One change I made – finally – for my Camino Sola in September 2015, was walking in a skirt. I took one black Royal Robbins Discovery skirt, knee length, stretchy and with some hidden pockets, and I took two pairs of running tights under to avoid chafing. Chafing can be incredibly painful and slow to heal no matter where you get it, and sometimes my trousers can chafe when I am walking. This makes it less fun putting them on again the next day to walk further. The thought of walking in a skirt appeals to me, and though I did try to go down the Macabi route it just wasn’t me in the end. My Discovery skirt has a good fit and is fast drying, so I was confident that it would work well. My other change of clothes was a merino dress which I could use to walk, sleep or go out in and quickly pull on after the shower.
Both worked really remarkably well, better than I had dared to hope. The running tights – one long, one knee length – were just right and caused no chafing. I did apply anti-chafing stuff anyway, why take chances, but for 12 days it worked wonderfully. The long ones had a zip (surprise!) at the bottom of each leg so I could fold them up as the temperatures rose, and the shorter ones were great for those days when I started late and the sun was already up. I also brought a pair of merino tights that I wore in the evening and sometimes slept in.
The skirt did not ride up, which was something I was worried about, and it seemed to not get dirty, dusty or sweaty at all. In fact I only washed it twice, and that was probably more because I felt I should than because it was necessary. The dress was used in the evening, I would pull it on over my underwear in the cubicle after my shower, and then just add tights and cardi when I got back to my bunk. I would definitely bring both again, and my walking trousers are now relegated to shorter day walks locally. I have even dug out my other Discovery skirt, which is white (I bought them as travel skirts, not walking skirts), and bought dye so I can make it silver grey – I think that would be a better Camino colour than black.
Somewhere Slowly 