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Getting ready
What you need to know before you leave, and does not fit on a stage page.
The credencial
It is the paper that opens the hostels and the one you show at the Pilgrim Office. Stamp it from day one, and in the last hundred kilometres you need two stamps a day: that small print costs more Compostelas than anything else.
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Backpack weight
The rule is old and has not changed: no more than ten per cent of your own body weight. It is the difference between reaching Santiago and quitting in Burgos with tendinitis.
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Blisters and feet
Almost nobody quits because of the climbs. People quit because of their feet, and blisters form on day one over things that take two minutes to prevent.
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Minimum phrasebook
Twenty-five phrases. With these you can sleep, eat, get stamped and ask for help anywhere on the Camino. They come in the three languages you will hear at the desk.
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The Camino by bike
It is not the same Camino, only faster: it is a different one. The distances change, the hostels change, and so do the sections you can actually ride.
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The Camino with a dog
It can be done, and more people do it every year. But the problem is not the distance: it is where the two of you sleep.
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