031: Fear Weighs More Than Socks
Packing truths from the Camino that apply far beyond your backpack.
Hello Camino friends! Here’s what’s in this issue:
🧳 “Fear Weighs More Than Socks” (This is Part 2 — for Part 1 on Camino Packing, click here)
✈️Camino Walk with Rebecca: Camino Inglés 2025
📸Scenes from the Camino: Camino Graffiti
🎥Live with Myriam—who did the Camino with her teenagers
🎧What I’m Listening To - My first Camino interview in Spanish!
🥾How to get help planning your Camino.
Are you getting my posts directly to your email or Substack feed? If not, click here to join us.
“What’s the Camino?”
❓Not even sure what the Camino de Santiago is? Start here.
🤔Heard of the Camino but not sure if it’s for you? Read this.
Let’s get started!
🧳Fear Weighs More Than Socks
I was helping a friend declutter her home and after a couple of sessions, she said to me, “I feel lighter.” I smiled.
“That tends to happen,” I said, having helped many others do the same. “This physical stuff? It actually weighs on you.”
As the saying goes: You don’t own your stuff. Your stuff owns you. Even if it’s been sitting on a shelf in the basement or hiding in a drawer in the spare room—it owns your space. It owns the time you take thinking about how you should clean out the space it’s taking up. It owns the time you finally do give to it when you move it elsewhere or try to decide what to do with it (Give it away? Throw it out? Donate it?) If it’s something you use — even occasionally — it owns the time to clean it or care for it.
“I really wish I still had those 32 coffee mugs,” said no one ever.
—
A month after I returned from my first walk on the Camino de Santiago, I moved 5 states away with only the things that could fit in my VW Convertible Bug. I can’t tell you how freeing that felt.
I remember in those first days post-Camino talking to friends I’d met—so many of us looking around our homes and thinking, “What is all this stuff? And why do I need it?” Spending five weeks living out of one bag gives you quite a perspective on “stuff.”
—
I did my first Camino carrying my belongings on my back. Once I could afford to (and get over the guilt of doing it), I started sending my pack with a luggage transfer service.
Now, over a dozen Caminos later, I do a mix.
But this isn’t about me.
This is about what you’re going to bring with you on your Camino. Last week I wrote about the details — the actual items. This week, let’s talk Camino packing philosophy.
—
In my then-hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, I was widely known as the Camino packing expert. All of us in the group had our opinions and advice. But at some point, we started encouraging first-time pilgrims to bring their packed bag to us. I would take the lead as others gathered round.
I remember one man who pulled out an unopened first-aid kit he had purchased in a local outdoor gear store. He was proud of this until I asked him to open it up and tell me the use of everything inside. His face dropped. “If you don’t know what it is, you don’t need it.”
I tell people, “If you need a medical supply while you’re on the trail, just look for someone over 60 carrying a large backpack. They’ll have everything you need.”
I won’t say that the moment you need something, a pharmacy will appear. In fact, if you’re in urgent need of, say, Tylenol or a band-aid, you’ll find one more quickly by just asking the next few pilgrims you meet on the trail.
I also like to remind Camino hopefuls that Spain is a developed country. They have pharmacies. And the pharmacists along the Camino route? They’ve already seen whatever it is you’re coming in for—probably hundreds of times, if not more.
Having lived in Spain for over four years now, I can tell you that every pharmacy I walk into has at least one chair. And on the Camino? I’ve seen that chair occupied by pilgrims, sock and shoe off, showing a pharmacist their foot.
Do all the pharmacists speak English? No. But will they do their best to help you? Absolutely. So sure—bring a couple ibuprofen if you tend to ache after a long walk. But a first-aid kid full of things whose use you don’t know? Leave that at home.
—
I help people 45+ plan their walk on the Camino. Most of the people I work with are going to send their luggage with one of the many reliable luggage transport services. Regardless, I invite all Camino hopefuls to be open to the idea of living lightly for a week or two or more. The Camino gives us many opportunities to step out of the day-to-day rhythms of our lives. In a world where seemingly everything can be delivered to your door in a matter of hours, what if we change it up a bit? What if we spend our time on the Camino making fewer decisions about what to wear because we’ve limited the options?
How far you limit your options is up to you. Some of us bring only two short-sleeve or base-layer shirts. When we get to our accommodation for the night, we take a shower, put on a fresh shirt, then wash the one we just took off—if it’s a “quick-dry” shirt, it will be dry by morning. Not everyone wants to go that far. I get it. As I always say, one of the things I love about the Camino is that you can do it your way.
But consider my invitation. Bring less.
—
Back in Asheville at Camino Packing Central, I’d pull out the next item and ask its purpose. If the answer started with “just in case,” I’d gently interrupt. If you’re packing it just in case, you don’t need it.
The only exception? Rain gear.
—
When helping people decide what to bring on the Camino, I keep my eye out for things they’re packing out of fear. “Don’t let your fears load your pack,” is a common Camino phrase—and one that I think applies not just to the Camino, but to life in general. How much are we holding on to out of fear? How much are those fears weighing us down?
Fear of boredom is big these days. Boredom has, seemingly, disappeared from our lives thanks to that device in our pocket. I’ll see people bring an e-reader on Camino. Or even an iPad.
On the Camino, like in life, there are tons of interesting people all around you. But on the Camino, there’s something in the air that makes us all even more open to talking to strangers.
I’m an introvert, so I get the need to step away for a bit. But one of the things I’ve learned about us introverts is that it’s not that we’re all anti-social. It’s that we prefer meaningful conversation with one or two people as opposed to showing up at a party of a hundred people.
So I strike up conversations. In lots of places in my life. But especially on the Camino. Where else am I going to meet a man who started his walk in Belgium—with his donkey? Where else am I going to be invited for a meal around a table with people from three countries? Where else can I learn about life in Slovakia, Malaysia, or Tasmania—from people who actually were born and raised there?
So leave your iPad at home. Forget the kindle.
And for those of you saying, “But then what will I do on the long plane ride over?” Planes are pretty modern these days. You can watch movies, TV shows, play games—all from a screen provided for you by the airline. You’ll be fine.
—
Before my first Camino, I read that everything you have with you should have at least two uses. While on the trail, I had some great conversations with fellow pilgrims as we came up with two uses for trekking poles (to ease the burden on our joints and to fend off unleashed dogs), rain jackets (to keep out the rain and to add a layer of warmth) and hats (to keep from getting sun burned or to fill with water to then dump on our heads if we’re too hot), among other things.
Then I met Becky. She was in her early twenties and told me she had three uses for everything. Three!? That made the discussion even more fun.
—
The Camino is many things: a journey, an adventure, a gift, a challenge. But it can also be an invitation to live more simply. None of the other pilgrims care what you look like. That you wore that same shirt yesterday. That those pants have the mud stains on them from two days ago. If they do care, well, that’s on them.
Same in life: they say most people don’t notice us nearly as much as we think they do. Remember that girl that wore the same outfit to work for 100 days and no one said anything?
My point is you’ve got nothing to prove to anyone on the Camino. Sure, you want to prove to yourself that you can do it. I’m all for that. But as far as the rest of us? We’re just here to cheer you on, offer a listening ear, and a hug whenever you need it.
And if you need anything medical? Remember to look for that person over 60 carrying a large backpack. I guarantee they can help you.
With love,
Rebecca
✈️Camino Walk with Rebecca: Camino Inglés 2025
It’s almost here! I’m delighted to meet my first group in Ferrol in a couple weeks to start a walk on the Camino Inglés. Stay tuned—I’ll be sharing videos live from the trip as well as interviews with the group members who aren’t camera shy!
If you want to be the first to hear about my Camino Walk with Rebecca trips for 2026, click here.
📸Scenes from the Camino
🎥Join me for live interviews here on Substack!
Sure, I can tell you all about how to train for, plan, and walk the Camino de Santiago. But what’s better than me? Conversations with others (45+) who have done it!
Wednesday, Sept 23, 11-11:45 ET: Myriam Llano — Thinking of doing the Camino with teenage kids? Don’t miss this one. Myriam walked the Camino Francés from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago with her two teenagers. Last year, she was back—doing the Camino Portugués with one of them.
🎧What I’m Listening To:
Guess who was interviewed for a Camino podcast—in Spanish?! Maria Seco teaches Spanish for the Camino. I was delighted to have her on Camino Conversations a few weeks ago (click here for that interview). Then she asked me to be on her podcast—which is only in Spanish. A first for me! If you understand or are learning Spanish, check it out on Apple podcasts or Spotify
🥾Ready to start planning your Camino?
Rebecca Weston
Camino Planning & Preparation Guide (for People 45+)
Rebecca@TheCaminoCalls.com
Your Camino adventure should feel exciting, not stressful — here are some ways I can help you get ready:
Watch Camino Conversations for practical tips and advice from my guests who have done the Camino (or more than one!).
🗓️ Camino Planning Session (60 min): Get answers to your top questions and a notes doc created during our call.
📞 Full Camino Experience: 6 coaching calls with detailed notes to plan your trip with confidence and ease.
🥾 Walk With Rebecca: 7-day hybrid Camino walks — 3 days guided, 4 days independent, private rooms, preparation classes, and optional check-ins. Click here to be the first to be notified about my next trip.Rebecca Weston is an American who walked her first Camino in 2012.
About me: I’ve walked more than a dozen Caminos since my first in 2012. I’ve spent many days volunteering along the trail, and if I’m not walking one now, I’m planning the next—and would love nothing more than to help you plan yours, too. Originally from the US, my husband and I live in a town of 6500 people on the Camino del Norte.