Water availability Sarria to Santiago

[kelyjt]

Hi, please can you tell me the availability of water refill opportunities on the stretch from Sarria ? Trying to gauge how much we need to carry with us. Starting 30th May 2022. Thanks

 

[naplesdon]

I always carry a 1/2 liter bottle in my pocket and a full 1 litre bottle in the top of my pack, every day. I refill when ever I can.

 

[cardifflad52]

Hi, please can you tell me the availability of water refill opportunities on the stretch from Sarria ? Trying to gauge how much we need to carry with us. Starting 30th May 2022. Thanks

I am not due through Sarria for another two or three weeks as I am only 11 days into my camino , up to now I have drank less than a litre a day from my bottle due to the amount of drinking holes en route so far , fresh spring water running down from the hills are yummy

 

[cardifflad52]

I am not due through Sarria for another two or three weeks as I am only 11 days into my camino , up to now I have drank less than a litre a day from my bottle due to the amount of drinking holes en route so far , fresh spring water running down from the hills are yummy

Obviously you be going through at the beginning of the rush hour alot more pilgrims going through being that Sarria is the minimum distance to get a credential at the cathedral but also many don't get much time off work , apart from that if you see any water coming down from the hills, just stop and grab some and taste it for yourself

 

[DaveJ]

Hi, please can you tell me the availability of water refill opportunities on the stretch from Sarria ? Trying to gauge how much we need to carry with us. Starting 30th May 2022. Thanks

I did that section last October and never carried more than one liter. There are plenty of bars and other places to get water. No long stretches without services. I carried a Sawyer Squeeze water filter but didn’t use it.

 

[Former member 92300]

I always carry a 1L water bottle minimum - no matter where I hike. Sarria to Santiago - that 1L bottle will be plenty sufficient. I buy a 1L bottle of water for on the plane and I carry the same one (frequently rinsed out) until I feel it must be replaced - much lighter than water bottles you buy without water in them! I usually one replace the bottle a couple times. You could even fill it 3/4 full and still be fine in that stretch.

 

[J Willhaus]

Yes, you can always ask at a bar and most are happy to top off your bottle.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Hi, please can you tell me the availability of water refill opportunities on the stretch from Sarria ? Trying to gauge how much we need to carry with us. Starting 30th May 2022. Thanks

Hola thanks for a great question. But as has been advised above you will only need a one litre bottle (maybe a second one half full). For those who have not walked the Sarria to Santiago section - this is possibly the section with the most facilities. All the bars will refill your bottle - even if you do not buy a coffee. Buen Camino.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I carry an 8 ounce bottle and fill up in each village.
Plenty of stops along the way for me.
Once I just carried an orange and did fine.

 

[Rick M]

Four trips, and I have never carried any water on that stretch. You have many opportunities to get water at the bars and fountains along the way. There are in fact, just two pieces of the Frances where I have ever carried any water, although that number would expand for me if I were to walk in summer.

 

[Former member 92300]

Telling people they don't need to carry water on any hike is just bad advice. Please - whether it is a half liter, a full liter, or more... carry water! Even if you will be passing through towns more frequently. Take your own risks if you want to - but please don't encourage others to. Dehydration can happen fast when you are exerting yourself. Even faster if it is warm or hot out.

 

[RJM]

Water, water everywhere....and many drops to drink.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Telling people they don't need to carry water on any hike is just bad advice. Please - whether it is a half liter, a full liter, or more... carry water! Even if you will be passing through towns more frequently. Take your own risks if you want to - but please don't encourage others to. Dehydration can happen fast when you are exerting yourself. Even faster if it is warm or hot out.

I haven't seen anyone tell people they don't need to carry water.
People are simply sharing their experience.
Every person is different.
Some drink a LOT of water.
Some drink too MUCH water and deplete their electrolytes
Some don't drink at all.
I personally don't drink much water at all and I've made it to nearly 70.
There are enough places along the route the OP asked about to fill/refill a bottle, approximately every 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) - no need to carry too much weight in my opinion.

 

[Former member 92300]

I haven't seen anyone tell people they don't need to carry water.

When you are telling people you were fine without any water - you are telling them it is fine not to bring any water while they walk.

I personally don't drink much water at all and I've made it to nearly 70.
There are enough places along the route the OP asked about to fill/refill a bottle, approximately every 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) - no need to carry too much weight in my opinion.

Glad that is the case for you, however the negative affects of dehydration are well documented, and it can be downright dangerous in the right mix of circumstances. Emergency Rooms and physicians all over the world spend way too much time treating people for dehydration. No need to carry too much weight - yes. But skipping carrying at least half a liter of water? Not the best choice. Find something else to leave behind if you must. Even if there are towns with bars and fountains every 3 miles/5kms. I have seen and treated way too many people for dehydration, even in circumstances where they have almost constant access to water.

 

[C clearly]

When you are telling people you were fine without any water - you are telling them it is fine not to bring any water while they walk.

I do not see that @Anniesantiago is saying that. Feel free to make your positive recommendation rather than arguing with another person's experience.

As others have done, she is making that point that water is available every few km from Sarria to Santiago.

I'm pretty sure we are all aware of the dangers of dehydration.

 

[Kathy F.]

I tend to not drink lots of water along the way not because there weren't lots of places to GET water, but because there were not alot of places to GET RID of water - in other words, not many bathrooms for a gal like me (old).

On my first Camino, I carried an extra big bottle of water through the meseta because I had heard stories . . . I left it on the side of the road - my regular size bottles were enough for me and it was too hot and heavy!!

I left a note on it, telling any pilgrim coming upon it after I left it, that it was clean and unused, and telling them they should feel free to use it as needed. Sure enough, a few days later, I ran into a pilgrim who told the story of a big bottle of water he had stumbled upon on the Camino at a time when he really needed water!

 

[Former member 92300]

I do not see that @Anniesantiago is saying that. Feel free to make your positive recommendation rather than arguing with another person's experience.

So when someone quotes me and replies to to me it is fine - but if I dare to reply back I am being argumentative. Got it.

I'm pretty sure we are all aware of the dangers of dehydration.

If that were true - doctors all over the world would not be treating people for dehydration and lecturing people to drink more water. I don't apologize for telling people to carry at least a small water bottle at all times. If my guidance saves one person from mild or serious dehydration - I have done my part.

Oh well... moving along.

 

[Maple Leaf Walker]

You’ll be walking through *the* most heavily travelled section of the CF. There’s no shortage of water. Carry a small bottle and refill as often as you need. Anything more is just needless extra weight.

 

[mikebet]

On that heavily trafficked part of the most travelled Camino you will rarely be more than an hour from a bar, restaurant or village with a public water source. A small bottle carried between these should suffice.

 

[Tincatinker]

A sight seen often enough to add another spectator sport to my array - Pilgrim arrives at water source on the Camino Frances. They extract their full water bottle from wherever they have it stashed. They empty it onto the ground or down the nearest drain. They refill their water bottle with fresh cool water and return their bottle to its stashing place. They walk on. And at no point do they actually take a drink because they are full of cafe con leche / beer / zumo / vino tinto / Aquarius.

I drink a litre of water between getting-up time and walking time. I carry two 500ml bottles. I'll drink if i'm thirsty. I try to never arrive at a water source with full water bottles.

Hiking in the High Atlas teaches you to appreciate water. You have to carry every drop you'll need, sometimes for a week. NOT a requirement for the Camino in Galicia

 

[LavanyaLea]

I’ll be starting in Sarria on 30th May too woohoo! *high five* Let’s join the caravan of people walking to Santiago…

I carry a bladder and even in the UK where I don’t get to refill it at all I never fill it to max capacity. So I plan to just carry very little (500ml - can’t really put less than that) and top up as I go. I hope that cool bar that stacks empty bottles as wall decoration will be open by then (I read from someone’s journal that it was closed this winter/last month).

 

[Former member 98118]

The amount of water you need changes dramatically based on the temperature outside, on a hot day you may be surprised how thirsty you can get even on quite short stretches. I saw people stumbling from dehydration on that 12 km stretch between Villamayor de Monjardin and Los Arcos (that's CF but not the last 100k). If they came prepared like that on a hot day to Via de la Plata, they would probably become food for condors and hyenas...

 

[naplesdon]

Water, water everywhere....and many drops to drink.

Except on the Meseta, Madrid, Aragones, Cele Valley.....!

 

[naplesdon]

I am not due through Sarria for another two or three weeks as I am only 11 days into my camino , up to now I have drank less than a litre a day from my bottle due to the amount of drinking holes en route so far , fresh spring water running down from the hills are yummy

Have you considered this might have contributed to your calf muscle issue that caused you to drop out of the Camino in Leon?

 

[JohnMcM]

Hi, please can you tell me the availability of water refill opportunities on the stretch from Sarria ? Trying to gauge how much we need to carry with us. Starting 30th May 2022. Thanks

There are plentiful opportunities to find water from fountains, shops, cafes etc. I can’t remember walking that stretch for more than two hours without coming across a potential drinking water source, including residential and business properties.

I guess your water requirements are known to you. My only suggestion is, depending upon your known needs and the weather, carrying 1 litre each should under normal circumstances see you through.

 

[naplesdon]

There was a day many years ago when I stopped at the shelter just before Col de Lepoeder. Two pilgrims had an empty 1/2 litre bottle they had been sharing going up the hill. I was able to fill their bottle with some of the water from the 1 litre bottle I was carrying in my backpack. Sharing is caring, n'est pas?!

 

[Former member 98118]

There was a day many years ago when I stopped at the shelter just before Col de Lepoeder. Two pilgrims had an empty 1/2 litre bottle they had been sharing going up the hill. I was able to fill their bottle with some of the water from the 1 litre bottle I was carrying in my backpack. Sharing is caring, n'est pas?!

Those pilgrims must have walked by the Roland's Fountain half an hour earlier, and that is basically the only place to get water between Orisson and Roncesvalles (not counting the food truck). It made me wonder if Roland's Fountain ever dries off during hot summer days?

 

[naplesdon]

Good point!

 

[JesperK]

Telling people they don't need to carry water on any hike is just bad advice. Please - whether it is a half liter, a full liter, or more... carry water! Even if you will be passing through towns more frequently. Take your own risks if you want to - but please don't encourage others to. Dehydration can happen fast when you are exerting yourself. Even faster if it is warm or hot out.

Exactly - I would never go without water. Maybe it's just my many years as long distance hiker and now retired professional soldier that's talking, but water is an essential part of my gear.

 

[Marbe2]

Obviously you be going through at the beginning of the rush hour alot more pilgrims going through being that Sarria is the minimum distance to get a credential at the cathedral but also many don't get much time off work , apart from that if you see any water coming down from the hills, just stop and grab some and taste it for yourself

Not all water coming down a hill is safe! It depends on a number of factors altitude, Tree line,animal population, how long the water has been filtered, etc
All spring water is definitely not equal. Glacier water, for example, should not be consumed at the bottom as it often contains small rock particles (talc), giardia and other parasites. It’s also unwise to consume spring water from mountains nearby polluted cities or industries as it may be polluted by rainwater. IMO one should stick to potable waters sources.

Another option is to treat the water yourself.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007U017U/?tag=casaivar02-20

Of course, for most caminos such water treatment would not be necessary. But if you will be spending more than four hours without a safe water source or if you walk alone in isolated areas these pills will render you water drinkable and might we worth consideration as they virtually add no weight.

 

[naplesdon]

Marbe 2, thanks for pointing out the pollution issue. My son was a ski guide in La Grave, France and one of the biggest issue they had during spring skiing season was the snow melt off at the same time the sheep were heading back onto the mountains. There were lots of stomach diseases for the uninitiated tourists.

I lived in West Africa for 3 years. I carried a an eye dropper full of chlorine in my backpack everywhere and two drops in every litre of water was the rule of the day to keep from getting sick.

Edit added a day later.
So yes, chlorinated water tastes like it came from a swimming pool but it definitely kills bacteria and other creepy things that can upset your stomach and digestive system.

 

[C clearly]

Just pointing out that the OP asked about water supply between Sarria and Santiago. There are other active threads about water treatment.