The funny anti-packing list: what pilgrims really haul along

Every sensible packing list tells you: take as little as possible. Not this one. It collects photos and stories of the wildest, bulkiest and, at first glance, most absurd things that pilgrims have actually lugged all the way to Santiago – from an alphorn to a spätzle press. That's why we call it, with a wink, our anti-packing list.

Some of it makes you laugh, some of it moves you. And almost every time it turns out: the most unnecessary piece of luggage is often the one you remember longest.

The 1,000-kilometre raisins

When I walked the Camino Francés in 2016, I carried an unopened packet of raisins for almost 1,000 km. I had packed it as an emergency ration or snack and only ate it on the second-to-last day, when I took a taxi to Santiago. Just so it wasn't all for nothing. ;)

So for almost 1,000 km I carried 200 g too much.

I took the photo as a keepsake before I ate the raisins by the sea.

– Marie

The hip flask

Back in 2017, on the advice of my best friend's father, I took a hip flask on the Camino Portugués – one he lent me himself – and filled it with Tatranský čaj, which is a pretty high-proof alcoholic drink from Slovakia …

My backpack was very heavy because I had far too many unnecessary things with me, so in Redondela, together with Alfonso from Spain and Andrea from Italy, we drank the contents and went to the post office in the best of spirits to send a parcel home.

We laughed like crazy, and the post office clerk gave us a very critical look, but we didn't mind at all :-)

– Katerina

The didgeridoo

I met the young Englishman in 2013. We spent a long time together in this church; he played his didgeridoo, which he carried with him along the entire Way of St. James, like no one else.

– Horst

Hans-Jürgen

I'd like to introduce you to my cuddly companion, Hans-Jürgen.

Hans-Jürgen comes along with me/us on every trip, and his highlight was the Camino Portugués in 2019.

Although he slept a lot on my backpack, he was wide awake at the most important moments. Even in sad situations he always had a sympathetic ear for me. After my husband, Hans-Jürgen is the best guy in my life.

– Sabine Jahrisch

Flip-flops

On his Camino in 2016, Peter Chris Bürger met a Brazilian student who had no shoes other than his flip-flops – and who actually walked the entire Camino in them …

The alphorn

In 2014, 2015 and 2018 I walked from Burgos to Santiago, and in 2020 from Astorga, and each time I had my baby, the "alphorn", with me.

With provisions, that came to a whole 22 kg 😁

I always played in or after Mass wherever I was, and in the end I was allowed to play in the cathedral in Santiago every single time.

– Ralf

Always something

Because I'm walking the Way of St. James from my front door, spread over several years, I've got into the habit of taking something with me at the end of the last stage of each section. Something I find on the very last metres of that pilgrimage. It might be a stone, a pine cone, a small piece of branch or a few chestnuts.

At home I put this memento on my desk as a reminder of my longing to go back on the Camino.

And when the time comes a year or two later, I take this keepsake back with me to the end point of the last pilgrimage, which then becomes the start of the new stretch. Almost reverently, I symbolically give the Way what is its own, that is, I give the object back. Full of gratitude that this object kept my deep longing for the Camino alive in my hectic everyday life.

– Hartmut

The coffee maker

I'm accompanied by Pablo, my cafetera. Pablo is my moka pot, who comes with me on my walks – dangling from my backpack.

Pablo's real name is Paul, but since he likes Spain just as much as I do, he prefers to call himself Pablo. He even has his own Instagram account: "pablo_on_tour_since2019".

It's quite a bit of extra weight to haul Pablo along with the stove that goes with him, the gas and the coffee, cups included, but apart from the luxury of being able to enjoy a fresh coffee completely independently and freely in the most wonderful spots along the Camino, a coffee maker is also an excellent conversation starter.

Good thing I always carry an extra cup for new acquaintances :-) I was inspired by a wonderful Australian who, when I met him, was also carrying a coffee maker and who shared his coffee with me in the most marvellous places – on a church tower, for example. I liked that so much that ever since, I've had Pablo the cafetera with me on my Caminos and other hikes too.

– Christine

The rice cooker

It was a RICE COOKER!!!! I almost fell off my chair laughing when the Chinese businessman I'd kept running into unpacked his rice cooker.

That same day, in the same albergue, I noticed that he didn't have a sleeping bag because of it. So what brought me the tiniest bit of privacy and "home", his rice cooker brought him. At night he covered himself as best he could with his jacket.

That story really touched me!!

– Martina

The 1,000-kilometre diary

Before I set off on the Way of St. James in Spain for the first time in 2017, my best friend gave me a travel diary. I thought it was a great idea and of course took it with me.

Unfortunately, my backpack arrived 3 days after I did. Naturally there was already a lot to tell in that time, so I recorded it on my phone.

Somehow, for the whole 14 days, I never got back on track and kept recording all my thoughts and stories on my phone. But I couldn't bring myself to part with the gift either.

So I took it back home without having written a single word in it. An estimated 180 g carried for friendship :)

– Gabi

The dog

I met this young pilgrim on the Way of St. James in 2016; she came from Korea … with this little dog.

– Horst

Soap bubbles

I walked the Camino Francés together with my son in 2019. I was in a difficult situation in my life and hoped to bring some lightness to our journey. And I wanted to spread joy to other pilgrims. Everyone likes soap bubbles, and it was so easy. Sometimes it's the little things in life that make you happy.

– Margit

The travel hairdryer

Ever since my first Camino, I've always had a travel hairdryer with me.

I often walk in the shoulder months – between February and October – when the evenings are often still, or already again, chilly. With wet hair I get cold easily.

People often laugh at me for this gadget, but I always tell them: everyone has their own personal little piece of luxury with them, and for me, that's my hairdryer.

In May 2008 it rained for days on end. Back then I had the small satisfaction that the very people who had laughed at me the day before meekly asked if they could borrow my hairdryer, because it was wonderful for drying completely soaked socks and shoes!

In 2015, for once, I didn't have the hairdryer with me. I wanted to bring my mini tablet on that walk and left the hairdryer at home to balance out the weight. The first thing I said when I got back home was: "The hairdryer app was crap! Next year the original is coming again."

– Birgit

Irons & more

The famous mural in Cardeñuela Riopico (Camino Francés before Burgos), which immortalises superfluous luggage.

– Photo by Bernhard

The hunting horn

In 2018, when I was on my way back, I met a Frenchman in Foncebadón who had a hunting horn with him and asked me to take his picture with his camera, which of course I did.

However, I didn't take a photo of this good man and his hunting horn myself, which is why, all the way to Astorga, I wondered whether I might have hallucinated. Apparently it happens at higher altitudes with a lack of oxygen. :-) And if the Cruz de Ferro or Foncebadón aren't high enough for that, it might perhaps have been down to a lack of water. After all, it was August and the height of summer. :-))

But shortly before Astorga I met a Belgian who was also on his way back and who confirmed that he too had met the Frenchman with the hunting horn.

So no hallucination after all – by the way, to my somewhat baffled question, "What do you need a hunting horn for on the Camino?", the Frenchman had replied: "To play something for the pilgrims in the albergues!"

Best wishes, ultreia and buen camino!

– Céleste

The spätzle press

In 2018, on the Camino Portugués, we made fresh spätzle together in the evening and ate them.

At first I still thought it was just a rumour that someone actually had one of those things in their backpack. Until I really did meet this pilgrim.

What a great idea from this Swabian. That's how he creates lovely memories. Things like that bring people together 🙂

– Ramona Bücker

An urn

An American I met along the way carried his father's urn along the entire Camino Francés.

– Alex

The urinal

The man who pulled a urinal behind him as an art object, from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela.

– Philipp

Another urinal

I was walking in Galicia in 2017, and first I found this sign and shortly afterwards the toilet.

No one knows how it got there. And there doesn't seem to be any connection with the urinal above.

– Dieter

The birdcage

A bird in a cage. The old woman had no one at home who could look after her bird. I think the woman came from Korea and was fulfilling a lifelong dream. That was in June 2014. Maybe someone still has a picture of the lady.

– Jelena

The addiction stone

In 2018 I walked the Way to get off crystal meth after 20 years and detox. This was my addiction stone, and I carried it all the way to Finisterre and left it there.

– E. H.

Roller skates

"A young man from Germany, he always rolled downhill; I arrived in Santiago with him in June 2014 …" (Anna Wegner)

"He slept next to me in an albergue in May 2014, a cheerful young man. Back then I walked from Karlsruhe to Santiago, and I met the lad shortly before Santiago. One morning, as I was walking down a sloping road, he overtook me on his roller skates, patted me on the shoulder as he went by and called out: See you again." (Paul Vogt)

Juggling clubs

That was in Sobrato. We kept running into each other along the way, and every time he was juggling. I think he was Italian.

– Cordula

The bagpipes

On the Camino Francés in 2016 I met a man who had bagpipes with him. He always played them during breaks. All the pilgrims loved it. Only his wife, who was walking with him, found it very embarrassing. :-)

– Raphaela

And what did you bring?

Did you also carry something crazy in your backpack – or did you meet a pilgrim with a curious companion? Send us your story, ideally with a photo, to info@caminoninja.com – we'll be happy to add it to this page.

And if you'd rather keep it serious: The right shoes (for everyone who doesn't want to walk in flip-flops) and Rain jacket or poncho? (for everyone without a travel hairdryer).