LOTUS EATERS TRAVEL

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17 TIPS FOR WALKING THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO WHILST PREGNANT.

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Walking the Camino de Santiago is a challenge at the best of times, but doing it whilst pregnant adds a whole new dimension. From adjusting daily distances and finding the right accommodation, to navigating constant toilet stops and figuring out how to carry everything you need, there are definitely a few extra things to think about.

I walked the Camino Portuguese Coastal during my second trimester. Having walked the Camino before, I knew what to expect in many ways, but I quickly realised that walking pregnant was a very different experience. Some things were much harder than normal, whilst others turned out to be surprisingly manageable.

So, if you’re thinking about walking the Camino de Santiago whilst pregnant, here’s what I learned along the way, including the things I’d do again, the things I’d change, and my best tips for making the experience as enjoyable and comfortable as possible.

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Tips for walking the Camino de Santiago whilst pregnant

Based on my experience of walking the Camino de Santiago during my second trimester, here are my best tips. If you want a first-hand account of my walk, you can read about it here.

1/ Pick your timing carefully

I chose to walk the Camino de Santiago in my second trimester, I was between 20 and 23 weeks pregnant when I walked. Every pregnancy is obviously different, but for me, this timing was ideal.

I felt nauseous between weeks 6 and weeks 15 of my pregnancy, and I did actually travel between weeks 8 and 10. Although we had a great trip, I spent a lot of time in bed, stuffing fruit in my face (the only thing I enjoyed) and drinking ice cold water. My ability to tolerate exercise, heat or anything vaguely challenging – was basically negligible.

Equally, I write this in the latter part of my second trimester, and I’m already noticing that my growing bump is making walking a lot harder than it was just a few weeks ago.

2/ Choose a manageable route

We chose to walk the Camino Portuguese Coastal.

I’ve walked this route before and I knew that it wasn’t the most challenging of the Camino routes. There are certain routes that I personally wouldn’t have been able to tackle – the full Camino Frances or the Norte for example. I wanted to steer clear of savage hills, or anything more than 300km maximum.

Again, this is a personal choice. I’m an active, fit person normally. And I’ve got experience of walking many long distance hikes, but I knew that I wasn’t at full fitness, and I didn’t want to take the fun out of the experience.

3/ Tailor your daily stages

When I have previously walked the Camino, I would average probably 25km per day, or more. We frequently walked 30km days, sometimes even 40km or once a 53km day. Pre-pregnancy 25km every day was completely comfortable for me – I’d think of that as an easy day.

But my pregnant body is totally different. And so, I adapted my daily stages – on average, we probably walked 15km per day. On one or two days, we hit only 10km. And I had a few longer days of 20km, and one 27km. I cannot describe how hard I found those longer days. Anything above 15km had me at my absolute limit.

My tip is – be realistic about your daily distances. Not everyone is the same, but for me personally, my usual daily distances were way out of reach.

4/ Test footwear and clothing in advance

As your body changes, the fit of clothing and footwear will change too. In advance of your walk, test drive your walking clothing – check for any unusual chafing, or discomfort. And, think about how your body might change over the course of your Camino. For example, I bought a rain jacket in a larger size to accommodate how big I expected my bump to be by the end of the trip.

When it comes to footwear, be prepared for your feet to swell. This always happens to me on the Camino anyway, but when pregnancy enters the chat, it’s even worse. Think about whether you need a bigger size, or a few different sock options to allow for swelling.

5/ Keep your backpack lighter than normal

Depending on where you are in your pregnancy and your body, you may not be able to use the hip strap on your backpack. Subsequently, it’s difficult to carry quite so much weight in your backpack.

My Camino backpack normally weighs about 5-6kg, perhaps up to 7kg with a water bottle and snacks.

For this Camino, I packed lighter than normal, trying to get my backpack down to 6kg total. But after a day or so, I already knew it was too heavy for me. I was lucky to be walking with John, who had planned for this eventuality and left some space in his bag. He carried my toiletries bag to start with and then took my water bottle.

Don’t forget, there’s no shame in sharing the load with your more able companion, or indeed using a luggage transport service.

6/Prioritise stretching

On a normal Camino, I do usually stretch every morning – I find just 5 minutes really helps. But with my pregnant body, stretching was even more important than normal.

I had all sorts of weird niggles and would wake up feeling stiff pretty much every day – for me, hip, feet and shoulder stretching was the difference between a manageable day of walking or an absolute disaster.

7/ Rest after walking

On a normal Camino, of course I would rest after walking. But I could probably get away with 20 or 30 minutes of chilling in my bunk.

On this Camino, whilst pregnant, I needed to spend much more time horizontal. I basically allowed myself to recline, nap or just laze for about 3 hours each day. Usually from check in, until around 17:00 each day.

8/ Plan your daily stages to finish somewhere nice

As we had shorter walking stages, we had more downtime in the afternoon. I tended to rest for a few hours, but I always loved being somewhere with a bit of interest.

As I was walking with John, my partner, I wanted him to have an interesting place to explore at the end of the day, especially as he had a lot more energy than me.

We picked larger towns, like Baiona and Pontevedra, with good places to eat, cities with museums and a lot of beach stops. Some of my favourite days involved resting on the beach in the afternoon.

9/ Prioritise eating well

I always love eating on the Camino – it’s a huge part of the experience for me. But, I probably put less thought into it than I did when walking the Camino pregnant. Perhaps it’s just me, but I’m having a very food driven pregnancy. As such, I prioritized eating well – not just healthily, but well.

On a normal Camino, I might be happy with a few glasses of wine and a plate of basic croqeutas of an evening. But not this time.

I would search out top-rated restaurants more than ever, research special local bakery treats and most definitely have at least two breakfasts a day.

10/ Consider bathroom requirements

There are two aspects to this – on the trail and overnight.

When I told a friend that I was walking the Camino and that we had a few albergues booked, she basically said I was mad. And as the Camino got closer, the thought of waking up frequently in the night to head to the bathroom, started to really worry me.

For the majority, we booked private rooms. But I hadn’t even really considered private bathrooms – we had some, but not lots. And a few of our “private bathrooms” were irritatingly outside of our bedroom in the corridor. I actually found this the worst case scenario, because I had to open or unlock a door in the night and would invariably wake John up.

A private bathroom was a huge advantage. But actually, I didn’t find albergue sleeping that bad when it came to the bathroom situation – normally, with albergues, you can just slip out of your bunk and head to the bathroom without disturbing anyone, which is a bonus.

When it comes to the trail – needing the loo constantly was 100% the most irritating thing about the day. The Camino Portuguese coastal does have lots of cafes and also public toilets – which is a huge bonus. But the downside, is that the route is crowded, so if you need to “pop a quick squat” it’s virtually impossible. I have no answers to this – just think about how you’ll manage it!

11/ Stay hydrated

Pregnant bodies need more water than normal. If you’re pregnant, then you’ll know this. Carry more water than you might think you need – or better yet, get your other half to carry it!

12/ Take regular breaks

One my favourite parts of any Camino, is taking coffee breaks. Normally, we would try to walk 10km before taking a break. On this Camino, I cut that down to 5km. Yes, our days were much slower than normal – but honestly, I needed a snack, toilet break, or just a rest every 5km, or I just wouldn’t have got through the day.

If you know the route that you plan to walk doesn’t have many cafes, then pack lots of snacks for breaks.

13/ Consider walking temperatures carefully

As pregnant women, we are more sensitive to heat, as well as the effects, like sunburn and heat stroke. Think about the time of year that you’re walking and whether it’s likely to be hot.

We walked in September, and found ourselves in a heat wave. Normally, Galicia can be relied upon for some dodgy weather – but no, we had temperatures in excess of 30 degrees centigrade daily. As a result, we made sure that we would start walking early on hot days.

I also relied heavily on factor 50 sunscreen and a sunhat.

14/ Think carefully about accommodation choices

The Camino has a lot of choice when it comes to accommodation – and certain routes are better than others.

In my experience, albergues weren’t so bad as a pregnant person. I half expected people to tell me I was ridiculous and that I wasn’t allowed to stay in the albergues, but this wasn’t the case at all – everyone was friendly.

I requested a lower bunk in advance and found that hosts always accommodated this. I chose albergues with decent bedding, pillows and curtains (which gave the privacy I craved). And as mentioned, I always found it easy to slip out of my bunk to use the toilet at night.

For the most part though, we opted for basic private bedrooms. I would strongly recommend picking places with private bathrooms (and checking that they are actually in your room not in the corridor), this made a massive difference to my comfort.

Also check things like how big the beds are – we really struggled with places that had tiny beds. Honestly, we both slept better with a twin room, as I was tossing and turning so much. And, whether there are decent pillows – this was a huge issue for me, as I needed a high pillow, plus an extra pillow for my bump and knees.

Sometimes, spending that little bit more for a little luxury, made a massive difference.

15/ Be prepared to flex your plans

Even if you plan shorter daily stages, it can be useful to enter with the mindset that you can flex your plans if you need to. I always had public transport backups in mind, in fact, this was one of the reasons that I chose the Portuguese Camino.

There’s no shame in cutting a day short, taking a taxi or just admitting that it’s too much.

16/ Get familiar with Spain’s amazing no alcohol drinks

Spain has an amazing bar culture – but it doesn’t have to revolve around alcohol. I normally look forward to a cold beer or glass of wine at the end of my walking day, but obviously whilst pregnant, this wasn’t an option.

Luckily, Spain has a fantastic array of no alcohol options. It’s completely normal to ask for a beer without alcohol – normally bars will even have a few options. Once or twice, I even got a zero alcohol beer as draft. You can also find great soft drinks, like Aquarius. As well as zero alcohol Martini, or Crodino (which is a bit like an Aperol).

My personal favourite was Estrella Galicia Tostada – a darker beer. I’d get it served in a nice wine glass – it felt such a treat.

17/Have a blister plan

As your feet may swell during pregnancy, it’s possible you’ll get more rubbing than normal. I always use Vaseline on my feet before walking – I coat my feet in it every morning. I continued this religiously and for the most part, it did work.

Have your own plan to manage and prevent blisters.

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Written by Emma

Wine Lover. Yogi. Hiker. Writer.

British travel writer and long-distance hiker, native to Kent. Emma has walked the Camino de Santiago more than ten times, completed trails across Europe from the Corfu Trail to the Fisherman’s Trail, and covered thousands of kilometres on foot. She always writes from first-hand experience. Her goal? Inspire just one person to go on their first long-distance hike.

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