What I packed

Make a packing list. You need less than you think. First rule: take no cotton. When you wash a cotton garment, it will not dry fast enough to wear it the next day. If it rains, you’ll be wet and stay wet.

Here’s my packing list: Two pairs of cycling shorts; two short sleeve T-shirts (not real cycling shirts, just the easy dry, miracle fabric shirts); one long sleeve shirt (also miracle fabric); one pair convertible trousers (long pants with zippers on legs to make shorts); two pairs of cycling socks; underwear; one fleece jacket; one rain jacket to fit over fleece (never used it, but I was lucky with the weather); cycling gloves; one pair of hiking shoes (I used straps and not clips, thus I could use my hiking shoes for riding as well as walking in the evenings); one helmet; toiletries, sunblock; baby powder for my trousers.

I also packed a cellphone charger and plug adaptor, a leatherman, toiletpaper and small towel made from quickdry material. It’s good to have a guidebook on the Camino – mine that I’ve ordered on the internet didn’t arrive in time, so I had to buy a Lonely Planet guide in London, which was decent. Take a camera, spare batteries and an extra SD card. The maps I used were three Michelin maps I bought beforehand from the internet. They are numbers 571, 573 and 575.

You can use your ATM card to draw cash from ATM machines available all over the Camino, so there’s no need to take traveller’s checks or buy euro’s before you leave home. You can get over the counter medicine at any Spanish pharmacy. I did take my headache pills with me. I also measured daily rations of my favourite energy supplement into plastic bags, and tagged them according to my route (if there was a stiff climb, I would double the ration). Each morning I just had to empty the bag into my water bottle and there was my fuel for the day.