Are most albergues heated?

[serenalms]

I'm doing the Camino in October and I've started to get a bit nervous about being cold at night... are most of the albergues heated? I'll have a sleeping bag, but it's pretty light (40F) so I'm just wondering if that is going to be warm enough for me? With heat I'll be fine, but if that's not common, I might need something warmer.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Some are, some are not, but they all have blankets. Take a fleece as a layer to hold you until bedtime. Hostales are heated if albergues are a problem.

 

[Kathy F.]

Just got back from the CF. All but one albergue had blankets. I used a "lightweight" sleeping bag and had no problem. I wore long underwear bottoms and a t-shirt for sleeping and was always comfortable. I started the Camino in snow and ended in 30+ degree weather. Don't worry too much about stuff - you'll be fine.
Kathy

 

[mspath]

I'm doing the Camino in October and I've started to get a bit nervous about being cold at night... are most of the albergues heated? I'll have a sleeping bag, but it's pretty light (40F) so I'm just wondering if that is going to be warm enough for me? With heat I'll be fine, but if that's not common, I might need something warmer.

serenalms,

Besides carrying a fleece and thermals you might also consider a silk/polyester liner for your sleeping bag. A wooly hat or beanie is also most useful even indoors; often when it is bitter cold I wear my wooly hat to bunk and resemble Goldilocks' grandma!

By mid October not all albergues will be open but the hospitaleros usually know who is open on the next stage and such info is often posted on all albergue doors. Most open albergues will either be heated or have blankets. Portable space heaters are most common. One useful trick is to make a cozy 'sandwich' for sleeping by folding a blanket in half the long way, place your sleeping bag on top of the bottom half and pull the top half over all. If there are no blankets put your poncho beneath the sleeping bag to block the cold from rising.

Stay warm and Buen Camino,

Margaret Meredith

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

I totally agree with Margaret, and would add that I've stayed in a few albergues with NO blankets [and one with no beds!] but keeping warm isn't a problem if you just put on the next day's clothing before you go to bed.
Sleeping in your clothes isn't a crime! It may not be your normal type of pyjamas, but it's functional on a cold camino - if necessary, even wear your gloves!
The important thing is to keep comfortably warm.

Buen camino!

 

[Deleted member 12253]

October should be ok, in April it was very cold, -2 and no heat, we huddled in the bathroom for warmth 6 or 7 of us, we even considered doubling up in beds, snow all the way into burgos, never so cold in my life, but back in sept, Buen camino

 

[StuartM]

I walked last October.

A couple of the Galician albergues I stayed in had no blankets. O Cebreiro and Monte de Gozo are two that spring to mind (though I never stayed long enough in MdG to sleep there).

Most were heated and with a few people in they started to get too hot. People give off 100 watts a person, ten people in a room is an extra kilowatt of heat.

Even in October it was a relief to find an unheated room. I cant recall ever being cold at night.

 

[Stellere]

October should be ok, in April it was very cold, -2 and no heat, we huddled in the bathroom for warmth 6 or 7 of us, we even considered doubling up in beds, snow all the way into burgos, never so cold in my life, but back in sept, Buen camino

Uh-oh! I'll be walking next March and April. Although from what I've heard, this year was particularly cold... Still, I plan on bringing warm clothes - and a toque - just in case.

 

[new2this]

All are heated up until Leon , then you can have extra blankets up until Sarria :? .... when you have to fend for yourself or shiver to sleep like I did :cry: !

 

[mismiki]

I just finished the camino on June 6, although some albergues have heat, they don;t necessarily turn it on, I had to sleep with my clothes on most of the time, I did not have a sleeping bag, some of them had blankets, but not all of them, I few times my boyfriend and I slept on one bed just to keep warm. I still had a great time doing the camino, this year was colder than usual, it snowed a couple of times.

 

[whariwharangi]

I went late October to early December. I found a wide variety in heating. The private ones tended to turn the heat on just long enough to get to bed. Some of the Xunta operated albergues were actually uncomfortably hot.

I carried a -10C rated bag ... it was way too warm for sleeping indoors even in the coldest albergue. In the really hot ones I slept with only the sheet liner.

A bag rated 40F should be sufficient. If it is not, most albergues, particularly the cold ones, have blankets you can use to supplement. A wool hat helps a lot too.

The main problem with heating was people draped their wet (rained on or washed) clothes over the radiators. It made the air feel quite damp.