Albergues-are more to close?

[george.g]

Has the news of albergues closing, and given the possibility that more could close over the next few months should the prudent pilgrim carry a bivi bag or similar?
As I am walking with a fairly limited budget nights in Hotels are not an option I want to take.
I plan to start from Triana Backpackers in Seville on the 14 April via Astorga to Muxia and Finnisterre.

George

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, George,

I suppose no one can predict the future, but the albergues I was talking about in my post about closing are all very different from most albergues. The 4 are owned by the Junta de Extremadura, the regional government. They are in historic properties, and all involved a contract to some other entity, which in turn hired the staff who ran the albergues. The only other albergues along the Vdlp that I can think of that are similar are the albergue in Banos de Montemayor, and the one at the Embalse de Alcantara, both of which I think are also "albergues turisticos" and owned by the Junta and contracted out. I haven't seen anything about closing them.

Though many of the rest of the albergues on the Vdlp are also owned by a government, it's not that same "Albergue Turistico" set up. They are run by the municipalities themselves, are not anywhere near as luxurious, and tend to be in old school houses or other buildings the local government no longer needs. So, given the increases in pilgrim numbers, I'd be surprised if a lot more albergues closed. Not sure this helps much, but I don't think I'd worry too much about a rash of closings.

Buen camino, Laurie