Camino de Invierno: sleeping bag query

[Clarky19]

Hi Invierno walkers, just wondering whether you would say a sleeping bag is a must for this Camino? I'll be walking it in September.

Thanks! Fiona

 

[VNwalking]

I used mine only 4 times.
There are relatively few opportunities, because many places have no albergue. But when you need it you need it.

 

[Clarky19]

Many thanks for the heads up. Better to be prepared then!

 

[Karl Oz]

I walked the Sanabres (a little more to the south, but not much) in late May/early June sans sleeping bag, and regretted it. In my opinion you should take it.

 

[Clarky19]

Hi Karl, thanks for that. I'll definitely be packing it to be on the safe side.

 

[Sydney Peregrinos]

We walked the Invierno in September last year, and as VNwalking says there are relatively few opportunities to use it as there are very few albergues on the Invierno. We stayed at the Albergue in Villavieja on our first day out of Ponferrada, and then there were no other albergues(apart from in Quiroga) until we reached Lalin and then joined up with the Sanabres. We then stayed at municipal albergues in Bandeira and Outeiro and used our sleeping bags then.
We started in mid-September and only met two other pilgrims the whole time (one of whom is a well-known guidebook writer) until we joined the Sanabres. It is a wonderful walk, very isolated at times but you need to be prepared for the distances between towns and plan accordingly, especially a there are often no villages for the all-important mid-morning coffee stop.

 

[Clarky19]

Thanks very much for that feedback - I'll keep it all in mind, especially for the coffee intake!

 

[KinkyOne]

We walked the Invierno in September last year, and as VNwalking says there are relatively few opportunities to use it as there are very few albergues on the Invierno. We stayed at the Albergue in Villavieja on our first day out of Ponferrada, and then there were no other albergues(apart from in Quiroga) until we reached Lalin and then joined up with the Sanabres. We then stayed at municipal albergues in Bandeira and Outeiro and used our sleeping bags then.
...

I have to make a correction here. There are more albergues on the Invierno than just the three you mentioned: Sobradelo, O Barco de Valdeorras (in Xagoaza, 3km detour, in beautiful setting and fully equipped albergue), Vilamartin de Valdeorras, A Rua de Valdeorras, A Pobra do Brollon, Rodeiro and A Laxe (at the merging of Invierno and Sanabres). So there's 10 albergues altogether.

 

[Albertagirl]

Hi Invierno walkers, just wondering whether you would say a sleeping bag is a must for this Camino? I'll be walking it in September.

Thanks! Fiona

@Clarky19
I have been trying to find accommodation for my walk through the Invierno this fall, and the availability of albergues is extremely changeable. The albergue at A Rua de Valdeorras is closed. The albergue at A Pobre de Brollon is apparently only open when school is out, as it is in an area of a school which used to house residential students, and is only available as an albergue when school is out. The albergue at A Laxe is on the Sanabres, and is so close to the albergue at Lalin that one or the other would do for a night's lodging. The opening of a couple of other albergues is apparently imminent, but information is scarce. @peregrina2000 is in the process of revising her Guide to the Invierno to account for recent changes. You can follow her posts on the Invierno forum, see "Guide Revisions -- Questions -- Ponferrada to Las Médulas" for the first part of this process. She is doing her best to provide up to date information for this fall's pilgrims, which will include me and you. All the best in your planning and Buen Camino.

 

[KinkyOne]

@Clarky19
...The albergue at A Rua de Valdeorras is closed. ...

Asun's albergue is closed but the albergue at polideportivo isn't as I know.
Well, it might not be the albergue you are used to but on less walked Caminos a gym/yoga mat, a shower and toilet and roof over my head is quite enough for me

@Clarky19
...The albergue at A Pobre de Brollon is apparently only open when school is out, as it is in an area of a school which used to house residential students, and is only available as an albergue when school is out. ...

Where did you get this info? Residential students in a village with less than 1700 residents???

Acogida en el polideportivo de A Pobra do Brollón | Albergue de Peregrinos en A Pobra do Brollón | Gronze.com

Información del albergue de peregrinos Acogida en el polideportivo de A Pobra do Brollón, en A Pobra do Brollón: Precio, plazas, características, etc...

www.gronze.com

@Clarky19
...The albergue at A Laxe is on the Sanabres, and is so close to the albergue at Lalin that one or the other would do for a night's lodging. ...

Albergue in A Laxe is the last albergue on Invierno technically speaking but you're right about everything else including that it is on Sanabres

 

[Albertagirl]

Asun's albergue is closed but the albergue at polideportivo isn't as I know.
Well, it might not be the albergue you are used to but on less walked Caminos a gym/yoga mat, a shower and toilet and roof over my head is quite enough for me


Where did you get this info? Residential students in a village with less than 1700 residents???

Acogida en el polideportivo de A Pobra do Brollón | Albergue de Peregrinos en A Pobra do Brollón | Gronze.com

Información del albergue de peregrinos Acogida en el polideportivo de A Pobra do Brollón, en A Pobra do Brollón: Precio, plazas, características, etc...

www.gronze.com

Albergue in A Laxe is the last albergue on Invierno technically speaking but you're right about everything else including that it is on Sanabres

@KinkyOne
I have no doubt that you know this route much better than I do, or could. I have not walked it yet. The comment on residential students in Pobra de Brollion is taken from peregrina2000's comment of June 30, two weeks ago, in her thread, "LIVE from the Camino My not so evocative Invierno comments":
"In Pobra de Brollon no progress has been made on the albergue. The group conversation that I started in the bar with my innocent question led to many guffaws and slapping of knees and shaking of heads. Right now the town puts up pilgrims in the rooms attached to the school where boarding students used to live (not the polideportivo as has been reported). But this is only viable when school is not in session. Private efforts to start a private albergue have been stymied."

As this is one location where this apparent albergue is currently the only available housing and it is likely not to be available in the late fall, when I am passing through, and possibly also in September, when Clarky19 will be looking for a bed, I thought it appropriate to pass it on. I am hoping that peregrina2000's many useful observations of the Invierno will be incorporated in some way into her Guide to the Invierno, for myself and others to take note of. In the meantime, I try to remember as much as I can. I am also very grateful for your assistance as I prepare to walk this route, as well as for the Madrid, which is somewhat more stable at present. I agree with you entirely that: "a gym/yoga mat, a shower and toilet and roof over my head is quite enough for me" and I am doing my best in a somewhat confusing situation to find them.
Mary Louise

 

[peregrina2000]

Asun's albergue is closed but the albergue at polideportivo isn't as I know.
Well, it might not be the albergue you are used to but on less walked Caminos a gym/yoga mat, a shower and toilet and roof over my head is quite enough for me


Where did you get this info? Residential students in a village with less than 1700 residents???

Acogida en el polideportivo de A Pobra do Brollón | Albergue de Peregrinos en A Pobra do Brollón | Gronze.com

Información del albergue de peregrinos Acogida en el polideportivo de A Pobra do Brollón, en A Pobra do Brollón: Precio, plazas, características, etc...

www.gronze.com

Albergue in A Laxe is the last albergue on Invierno technically speaking but you're right about everything else including that it is on Sanabres

Yes, as @Albertagirl says, I was the source of that info. That was what I was told by two residents. It may not be correct. Gronze says it is in the polideportivo, but wherever it is, it is only available when school is not in session. There are many small schools in rural areas in Spain that used to take in residential students from the surrounding small villages so they didn’t have to drive them back and forth every day.

And yes the polideportivo in A Rúa is open. M-F, 3-10 pm. Weekends, call the local police. It is 1.5 km from the polideportivo to the ayuntamiento, and then a few more hundred m up to the camino — that’s not a problem for people walking in from O Barco since it’s such a short stage, but it does add a chunk to the A Rúa to Quiroga stage that might make it too long for some.

 

[Clarky19]

Hi Invernistas,
many thanks for the sleeping bag/ sleeping places suggestions. I don't know if this will be of interest but just in case, in May a new number for the Albergue Bañadoiro was published by the local website for Vilamartín. See below. The 2nd number is for emergencies & out of hours opening:
Novo teléfono de atención no Albergue de Peregrinos
IdiomaUndefined
31.05.19.- O Albergue Municipal de Peregrinos situado na área recreativa do Bañadoiro conta xa con novo número de teléfono para atender aos peregrinos. O teléfono ao que se pode chamar é o 679 846879. Ademais hai un número de teléfono para emerxencias e fora do horario de apertura que é o 689 997 443.

 

[VNwalking]

Thanks for the info, @Clarky19!
@peregrina2000 , I assume you've seen this?