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Municipal Albergue blankets

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Just back from the del Salvador and Primitivo. I've normally acquired a blanket at the Municipal Alberques. These blankets are no longer readily available at all of the M.Albergues. Be aware if you normally take just a light weight sleeping bag liner with you. I understand this if the lack of blankets is now due to reducing costs and labour for the providers. I will always take a sleeping bag with me from now on. After a rainy and cold experience this year, its obviously better to be fully prepared from now on. The del Salvador was sunny and fine, but the nights and mornings are cold and fresh.
Buen Camino. Keith
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Having volunteered at an albergue (name withheld) where they complained when I sent dirty blankets to be laundered, because of cost. They were correct to address costs of running a public albergue and have eliminated blankets there so have other places. The Boy Scouts motto is "Be Prepared"
 
I have always carried a sleeping bag on my caminos. Lightweight in summer and more substantial in winter. It has never been safe to assume that blankets will be available for all those who want one in albergues. All the more now as concerns about bedbugs seem to be on the increase. While I understand the drive to reduce the size and weight of one's pack for a Camino walking without a sleeping bag in all but the warmest of seasons is a gamble I would not want to make. I value my sleep too much for that.
 
3rd Edition. More content, training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
I have always carried a sleeping bag on my caminos. Lightweight in summer and more substantial in winter. It has never been safe to assume that blankets will be available for all those who want one in albergues. All the more now as concerns about bedbugs seem to be on the increase. While I understand the drive to reduce the size and weight of one's pack for a Camino walking without a sleeping bag in all but the warmest of seasons is a gamble I would not want to make. I value my sleep too much for that.

I've used the blankets on most of my Caminos.

Never once came across a bedbug in them.

Spiders, snakes, half-eaten bocadiilos, the odd sock or two, bars of soap, hair combs, credentials and other odd items yes, but never a bed-bug.;)

Buen (big-blanket) Camino
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
We also ran into several places that only provided a paper fitted sheet with no blanket. Luckily it was so hot in those rooms there was zero need for even the liners.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Hi @ExiledSW - what time of year did you walk, please?
Walked the Frances this year in May/June, carried an inliner. Needed blankets twice, because I was staying in an old stone-build place. Was cold morning & night, even though during day temperatur was o.k. Blankets were therefore much appreciated.

If not have been available, I'd have simply just put on my jacket at night and pulled my pants over my leggings.
 
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Walked the Frances this year in May/June., carried an inliner. Needed blankets twice, because I was staying in an old stone-build place. Was cold morning & night, even though during day temperatur was o.k. Blankets were therefore much appreciated.

If not have been available, I'd have simply just put on my jacket at night and pulled my pants over my leggings.
Yes, @sugargypsy - there have been quite a few nights on various caminos where I have worn all the clothes I possessed!! :)
 
Just back from the del Salvador and Primitivo. I've normally acquired a blanket at the Municipal Alberques. These blankets are no longer readily available at all of the M.Albergues. Be aware if you normally take just a light weight sleeping bag liner with you. I understand this if the lack of blankets is now due to reducing costs and labour for the providers. I will always take a sleeping bag with me from now on. After a rainy and cold experience this year, its obviously better to be fully prepared from now on. The del Salvador was sunny and fine, but the nights and mornings are cold and fresh.
Buen Camino. Keith
Having just returned from El Norte, I understand that there are two basic problems with the blankets in the albergues:
1. The cost to Dry Clean wool
2. The blankets are at times “taken” by the Perigrinos
Advise: Always call a Sleeping Bag
 
I am one of the many folks who read the posts but never write. I return to the CF in 2 weeks and will be walking in early November from Logrono to Castrojeriz. I see that many albergues will be closed although municipal albergues will be opened. So do folks recommend I take a sleeping bag because of the time of year (early November)?
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I always take a sleeping bag.
I will from now on. I've never had a problem before, nor been so cold and wet on Camino in September. It was the Primitivo - the delSalvador was hot and clear (we even had a very, too close encounter with an adder basking in the sun on our path). In all my Caminos I'd used my poncho once for a brief spell of heavy weather on the Francés. I kept it to hand this time. Having said that, the driving wind and rain on Hospitales was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, as did my three Camino Buddies - age 72, 50 and 32! We all said 'wow' when we got to low ground. All part of the adventure. Many people (especially Spanish), took it in their stride and were even extolling the majesty of the storms, cheering with arms stretched out as though trying to fly. A blanket for bed would have been nice at the end of it, but that was my misjudgement. We all learn something. The Primitivo was a new experience for me, so I learned a lot.
Regards. Keith
 
My 22 days on the Olvidado, San Salvador and Primitivo were all dry except for 3 hours of drizzle on one day and a couple of days of heavy mist. Never really cold at night but cold enough in the evening to need my fleece at dinner! Never needed my sleeping bag, just used the liner. However, the albergues I stayed in had blankets. However, even when I walk the Sureste 2 years ago startin in late Apr I took mt bag - for the little extra weight its worth the security.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I am one of the many folks who read the posts but never write. I return to the CF in 2 weeks and will be walking in early November from Logrono to Castrojeriz. I see that many albergues will be closed although municipal albergues will be opened. So do folks recommend I take a sleeping bag because of the time of year (early November)?
Yes. Heat is inconsistently available in municipal albergues.
 
Just back from the del Salvador and Primitivo. I've normally acquired a blanket at the Municipal Alberques. These blankets are no longer readily available at all of the M.Albergues. Be aware if you normally take just a light weight sleeping bag liner with you. I understand this if the lack of blankets is now due to reducing costs and labour for the providers. I will always take a sleeping bag with me from now on. After a rainy and cold experience this year, its obviously better to be fully prepared from now on. The del Salvador was sunny and fine, but the nights and mornings are cold and fresh.
Buen Camino. Keith
I use a jungle sleeping bag which has a warm rating of about +4 but if it gets a bit chiller I use a liner and it becomes nice and toastie. I've walked a few Camino's now and I always do them in the winter. I don't take anything warmer with me. If I was forced to sleep outside I also take a SOL bivvy bag for added warmth.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Mike, was this in November?
November is cold in the northern hemisphere and I would recommend taking a sleeping bag. I always travel with one, lightweight is fine and merino leggings / top so if it's really cold you can layer up. More then once I've come across cold and wet ill prepared trampers and pilgrims and had to wrap them up and get them warm while help is saught, once you loose core body heat things can go down hill fast, it's not worth stripping your pack weight down to such a degree that you can't cope with what the weather throws at you.
 
My 22 days on the Olvidado, San Salvador and Primitivo were all dry except for 3 hours of drizzle on one day and a couple of days of heavy mist. Never really cold at night but cold enough in the evening to need my fleece at dinner! Never needed my sleeping bag, just used the liner. However, the albergues I stayed in had blankets. However, even when I walk the Sureste 2 years ago startin in late Apr I took mt bag - for the little extra weight its worth the security.
Hi MikeJS. On the San Salvador and Primitivo- Did you stay in Municipal Albergues where you had blankets? When did you go. We were there sept-early october this year. Just curious.
Regards. Keith
PS What are 'Trampers'? Never heard this term before.
 
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November is cold in the northern hemisphere and I would recommend taking a sleeping bag. I always travel with one, lightweight is fine and merino leggings / top so if it's really cold you can layer up. More then once I've come across cold and wet ill prepared trampers and pilgrims and had to wrap them up and get them warm while help is saught, once you loose core body heat things can go down hill fast, it's not worth stripping your pack weight down to such a degree that you can't cope with what the weather throws at you.
We all coped well and were prepared for what the weather threw at us or weather/health emergencies, just didn't expect some M.Alberques not to have blankets available. They've been more available in the past, from my experience. I've only ever come across injured pilgrims - shin splints, ankles, knees, rather than 'ill prepared' - unless you call over-packed ruksacks as that too. If anything, I've only really come across over-prepared pilgrims struggling with large packs, pilgrims who eventually discard contents or send stuff on to Santiago.
Regards, Keith
PS What are 'Trampers'? Never heard this term before.
 
Hi MikeJS. On the San Salvador and Primitivo- Did you stay in Municipal Albergues where you had blankets? When did you go. We were there sept-early october this year. Just curious.
Regards. Keith
PS What are 'Trampers'? Never heard this term before.
I was only on the San Salvador for 2 night and only know that the municipal In Poladura has blankets. Trampers??
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
I found a lightweight down blanket with stuff sack at Costco. This and a silk liner weigh less than my ultra lightweight sleeping bag.
 
I was only on the San Salvador for 2 night and only know that the municipal In Poladura has blankets. Trampers??
Yes - I remember Poladura was one of the Municipals that had blankets. And the weather at that time was warm and sunny.
'Trampers' was a term used in one of the replies. I've never heard it before and wondered what it refers to and means.
Keith
 
November is cold in the northern hemisphere and I would recommend taking a sleeping bag. I always travel with one, lightweight is fine and merino leggings / top so if it's really cold you can layer up. More then once I've come across cold and wet ill prepared trampers and pilgrims and had to wrap them up and get them warm while help is saught, once you loose core body heat things can go down hill fast, it's not worth stripping your pack weight down to such a degree that you can't cope with what the weather throws at you.
Hi Hel&Scott - what's a 'Tramper'. I've never heard this before. Just curious. Is it a New Zealand hiking-pilgrim term? (I've relatives in Timaru on the south island).
Regards, Keith
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Someone at the forum suggested the Aegis Max mummy as a lightweight (408 gram) sleeping bag. I bought it via Amazon.de and took it for my end of September Camino Frances section walk from SJPDP. Very light, warm, comfortable ànd affordable.


 
All the albergues I stayed at on the Salvador had blankets. (La Robla, Poladura, Pajares, Pola de Lena)
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
We always carry KMart cheap lightweight sleeping bags and good liners. Having encountered bedbugs on the Frances a few times and other Caminos (when they join the Frances at Melide and onwards) and these were good, clean and well run establishments that you would not suspect for bedbugs, we never take our sleeping bags home as to avoid hitchhikers. When I go to bed tonight in my bunk bed on the VdlP I hope I don’t get too itchy thinking about the blanket on top of me!
 
A tramper is someone tramping about the countryside ... a walker.

Not a term used here, but I've seen it in books.
I would agree - not something I've heard before. We're not asked at the Pilgrim Office if we were on Camino for 'Spiritual or Religous reasons, or a Tramper', are we? It could also be taken by some who are not used to the term as derogatory.

There's been some good info shared on this thread, but perhaps its exhausting itself?
Best wishes
Keith
 
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Hi Hel&Scott - what's a 'Tramper'. I've never heard this before. Just curious. Is it a New Zealand hiking-pilgrim term? (I've relatives in Timaru on the south island).
Regards, Keith
Tramper is a common term in NZ, used a bit like Hikers is in the US. From an early age I tramped around moutains, over hills and ranges, through bush, along rivers and across plains. We stayed in tramping huts and wore tramping boots. Kiwi tramps are more like rough paths and huts are just that, tin huts with a fireplace and wooden bunks, no blankets, no showers and no Cafes along the way for coffee. Markers may be poles, or tin lids nailed to trees to help you find your way. The bush is more like a dense forest, it rains a lot and you have to carry everything you need. After that the Camino was a luxury walk in the park!
 
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Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Tramper is a common term in NZ, used a bit like Hikers is in the US. From an early age I tramped around moutains, over hills and ranges, through bush, along rivers and across plains. We stayed in tramping huts and wore tramping boots. Kiwi tramps are more like rough paths and huts are just that, tin huts with a fireplace and wooden bunks, no blankets, no showers and no Cafes along the way for coffee. Markers may be poles, or tin lids nailed to trees to help you find your way. The bush is more like a dense forest, it rains a lot and you have to carry everything you need. After that the Camino was a luxury walk in the park!
Thanks - sounds pretty exciting, real adventurous stuff. Thanks for the explanation.
Keith
 
Definitely a Kiwi term in common use for hiker or bushwalker (Australia). For those that follow blogs on Te Araroa trail (a 3000km trail traversing the length of NZ) you will see that even international 'trampers' refer to the state of the 'tramping trails'😃
Linda (a Kiwi in Adelaide, Australia)
 
I am one of the many folks who read the posts but never write. I return to the CF in 2 weeks and will be walking in early November from Logrono to Castrojeriz. I see that many albergues will be closed although municipal albergues will be opened. So do folks recommend I take a sleeping bag because of the time of year (early November)?
as a hospitalera and veteran camino walker cannot stress enough the importance of bringing your own sleeping bag, municipal albergues do not have blankets, many pilgrims demand and expect the hospitaleros to solve their "problem" which can be prevented with a bit of planing,, You are going in November? definitive bring a sleeping bag with a liner , better safe than sorry.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Someone at the forum suggested the Aegis Max mummy as a lightweight (408 gram) sleeping bag. I bought it via Amazon.de and took it for my end of September Camino Frances section walk from SJPDP. Very light, warm, comfortable ànd affordable.


That might have been me. The one and only piece of equipment that I bought for my first Camino that I've had no need to trade out.
 
That might have been me. The one and only piece of equipment that I bought for my first Camino that I've had no need to trade out.
Thx Gerip, I much liked the “green down monster”, it gave me such comfort and safety. Much appreciated!
 

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