The El Camino Bracelet was thought up by Tom (from England) and Candace (from Canada), whilst hiking along the coast from Barcelona to Monaco. On their return to England, they created a few bracelets for themselves and friends with a man down the road engraving the little metal Steps. As demand grew due to word of mouth, the pair decided to name their creation El Camino, which is a nod to the Spanish roots where they first thought up the idea and means, rather appropriately, route or path in Spanish.

This unique little bracelet will be different for every traveller, as you get to choose all the individual elements. To get started, you will need to select either a single or double bracelet - the double wraps around twice and will fit about 16-24 Steps and Spacers (more on those in a bit), whereas the single will take 12-16. After measuring up and choosing your size (details on how to do this are found on the website), you then need to choose you bracelet colour: Black, Chestnut Brown, Purple or Turquoise. The material used is a closely-guarded secret, all we know is that it’s an extremely strong El Camino Cord; it feels tough and durable, like it will be around for years and years to come, plus it is also quite stiff, which provides a strong foundation for all your Steps.

Next comes the really good bit: choosing all your Steps. There are Country Steps, Small Steps and Region Steps. Setting politics to one side, there are the 240 Countries to choose from, for example instead of a single ‘United Kingdom Step’ there is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, each beautifully engraved with the country’s name by the same bloke down the road. The Small Steps are an ever-changing range that represent popular destinations including London, Paris and New York City, as well as famous landmarks like Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramid of Giza - there are currently 41 Small Steps to choose from. Both the Country Steps and Small Steps come with a free coconut space, which adds a different texture and colour to the bracelet. This tastefully compliments the hand-polished surgical stainless steel (316L) the Steps are constructed from.

Fancy forming your own country? You can get custom engraved Small or Large Steps, you can put anything on it within 32 characters, your name, or home town, anything! Lastly there are the glass Regional Steps, with 12 to choose from including the Middle East, North America, Oceania, all with different colours representing each region. They are simply engraved with the El Camino logo instead of the region - this is the only improvement we would like to see; it’s hard to remember which colour represents which, and these Steps add another material and a splash of colour to your El Camino. You can customise your El Camino further with extra coconut or wooden spacers (all engraved with the logo), the spring-loaded clasp is strong, and is made from the same shiny surgical steel, and due to the stiffness of the cord it can be easily attached with one hand.

We simply adore the El Camino, everything about it from the quirky country “facts” on the website to the tasteful packaging, high-quality materials and just the right size font to keep things sophisticated. The materials and colours used compliment each other in any combination; I can see collecting these steps will become as addictive as travelling itself! RRP £21.99 (single bracelet) & £31.99 (double bracelet); prices of the ‘Steps’ varies (see website)

Current Cheapest Price

5 out of 5

Pros

Beautifully designed and perfectly executed

High grade materials and construction

Create a unique history of your adventures

Excellent gift for travel enthusiasts

Complimentary colours and materials

Personalised engraving option

Hand made in England

Cons

Regions don’t have the region engraved on them