A typical day

[johnnyman]

OK, you Camino veterans, when you arrive at an albergue, you take a shower, change clothes and wash clothes. I'm assuming you most always go walking around the village or town to eat, re-supply, explore, etc. Do you take your backpack with you? Do you take some sort of small daypack, and transfer your invaluables from the backpack to the daypack, then take the daypack with you?

You've arrived at the albergue and gotten a bed for the night. Now, you want to go walking around town for awhile. How do you keep a claim on your bed, to prevent someone else from claiming it? How does that work?

 

[sillydoll]

I'm assuming you most always go walking around the village or town to eat, re-supply, explore, etc. Do you take your backpack with you? Do you take some sort of small daypack, and transfer your invaluables from the backpack to the daypack, then take the daypack with you?

I always have a small folding daypack that I use when I go sightseeing or shopping but not everyone does this. You leave your backpack but take your valuables with you.

You've arrived at the albergue and gotten a bed for the night. Now, you want to go walking around town for awhile. How do you keep a claim on your bed, to prevent someone else from claiming it? How does that work?

When you find a bed you roll your sleeping bag out onto the bed and that shows other pilgrims that it is taken.

 

[johnnyman]

Where do you stow your backpack at the albergue while you go out? I've read that you have to be careful with it, to avoid getting bedbugs from other people who might unwittingly bring them in?

 

[Sagalouts]

Where do you stow your backpack at the albergue while you go out? I've read that you have to be careful with it, to avoid getting bedbugs from other people who might unwittingly bring them in?

hi it may be you thats carrying the bugs- the general rule is you do not place your pack on the bed plus you have to leave your boots outside the room-so most people carry flip flops -sandals for walking round town.
Ian

 

[AJ]

I like to arrive at the albergue around 2pm. Shower, wash clothes and have lunch around 3.30pm. Maybe walk around village, maybe hang out in bar, maybe relax in the shade...

I don't have a daypack. I stow my backpack under the bed and roll my sleeping bag out on the bed. I don't get paranoid about theft, bedbugs, homicidal bikies, flashers, etc...

O.K I got mugged and robbed in Madrid, but otherwise no problems on 3 Caminos.

 

[Anniesantiago]

A typical day for me:

Up when the sun rises if I''ve been able to sleep through the rattling plastic bags and stray headlamps the stressed out early birds are shining in my eyes...

Thank God I'm alive another day.

Put on clothes, which I've laid out the night before.

Stuff sleeping bag into backpack and pee.

Walk for a couple of hours. Hopefully find coffee and food.

Lunch; usually picnic, enjoying the scenery.

Walk for a few more hours. Stop every couple of hours to take off my shoes and air out my feet. Stop if I find a tienda to purchase food for the night and next day.

Find albergue, check in.

Shower, change, wash clothes and hang them.

Put a few items on the bed to save it and store my bag OFF the floor, either on a chair or hanging on my bed

Either cook or find dinner. It's nice to potluck if other pilgrims are cooking. Share. Walk a bit and explore the town.

Thank God for another great day.

Go to bed, hopefully by 10 pm

Sleep, then start all over tomorrow.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

For me, I usually was up and on the trail between 7a-8a....early on it was closer to 7a, later on it was closer to 8a.....then I would walk for 2-3 hours and take a break in a bar for "Breakfast #2" as I liked to call it. I'd walk another couple of hours and try to get into an albergue no later than 4p, usually around 3p. I'd take a shower, wash clothes, wander the town to forage for food, plan where I was going to have dinner, then go back to the albergue to take a nap. Wake up from short nap, go to dinner, then come back to collect my now dry clothes, pack everything up except for what I will need for next day and be in bed by 10p to do it all over again! I also tried to write in my journal every day too. You kind of get yourself into a routine after a while.

 

[alipilgrim]

Hi Johnnyman,

As mentioned above, when you are admitted to an albergue you choose a bed (sometimes you are assigned a bed) and unroll your sleeping bag to show it is taken. You most often leave your sleeping bag on the floor beside your bed / under your bed / or up against the wall while you shower or go out to shop or have dinner. You must just take it on faith that no one will take anything from it.

Your valuables, however, you should always have with you. I took a little waist bag ('fanny pack' in the States, 'bum bag' other places) that I kept my camera, money, passport, etc in. It stayed with me all the time: slung across my body while walking (didn't interfere with backpack straps), brought into the shower and hung by a hook with my towel, into my sleeping bag at night - your faith in the trustworthiness of others should only go so far!)

I took this waist bag around town as my 'purse'. I've also seen other people carry around those light canvas bags that booksellers often give away to good customers, or now you can find those nylon shopping bags that fold up into a tiny carry sac (ie. grocery stores) which might be a good idea if you carried larger valuables, ie. camera, e-reader, etc. These are also a good idea for when you go out grocery shopping - those plastic shopping bags are a nuisance!!

 

[hel&scott]

I like to arrive at the albergue around 2pm. Shower, wash clothes and have lunch around 3.30pm. Maybe walk around village, maybe hang out in bar, maybe relax in the shade....

Good advise, if you get in then you can catch the end of a relaxed lunch and enjoy the place, rather then fight for a bed and search fruitlessly for a meal when nothing is open.

Find your own pace that fits with the local opening hours and enjoy it. We've never had any security problems on the numerous caminos we've been on, but don't be too trusting and don't take anything you are not prepared to throw away or loose.. The less is more philosophy doesn't just apply to the weight of your pack, but the weight of worry as well. Take care of your passport, cashcard and credencial and you will be fine.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I think Ali meant leaving the mochilla on the floor.. not the sleeping bag. :lol:

 

[Kitsambler]

I had great success with a very small, very lightweight daypack (http://www.seatosummit.com/products/display/86) as my "about town" bag. They come really small these days - compact into a wee sack the size of a hen's egg. Excellent for grocery shopping, and great as the "purse" for your connecting air flights as well. Some of these things (which are sometimes marketed as grocery or shopping bags) even have plastic snap hooks to attach to your keyring. I found the shoulder straps on the backpack-style model to be really useful.

 

[Andrew James Doyle]

OK, you Camino veterans, when you arrive at an albergue, you take a shower, change clothes and wash clothes. I'm assuming you most always go walking around the village or town to eat, re-supply, explore, etc. Do you take your backpack with you? Do you take some sort of small daypack, and transfer your invaluables from the backpack to the daypack, then take the daypack with you?

You've arrived at the albergue and gotten a bed for the night. Now, you want to go walking around town for awhile. How do you keep a claim on your bed, to prevent someone else from claiming it? How does that work?

 

[Andrew James Doyle]

Suppose being a couple, we covered for each other! Yes when we arrived and got beds sorted, a few clothes layed on claimed as ours! Never saw or heard of people taking others! Showers, wash, hang to dry! Siesta for Mrs, wander and check route for the morning for me! Sort where to eat for that night Perrigrino Menu -)) . Pre-pack Backpack in readiness after meal, sleep in tomorrow clothes, climb into bed for 9pm and sleeeeeeep! Up for 6am and off! 1st breakfast, 2nd breakfast,, 11's's, dinner and hope to "in" for 2-3pm! Yes we had bum-bags for the precious stuff (cash and passport) but everything else was kept in dorm or room! If you want to steal my spare socks and T-shirts...... Go for it!!

 

[gerardcarey]

The usual for me is arrive before 2PM. Shower then laundry.
Next is one of the favourite times.
Onto the bunk, out with the kindle, reading, relaxing, snoozing, for an hour and a half.
Then wander about the town, sightseeing, finding the "Way" for tomorrows start in the dark, finding a good dinner venue.
The dayback/bag is optional. My trousers have plenty of pockets.
Regds
Gerard

 

[Kanga]

If staying in an albergue I stop walking before 2pm, claim bed, then shower, wash clothes, and go eat my main meal - menu del dia (not "menu pelegrino") where the locals are eating. Then churches, sightseeing, shopping, parada with the locals, drink in or outside a bar, then back to albergue to read, light snack or join others, then bed. If staying in a hostal I might have my main meal at about 10pm with the locals (usually in Pamplona, Logrono, Burgos and Leon) so can keep walking for longer.

I carry my passport, wallet and smartphone on me. Everything else stays in my accommodation. If I start worrying about my pack it is time to stop the Camino.

On the chemin in France it is a different routine.

 

[Healing Pilgrim]

My sense is that if you don't plan ahead, and instead let it flow when you get to whatever village/albergue on a given day, and depending on the weather and other factors (fatigue, line-ups, hunger - or not, etc), you'll be able to figure it out as you go along. Moreover, if you've planned ahead to walk around a town, take a nap, or eat at a much-recommended restaurant, and you get there and see that your plans have gone awry for one reason or another, you'll be more likely to let it go rather than feeling disappointed. And you never know.. you just might be surprised to find out that the unexpected turned out better than what you'd planned for

 

[mspath]

Generally in late autumn/winter I walk 6 hours each day usually waking before sunrise and only starting off when the path is visible. At my age it is too dangerous to attempt to walk in the dark even wearing a headlamp except in an emergency.

After breakfast and first light I start to walk making periodic bar stops to use the loo and enjoy hot coffee or hot chocolate so thick that the spoon almost stands in the cup. Served with freshly made crullers this is a delicious, caloric treat and fuel for cold weather trekking! To sit and drink in relative comfort within a warm heated space after walking in the frosty air is always a special pleasure.

Like Kanga I too stop at an albergue in the early afternoon, claim a bunk and then usually search out a nearby hearty menu del dia. However in those albergues which offer communal meals of course I join in; such feasts at Eunate and Granon have always been deliciously memorable. Generally in cold weather for me it is more convenient to shower after eating but before any siesta.

Whatever the sequence of my day it always is a GREAT pleasure to arrive at a welcoming warm albergue, take a hot shower, chat with any other pilgrims and at last collapse in clean comfort on a bottom bunk ever thankful for the continued strength to experience the extraordinary joy of another Camino day. BLISS!

Margaret Meredith