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Has anyone used his or her M9, new M, or MM on a long hike like the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain? I am planning on doing the eastern end this fall. My M9 is my normal day hiking and travel camera along with a 24mm/2.4, 50 mm f1.4 ASPH and a 90mm f2. I carry them in a Camelback knapsack. A few years ago I used my M8 with the same lenses on a car trip to Northern Spain with great success, but I am concerned about more rain exposure and theft while staying in the Albergue / Hostels along the way.

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I've backpacked and hostelled with Leicas:

I carried them at all times in a small waterproof Ortlieb bag

Ortlieb Waterproof Aqua Cam 7ltr

It will hold two M-cameras with modest lenses.

I removed the padded insert to make it more slimline and slipped it inside a more non-descript camelback HAWG.

 

As the Ortlieb bag can be sealed, even carrying the bag into the changing part of a shower cubicle is okay.

At night it will fit inside a sleeping bag with you.

 

I also toured Australia with a Hasselblad - keeping it inside a thick PVC Seal-line dry bag, which are submersible, kept it protected enough to swim up rivers in Kakadu.

 

These days, I would get a hotel and not use backpackers hostels in cities, but would be okay with shared accommodation in rural areas if no individual rooms were available.

 

I'm assuming this film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_(film) is not totally corrupted by Hollywood embellishment.

Edited by FrozenInTime
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I started the camino exactly one year ago; walking for two weeks until my knee gave out, then train/bus for two weeks, then rental car for two weeks. My wife walked the entire way.

 

I had an M3 with a Summilux 35, Elmarit 90, and 80 rolls of film.

 

The camera in a beat up ever-ready case rarely left my neck and never left my sight for 6 weeks. I would hang it on a hook in the shower with a shirt over it.

 

At night I would sleep in the albergues with the camera strap either tied around my wrist or knotted and looped around the bedframe.

 

In all nobody cared. The most common reaction was that I was an idiot for carrying 2 KG of film. Nobody knew what a Leica was, they just thought it was some ratty old film camera. The beat up case helped a lot in that way, but also with light rain and sweat.

 

Fellow pilgrims do not want to steal anything they would have to carry and locals know that pilgrims only carry smelly laundry and iPhones.

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