500 Miles. Here's What We're Bringing.

Camino de Santiago - Frances Route

Andy and I leave for Midland on Monday. We fly out Tuesday. And after months of planning, researching, and repacking.. I think we’re actually ready.

We’re walking the Camino de Santiago, the Frances Route. This route starts in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, and winds all the way to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

500 miles.. on foot.

I’m receiving a lot of questions about the Camino and what it is..

For those of you who don’t know, let me give you a little background because this is one of those things that’s hard to explain until you’ve felt the pull of it yourself.

The Camino de Santiago, known in English as the Way of St. James, is one of the most ancient and celebrated pilgrimage routes in the world. It winds across Europe, from France, Portugal, the northern Spanish coast, and beyond, which all meet in the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, where the remains of the apostle Saint James are said to be buried.

The Camino Francés, or French Way, is the most famous of all the routes. First described in the 12th century in what may be the world’s first travel guidebook, the Codex Calixtinus, it has since attracted millions of walkers, making it the most popular Camino route of all. Starting from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees, it crosses four stunning Spanish regions, (Navarre, La Rioja, Castilla y León, and Galicia) passing through Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos, and León before arriving at Santiago.

People walk it for all kinds of reasons like faith, adventure, and sometimes just to figure out life. Along the way there are medieval bridges, UNESCO-protected cathedrals, an ancient iron cross that pilgrims have marked with stones for centuries, and a castle of the Knights Templar. It is, in every sense of the word, a journey.

Last year, Andy and I walked the Portuguese Route. It changed us in ways that we knew we would be back again. And, less than a year later, we will be doing it again.

Here’s what I learned on the Portuguese Camino: your pack will humble you.

I carried a full backpack last year. By the end, my shoulders were wrecked and a wrecked shoulder, it turns out, travels straight down to your hips. I was compensating with every step, and my body hated it.

We decided to use a suitcase transfer service where your luggage gets picked up each morning at your accommodation and delivered to your next stop. This allows me to carry a lighter pack this year which I’m excited about.

With the suitcase transfer handling the bulk of our gear, I’m walking each day with an 18L Osprey day pack (linked here: Osprey), which is light, fits perfectly, and carries everything I actually need on the trail:

• My Sony A6400 camera (more on that in a second)

• Tripod for content

• Change of clothes

• Foldable sandals because the moment you get to your destination and take your hiking boots off, you want something on your feet immediately

• Rain jacket

• A few other trail essentials

And clipped to me: my Cotopaxi fanny pack (linked here: Cotopaxi) for my passport, license, and money.

I brought my Sony A7III last year. I love that camera. It is also an absolute brick to carry for 500 miles, and I felt every ounce of it.

This year I made the switch to the Sony A6400 which is significantly lighter, still shoots beautiful content, and actually makes me want to pull it out instead of dreading the weight. If you’re planning a Camino and you’re a content creator, learn from my expensive lesson: go lighter. Your footage will be just as good and your shoulders will send you a thank you note.

Here’s the full packing list for anyone planning their own Camino and wondering what actually makes the cut:

• Hiking poles

• Athletic dress

• 3 pairs of socks

• 3 t-shirts (linked here: Studio Smooth)

• 1 long sleeved t-shirts (linked here: Old Navy Hiking Long Sleeve)

• 3 pairs of shorts

• 2 pairs of hiking pants (linked here: Hiking Pants)

• Underwear & sports bra

• Zip-up jacket

• Swimsuit

• Water Bottle

& care essentials like blister cream, band aids, kinesiology tape, shampoo & conditioner bars, etc.

Best sunscreen face moisturizer (linked here: Shaklee)

Sleep Gummies (linked here: Lemme)

When you’re walking 500 miles, you stop caring very quickly about having outfit options and start caring a lot about weight, function, and whether something dries overnight.

I will be sharing this entire journey with you: the good days, the hard days, the blisters, the views, the albergues, the café con leche (I’m excited to try) at 7am in some tiny Spanish village where nobody speaks English and somehow you feel completely at home.

The Camino has a way of giving you exactly what you need, not always what you expect. Last year it gave me perspective. This year I’m walking lighter, in every sense of the word, with my husband by my side.

Buen Camino, friends. Be sure to follow along!

-M