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No! No packs on the beds at all. A couple of reasons - they can be dirty, because often you need to place your backpack on the ground when you stop for a break. And they can carry bedbugs. I have seen hospitaleros briefly "confiscate" backpacks that they see on the beds.
You don't always have a choice in the matter! Some albergues assign bunks in numerical order as you arrive, so whether you get top or bottom is the luck of the draw.
I just like the convenience of having pack right there. To put away a guidebook I stay up reading, put on D.O. in am, etc. With pack on floor below, if you forget a single thing you have to climb down and get it.
Packs are dirty. Please don’t put them on the bunks. Plan ahead or just hop down. I don’t know what a D.O is but there’s nothing you can’t just leave in the bunk with you until morning.
That's what I thought!
Nobody cares, in our experience.
The albergue in Salamanca on the Via de la Plata takes this very seriously indeed. Rucksacks are not allowed upstairs in the dormitories at all. Packs are left downstairs in plastic bins in special cupboards and only the items actually needed during the stay may be taken upstairs.
I found the same in France on the via Tolosana a few weeks ago. Packs are left in large plastic crates downstairs, you take what you need in a small (provided) plastic box. Brilliant!
Hi, please, no!!! Bed bugs are mainly transported from one place to another hiding in backpacks (which you can't avoid), and hence backpacks should be kept in the box or on the floor
Hi, please, no! Bed bugs are mainly carried from one place to the next hiding in backpacks (which you cannot avoid), so no free access to the beds, please! Keep your backpack on the floor or better, in a box provided
Yes, but it can be uncomfortable. If you are in the bottom buck you can put it under the bunk.
They did the same at La Rectoral in Priesca on the Norte. Everyone was given a basket for the things to bring into the dorms, and backpacks went into lockers outside the dorms.
I have found that most do have some sort of common area.
Brilliant idea! Hope a lot more albergues will take it up.
No it's not allowed. If you have a rucksack liner you could take that up with you.
- now to meet up with washing partner to share a load ....
I’m a first timer learning the ropes - prefer bottom bunk because I wear glasses and can’t see them without them on and there’s often nowhere to put them or anything when above! Stool or chair by bed = invaluable. Backpack on floor always - variable expectations everywhere- morning routine developing with each - but sleeping in next days clothes works extremely well
I rarely experienced albergues that didn't have some indoor space apart from the sleeping area. Perhaps the albergue in Mombuey (Camino Sanabres) was just a barn full of beds, but most other places had at least a kitchen that you could use to get ready before going out.
Lol you got that right. First timer overplanner nerd. Packing now for 4 months out to include volunteer vet gig in Galapagos > hiking Machu Picchu > biking Mallorca > volunteer vet in Medina del Campo, Spain. Strategically diitching unneeded stuff as I go to culminate in walking the CF then exploring Portugal a little if I have enough time.
Lol you got that right. First timer overplanner nerd. Packing now for 4 months out to include volunteer vet gig in Galapagos > hiking Machu Picchu > biking Mallorca > volunteer vet in Medina del Campo, Spain. Strategically diitching unneeded stuff as I go to culminate in walking the CF then exploring Portugal a little if I have enough time.
Lol @nycwalking isn’t this what most people pack for the Galapagos?
Also the bedbugs might travel with you all the way home.
NO NO NO TO BACKPACKS ON ANY BEDS!. They are dirty, you never know what you bag is sitting in when you stop anywhere and there can be bedbugs or other creeper crawlers along for the ride.Thx all for the info and ideas. Gonna go with rolling everything up in the pillow compartment of my sleeping bag liner (so I can’t forget something, cuz I will) and not touching pack til morning. Spraying pack with Sawyer pyrethrin spray.
My neighbors who walked the CF in 2013 got me thinking about it by saying alburgues don’t necessarily have a common area to pack up in, it’s just out the door into the darkness. I’m pretty stealth and use a tiny LED light that hangs around my neck so can block the light with my hand. Now if someone would invent flip-flops that don’t make that sound.
I don’t think I’ve ever sat on a cow pat but I agree that many dirty things come into contact with albergue beds. I cringe when I observe someone fresh off the trail, joyously falling back onto a bed in their dusty shorts, sweat-soaked shirt, and filthy boots.
OMG. Envy.
Lol @nycwalking isn’t this what most people pack for the Galapagos?
My thought of me trying to get dressed on a top bunk. No sense of humor?
Getting dressed in a bunk could be a comedy of errors at any size.
I get dressed in the bathroom.
Most pilgrims will not say anything about how others store their belongings. It's hard to say if anyone cares or not. I don't think I would want to approach you and ask you to not hang your pack from the top bunk if I was the one sleeping below you.
I walk with my husband so I know he doesn’t care. I was referring to the hospitaleros. That is what the question asked was referring to as I recall. And I’ll tell you my thoughts to your face. Gossiping about people behind their backs is not in my nature.Most pilgrims will not say anything about how others store their belongings. It's hard to say if anyone cares or not. I don't think I would want to approach you and ask you to not hang your pack from the top bunk if I was the one sleeping below you.
Most just want to keep the peace then talk about you on the trail .
I agree, no packs on the beds.
I do not understand the logic behind the Salamanca policy. They force everyone to use 2 single-use plastic bags that are not even tightly enclosed. Everyone takes sleeping bags and clothes up to the dorm, where presumably the bedbugs will climb on board. We bring the stuff downstairs, and carry them on to the next albergue. Two plastic bags per pilgrim used, and I doubt it is very effective against bedbugs.
Aren't the sleeping bag and your night clothes even more attractive to the bed bugs?
Medina del Campo is a nice wee town. The bar at Hostal Doña Alicia does a really good lunch. One of the best we had on the Levante.Lol you got that right. First timer overplanner nerd. Packing now for 4 months out to include volunteer vet gig in Galapagos > hiking Machu Picchu > biking Mallorca > volunteer vet in Medina del Campo, Spain. Strategically diitching unneeded stuff as I go to culminate in walking the CF then exploring Portugal a little if I have enough time.
The policy might not prevent the spread of bedbugs, but I think that storing boots and poles by the entrance and storing rucksacks in lockers rather than allowing them into the tiny dorms has a few benefits. It keeps dirty things away from bunks and it ensures that the dorm isn't filled up with large luggage.
In 2017, stayed in the Albergue de peregrinos Casa de la Calera Salamanca Jacobea, copying the printing from their sello. I do not remember it like this at all. I don't remember any lockers and I never left my pack outside of the dormitory on the VdlP. Maybe there was a major change in policy. My memories of the Salamanca albergue were pleasant and friendly, except that we were all crammed into one small room, maybe to save cleaning for the hospitaleros; we were two women, who did not enjoy the heat of the crowded room and the loud snoring of most of the male inhabitants. One of the men who couldn't sleep in that setting asked a hospitalero to be moved and was put into a second dormitory alone. Maybe the experience of later hospitaleros gave rise to a revision of policy and regulations. I just do what the hospitaleros direct, but others who try to get conditions changed for their convenience may sometimes go too far, pushing the hospitaleros to bring in new regulations.
Yeah, I experienced that two weeks ago. And I survived
.... In fact, I like this system. When I want more freedom and comfort, I sleep in a room / hotel
9 out of 10 let me
Camino FrancisYes. We're talking about the same albergue. I was there in November 2017.
www.airbnb.co.uk
Just be aware, only a very small % of walkers are on this forum. We do not own the trail!!!! Some one will inform you about your pack. So put it on your pack bed and wait. Some one will most likely chew you a new one. Very embarrassing he. So sneak it in if you wish under you jacket as suggested BUT be prepared for the camino police to get ya. Lol the things we worry over bc
Ewwwwww!!
Indeed!
I was there in spring of 2017. The procedure was quite a production, involving everyone unpacking their backpacks on a couple of benches in the common area, plastic bags, etc. However, the hospitaleros were very nice, and they were clearly just following rules.
Certainly. But they went well beyond that.
The question just asked if it is okay, no mention of hospitaleros. In truth I particularly would not want someone’s dirty pack hanging around my bottom bunk. Some people come off as gruff and kind of a badass. I would not approach such people. The gossiping remark was a joke.I walk with my husband so I know he doesn’t care. I was referring to the hospitaleros. That is what the question asked was referring to as I recall. And I’ll tell you my thoughts to your face. Gossiping about people behind their backs is not in my nature.
And I won’t mention the number of people who have seen our hanging technique and asked for help in doing the same thing.
A joke!!!!
I definitely understood it to be a joke.The gossiping remark was a joke.
I am 68. If I pree-book I always ask for a bed "abajo" (down). Most often I get it.
Exactly. I keep nothing in an unattended backpack worth stealing and about half of what's in it goes to donativo tables just before Santiago or a trash bin in Santiago.
