Man cannot live without water, but where one on a normal day with normal activities can squeeze by without the recommended daily requirement, most days on El Camino are not normal. To begin with, most people do not walk 20 kilometers/12.4 miles a day, it is even rarer that they do it with 10 kilos/22 pounds strapped to their body, and it is rarer still that they do it on a warm, sunny day with the temperature hovering around 35 C/95 F. Fortunately, the body will normally react and let one know that water is needed. So far so good.
The first problem with dehydration is that it sets in before one knows it or feels thirst. The second problem, particular to El Camino, is that water is not always available - and more often than not when it is needed.
The first problem with dehydration is that it sets in before one knows it or feels thirst. The second problem, particular to El Camino, is that water is not always available - and more often than not when it is needed.
Before even looking at a map, counting the miles to today’s destination, looking at the terrain profile with its climbs and steepness (if the map has that information), and feeling the temperature, one should fill the water bottles. It should be a daily morning routine, no exceptions, before leaving one’s overnight place. And remember that each liter of water weighs exactly one kilo (2.2 pounds), and that you must carry it yourself. It may be a good reason to leave something else at home. But a minimum of two liters of water a day can substantially reduce fatigue, blisters, muscle pain and other common ailments on the way.
My backpack had a built-in water reservoir (bladder), which sounds very practical, and it looks cool to have a water pipe hanging over the shoulder and ready for a quick drink. In reality it is not. It could only be filled by taking it out of the backpack. That and putting the filled reservoir back in an already packed backpack was more difficulty than I needed. And once inside it was impossible to see how much water was left in the reservoir. I quickly learned that two clear plastic half-liter bottles – one in each hand or one in an outside pocket on the backpack – was by far the easiest and most convenient. Easy to drink, easy to refill, and easy to check for water level. Pilgrims using trekking poles and no hand free to carry a bottle may find it handy to carry a bottle with a hook strapped to a belt or the backpack.
With very few exceptions water from trailside taps and fountains is potable. Coming straight out of deep wells (outside cities and big towns), in most places it is cold and delicious. In fact, it is so good that some guidebooks recommend that, before you fill the bottle with village fountain water, you pour out left-over water from a city filling to avoid contaminating the country water with chemicals and bacteria. So much for trust in the advancement of civilization! Take advantage of every access to village water and keep the bottles full.
A word of caution: If you start the pilgrimage in Saint Jean Pied-de-Port in south France and head to Roncesvalles in Spain – the usual first stop – this will be a particularly strenuous day (when was the last time you walked 25.1 kilometers/15.6 miles with an ascent of 1,390 meters/4,560 feet in one day?), so bring lots of water on your departure. To make matters even more trying there are only three places along the recommended Route de Napoleon trail where one can get water.
