide recommended that women sleep in a t-shirt and panties. Okay, but I needed something long enough to cover my butt at least. I had a nice Life is Good brand sleep tee, plenty long but it weighed in at quite a bit. And would never dry if I did in fact have to wash it. So the search was on for a man's performance tee that was long enough and light enough. No easy task. I finally found something at Kohl's. Two things actually. A hideously ugly t-shirt and a big old long basketball type shirt. Both on clearance. I would decide later which I would bring on Camino.
A few of the Camino books recommended bringing one dress. I nice lightweight summer shift to wear in the evening. Karin and I both thought it was a good idea to dress up once in a while. I found a perfect dress at TJ Maxx. Sleeveless and of a fabric that would dry quickly. I really liked it too which was a big bonus. I wound up wearing it to work often this past summer!
Now, for underthings. With two good pairs of hiking socks, I would only need one more pair but picked up two, just in case. I had two very lightweight sport bras from cycling and found another at Dick's, this one with just a touch of padding. Perfect for evenings, it would be nice to have a little lift! Now, on to panties!
I guess a little clarification is in order. All of our clothing had to be very lightweight and absolutely had to be fast drying - for laundry reasons and for walking in the rain. So, a cotton t-shirt wouldn't work. Nor would cotton pants or cotton panties!
I was certain that something in the underwear drawer would work. So began the wash and dry experiments. Wear a pair, wash them out in the sink and then hang them up to dry over the shower curtain. About the only thing that would dry completely overnight was a very lovely lace pair that I would not feel, let's say, comfortable about hanging up to dry on a public clothesline. But I now knew what would work and headed to Walmart, where I picked up three pairs of stretch lace panties. All passed the wash and dry test with flying colors. And, they each cost less than $2.50!
I found a great big floppy brimmed cotton hat to wear, no baseball cap for me. I loved that hat and liked how it looked on me. Since it didn't have a strap, I carefully poked holes on the side and added a piece of cording to strap around my neck so I wouldn't lose my hat to the wind.
Okay, now for a pair of shoes to wear in the evenings. I opted for a pair of Teva hiking sandals. They were incredibly comfortable and good looking too. Since they were hiking sandals, I could also use them to walk the Camino if there was a problem with either my boots or my feet.
Now I was set! Or so I thought. As Camino got closer, the weather in Portugal and Spain was looking pretty dismal. We had a cold wet spring here and it looked as if we were going to get more of the same on Camino, only colder and wetter! Each day, I was checking Weather.com for Porto and Santiago. It was consistently calling for temperatures in the 60s by day and drop to as low as the 40s at night. And rain - every day that little rain cloud appeared on my computer screen. As the ten day forecast now covered our entire Camino, it was time to head back out to the stores and get some warm clothes and rain gear.
I can't stand being cold. I can handle 100 degree temperatures but I can't tolerate the cold. I run a space heater in my office virtually every day of the year. I made a quick list, rain gear, warm tops and something warm to sleep in. So the week before Camino, back to the outdoor outfitters I go. My big old warm fleece was too heavy. I picked up a lighter weight but warm one at LL Bean. The shorts were no longer an option so I paid full price for two pairs of hiking pants. Another long sleeved button up shirt and a warm pullover. All those t-shirts would now be used as base layers (and trying to be optimistic, I would have something to wear if it did get warm)!
For sleeping, I was hoping to get some wool long underwear. But there wasn't much in the way of long underwear out in May. I wound up with silk but did get lucky. While going through the clearance rack, I found a performance fabric long sleeved ladies top in size XL. It was nice and long and would be perfect to wear over my long johns at night. So far, so good!
Now, rain gear. I had earlier bought a backpacker's rain poncho but a friend Dave mentioned that a pack cover would be better. He kind of sold me when he said how nice it is to be able to take your pack off in the rain when you're having lunch or whatever. So, I bought a pack cover as well as a Goretex rain jacket in a bright poison green color. And don't forget the rain pants! They were expensive but were on every Camino list I read and figured well, it is going to rain! And thinking about rain, I realized my pretty cotton hat wasn't going to work at all. I found a nice Goretex hat with a big brim and this one did come with a chin strap. For $50, it should!
I kind of laugh when I think about the vast sums of cash willingly and gleefully thrown down for my hiking wardrobe. I spent similar sums for my cycling wardrobe. And yet, when it comes to buying civilian clothes, I am an absolute tightwad. $50 for a pair of nice wool slacks? Forget it! $50 for a pair of hiking pants or cycling shorts - hey, give me two! Crazy!
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