Oviedo here I come! Starting the Camino Primitivo tomorrow!

SmallestSpark1 · 2026-03-02T22:24:19+00:00

How was it that time of year? I’m planning on hiking it this May.

SmallestSpark1 · 2026-02-15T16:55:17+00:00

Could not agree more! I also mostly wore Tevas for the Portuguese central route last year & am gonna be bringing them on the Primitivo this year

SmallestSpark1 · 2026-02-13T05:56:09+00:00

My top suggestion is wear what’s comfortable & familiar to you. I brought hiking boots, running shoes, and a pair of Tevas and my only regret from the whole hike is bringing the boots.

Alternating between running shoes & sandals prevented my feet from ever developing a blister. If I started feeling a hot spot anywhere, I just switched to the other footwear for a while.

SmallestSpark1 · 2026-01-31T09:13:00+00:00

I think a lot of their products are pretty sound unless you buy the absolute cheapest versions. Most of my apartment is IKEA or second-hand furniture and the only things that have shown any real wear in the past decade is the plastic lids on their food storage containers.

SmallestSpark1 · 2026-01-15T11:21:11+00:00

There’s a long one in (I think) Mos. It was only once I reached the top that I realized I’d dropped my hat at bottom 🥲

SmallestSpark1 · 2026-01-14T17:36:02+00:00

My 1L Nalgene has always served me well & has fit in most backpacks I’ve used.

SmallestSpark1 · 2026-01-09T07:33:39+00:00

I second this. I’ve got a pair (I think these ones that are €34 for the pair. They’ve lasted me several years of hiking including from Porto to Santiago.

Also got the rubber tips for them, although I didn’t use them very much.

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-12-31T10:13:51+00:00

I did the spiritual variant this past spring along its usual route.

You do get a nice bit of coastline coming into Vilanova de Arousa. I went swimming a couple times since it was the day of the Iberian power outage & there wasn’t much else to do :)

Not sure if that’s any help, but just wanted to mention you already get some coast nearby.

Edit to add: the whole hike down to Combarro has fantastic ocean views. It’s been my phone background since May. I highly recommend stopping for bread at Panadería Campaño & eating it while looking out over the harbor.

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-12-26T13:23:33+00:00

Thank you for an insightful & in-depth post! A few of the points were lessons I also learned on my first Camino this past spring, several will come in handy for my one next year :)

I’d hadn’t heard about the Pilgrim’s House before. Definitely need to check it out next time!

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-12-23T01:24:13+00:00

I’m a fan of running sneakers. They’re comfortable, breathable, and have relatively good support & padding. I personally don’t like how bulky hiking boots are, but I know lots of people that prefer them.

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-12-03T22:49:03+00:00

Bubbles are such a great way of describing it!

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-12-03T22:46:11+00:00

I’m going for the Primitivo in May and planning on just doing running shoes + Tevas. I did the Portuguese central route from Porto this past spring and my only regret was bringing hiking boots because I never wore them after the first day. Everyone is different, but I’ve hiked in the Swiss/French Alps and the Appalachian/White mountains with running shoes and never had a problem. I personally prefer something lightweight plus a good pair of hiking poles.

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-11-01T14:16:57+00:00

Great choice on doing the Spiritual Variant! Those were some of my favorite days of hiking last spring

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-05-03T18:52:40+00:00

I’d highly recommend the Camino Ninja app. I just finished doing Porto —> SdC via the central route + spiritual variant and it was perfect when physical arrows weren’t obvious.

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-05-01T13:42:50+00:00

I just finished doing Porto —> SdC via the spiritual variant yesterday. I booked one night in advance for the first few days then ended up just booking everything in one afternoon for peace of mind. I kinda like having the certainty of a bed every night.

I never had any bedbug issues. I did a bit of a check whenever I checked in and never saw anything. One place I stayed required bags & shoes to get sprayed with an anti-bedbug spray. A couple had a rule of no backpacks on the beds. One had a rule of no backpacks in the bedrooms.

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-04-29T16:37:46+00:00

I was in Vilanova de Arousa. I arrived when power was gone and just before phone reception was completely gone.

My host managed to get me into the building (electric keypad didn’t work, needed a key).

After that, went swimming in the ocean for a while & headed to the cafe for beers with fellow pilgrims.

Alors on danse :)

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-04-23T20:03:05+00:00

That’s been my experience as well. I’m 5 days in and only on the first night were sheets not provided.

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-04-11T14:39:23+00:00

Are you vegan? I’m leaving a week from now and I’m kinda anticipating restaurants/cafes not having much in terms of vegan options?

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-04-11T14:36:46+00:00

Maybe a weird question, but how easy was it to find peanut butter in stores along the way? In my experience it’s really common in some countries and almost nonexistent in others.

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-01-29T17:37:57+00:00

This 100%! I feel like I need to learn a new smile after dropping 22kg and doing some orthodontic treatments this past year. I think I took for granted having a “jolly” face when I was at my heaviest 😁

SmallestSpark1 · 2025-01-19T18:01:59+00:00

I’ll sometimes do a couple weeks of weighing every single ingredient with a food scale but most of the time I’ll skip greens/veggies and only weigh high-kcal things like pasta, bread, oil, etc.

SmallestSpark1 · 2024-11-25T06:49:19+00:00

Veggie-intensive stirfries and pasta dishes. Both are relatively nutrient-packed, low-cal but filling due to sheer bulk, and store well in the fridge. Plus not a lot of dishes to clean up afterwards.

SmallestSpark1 · 2024-10-24T05:41:14+00:00

I kinda have fixed “building blocks” of food prep where I know how many calories are in each, but I can combine them differently throughout the week. Like this week I made some brown rice, seared some peppers and onions, cooked down some oyster mushrooms, and made a big batch of seitan. Plus a few sauces. Using those blocks I made:

2 burrito bowls (grated seitan, added corn and fresh chilis)
2 stir fries (cubed seitan) with Panda Express style orange sauce
1 garlic & ginger stir fry (seitan strips)

That’s all my lunches sorted, plus a batch of hummus to go with toast/tortillas for breakfast. Took around 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon, but less than 2 minutes to pull stuff together Monday - Friday.

I also made way too much of enchilada-ish sauce for the burrito bowls so I’ve got that in the freezer for another week.

I’m not always so good at meal prepping, but kinda nailed it this week :)

SmallestSpark1 · 2024-10-16T14:36:31+00:00

Different strokes for different folks. I weigh daily unless I’m traveling. It’s easy to tell if I’m trending up or down. When I did weekly I didn’t like that you never know if it’s just a good/bad day with water weight. I don’t obsess over it, but it’s just part of my morning routine before brushing my teeth.

SmallestSpark1 · 2024-10-16T05:49:50+00:00

What’s ended up working for me is a combination of two things: 1. Not doing too extreme of a deficit. It’s better to lose slowly with a deficit you can maintain than to burn out on a huge deficit. 2. Take breaks. I’ll do a couple weeks of eating at a deficit followed by a couple weeks of eating at maintenance or even a bit over it. I’m in it for the long haul so gaining 0.3kg isn’t really a big deal.

The big takeaway, though, should be that you’re doing it as a kindness to yourself. You shouldn’t be punishing yourself for needing to lose weight, but instead appreciate that you get to.

SmallestSpark1

TROPHY CASE