My best Mate from the UK, Carl, who spent 26 years in the Royal Navy, and was required to execute many highly physically demanding tasks, gave me great advice about preparing. He said, “Mate, don’t forget the 6 P’s.”  Are you familiar with the 6 P’s?  Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.  Sounds like sage advice to me and one learned from first hand experience.

Nancy and I have been reading as much as we can about the Camino de Santiago from those who have gone before us. We’ve been soliciting recommendations for local, experienced long distance hikers.  We joined the Colorado Front Range Chapter of the American Pilgrims of the Camino.  This Chapter is made up of wonderful people who have already experienced the Camino de Santiago or are planning their Camino in the future.

Selecting the gear and physical training is entirely personal. You’ll need to find the right gear that suits you and to what extent you will commit to physical training.  Since I promise to “keep it real” I’ll share what we’ve selected for gear as well as the appalling lack of training.

This is our first Camino de Santiago so we have ZERO experience. The gear we’ve selected is from a wide variety of resources we’ve found online as well as speaking to experienced staff at our local shops specializing in long distance hiking gear.  With an emphasis on lightweight, water resistant, sturdy gear and evaluating what we believe is essential, we have made our final selections.

I will soon provide a photo and description of all the gear we’ve selected.