Purist is a tricky word. I find it too inflexible. For me, it sets up decisive rules to qualify participants into groups for inclusion or exclusion. I am not a purist.

For me, flexing is important to quality of life and experiences.

The Camino is a challenge which can be made big or small depending on self imposed rules. Must I be up and out at a certain time? Must I complete the trail within a certain limit? Boundaries.

My hiking partner, Natalie, and I hiked dutifully the first four days through wind and rain with our packs. Feeling the Camino the way many pilgrims did before us. Then we flexed.

Why not ship some of our load ahead? We would enjoy the quality of the walk better without stressing to carry extra physical weight?Aren’t we still pilgrims? So now we are pilgrims just focused on the walk. Paying to transport our pack to the next stop.

It has run us between 6-7 euros each day for 1 common pack. We love it.

Now we talk about topics other than our packs or body pains. We can be more expansive and our quality of hiking is great. We can joyfully pause for coffee or a chat.

We’re not purists and we like it!