In preparing for my first Camino, I was paranoid about bedbugs, not just being bitten by them, but bringing them home on my pack. I really agonised over it for ages. it was one of the things I was most concerned about. I hadn't actually encountered them before.
Eventually we treated the packs and sleeping bags with permethrin, and took a list of instructions in terms of what to do if we did encounter them. (Mainly - put everything through a clothes dryer on a high heat). And I took a prescription ointment just in case we were bitten.
We didn't get bitten, but couldn't put that down to the treatment, or the lack of bugs. Likewise the second Camino. At Pamploma though, I saw a young guy with rows of bites all over his arms, and they were driving him crazy. I have to admit to staying some distance from him.
Then at the end of the last Camino, we went to Finisterre and stayed in a really nice apartment for a couple of days. There were 3 bedrooms, we had a room each. It was so hot I didn't wear anything to sleep. And I left my pack in the lounge. The only thing I took in the room was a book, and the clothes I had been wearing.
The bed had lovely white cotton sheets and the place seemed spotless.
I woke up the next morning and realised I had been severely bitten during the night. I had rows of bites all over me, my arms, legs body, even my toes.
Promptly showered, covered myself in the creme, washed and put my stuff in the dryer. Locked the door to that bedroom and never ventured there again. Lucky the place came with a clothes dryer.
No-one else was bitten. Everyone treated me like a leper. The dryer ran for hours as everything went through it. I abandoned the book.
I guess the one fortunate (unfortunate?) thing is that I have so many allergies I live on antihistamines. So oddly enough the bites cleared up quite quickly. My sister had been bitten whilst travelling years ago, and it been a terrible experience with them driving her crazy and getting infected.
We went to Paris on the way home, and I was so embarrassed to have these bite marks all over me, but no-one seemed to notice.
Weird though, never getting bitten on the Camino, but later on, when we had finished.
So next time, I'll do the Permethrin thing again.
