QuailHiker
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- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances (2016)
Camino del Norte y Primitivo (2018)
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More and more albergues have lockers, with a magnetic key they offer or you own. So do bring your own lock. Most of the time your backpack is left behing with your gear and you carry tech and Id with you.
I think it really depends on where you plan to stay. Larger cities, or albergues open to the riff raff (non Caminoers that is, such as Barcelona, Bilbao, Porto, where "Party albergues" are common) I felt much better having my pack being a lock, as tiny as it was. They weigh little and will redirect the evil intened beings towards the other packs. It's just 2$ and 50 grams for added peace of mind. Also, there are also unattented albergues, those where you pick uo the key at the local bar, or simply find the door open. Anyone, ie non oilgrims, can get in and out of them, and waltz out with you stuff.I rarely disagree with Anemone, but I would never carry my own lock for purposes of using a locker to lock up my backpack. But like Kanga and Annie, I never let my passport, wallet, or phone out of my sight. My opinion on the lock is that it's overkill, but maybe people carry a lot more valuable stuff than I do.
I took a very similar approach on my first camino. I found the combination of main pack and the piggy back was just far too heavy, and took up too much of my weight budget. My current approach is to take a stowable day pack. I initially tried the Sea-to-Summit ultra-sil pack, but have since move to a slightly more robust bag from Kathmandu. It weighs about 150 gm. I use it as my carry on bag and for valuables (passport, phone, camera, etc) at the end of each day as well as for any shopping.I use a backpack where I can attach a smaller pack (Tactical Tailor removable operator pack). Very convenient - when I arrive at a albergue, I detach the operator pack and carry it around town or whatever. All valuables of any kind are in the operator pack - and it never leaves my sight. It´s even in my sleeping bag when I sleep.
It can be disappointing.Always carry valuables on your person, money, phone, passport.
Nobody cares about your old socks hahaha, but even on the camino there are always some not so nice people who do care about your phone or money. Sad but true.
I thought the same thing about my old sunglasses and toenail clippers....No disrespect intended, but I wonder if all of this locking equipment, lightweight as it may be, is a signal to would-be thieves that that's where the goods are. Kind of like how we grab for our wallets when the accomplice cries "thief" and then the thief knows exactly where to go. I think that for most people, so long as the holy trio of wallet, passport, and phone are always on the body, there is nothing in the pack that any thief would want. I know it's a classic, but how much resale value is there in my 15 year old Altus poncho anyway? Buen camino, Laurie
I thought the same thing about my old sunglasses and toenail clippers....
I took a very similar approach on my first camino. I found the combination of main pack and the piggy back was just far too heavy, and took up too much of my weight budget. My current approach is to take a stowable day pack. I initially tried the Sea-to-Summit ultra-sil pack, but have since move to a slightly more robust bag from Kathmandu. It weighs about 150 gm. I use it as my carry on bag and for valuables (passport, phone, camera, etc) at the end of each day as well as for any shopping.
Just a few thoughts on the subject of security for your stuff:I am sure most peregrinos will leave your stuff alone, but how much should you be concerned about your pack, etc.?
Ha ha....that's exactly what I thought. Someone else's used toenail clippers? Ugh. I mean, I'm a pretty clean guy and practice good hygiene and don't have foot funk, but still.@Mark Lee I know, people can sink to all sorts of new lows.
In the municipal in Logroño somebody stole my bandaids and blisterkit with threads , needles ect... I had unpacked, put it on my bed, went to the kitchen for 10 minutes, came back to get it to attend to my blister in the courtyard (my million blisters....on my very first camino) and it was gone.
Used toenailclippers? Absolutely ieuwww
Someones used blisterkit......IEUWWWW
Steal a phone, money ect...i get it. Sad, but true, but steal a blisterkit??? From a pilgrim?? Seriously? What is wrong with you! Ask and you could have borrowed it all.....but i needed that....alot.
Some years ago on the way to Ruesta on the Aragon camino a car stopped and the driver offered me to bring my backpack to the albergue some km ahead. After a very long, hot day I did not hesitate to say yes please. .
Wow. A group roofie of pilgrims. That is bad.Some years ago on the way to Ruesta on the Aragon camino a car stopped and the driver offered me to bring my backpack to the albergue some km ahead. After a very long, hot day I did not hesitate to say yes please. The same had happened to my 3 fellow peregrinos on the route that day and one of them asked me if I had been a bit worried sending my things away with a stranger. In fact I thought I might have done a silly thing, but at that moment the happiness of getting rid of my 12 kg bp was greater than my worries. When I arrived at the albergue an hour later my bp was placed beside my bed!
Like most people here I usually do not worry so much about leaving my bp in albergues. I sometimes think the rest of my camino will be easier without my heavy pack. For me the worst would be to loose my bp not the content. It is more difficult and more expensive to get a new bp that suits you than new clothes. On the Norte i 2013 I met a young pilgrim who had lost everything during the night in a closed gite in France. Somebody had come in during the night, opened lockers, taking all the belongings, even the valuables inside sleepingbags from all the people in the gite. The police believed they had doped the pilgrims in some way. This young man I met, continued his camino. The police had given him a small backpack and he said he managed well.
I think it is relatively safe to leave your backpack. After a long day on the camino, you have to let your backpack go when you do things outside the albergue. If not I think the camino is over and out for me.
Holy Moly, no WAY would I give some stranger in a car my pack!
You are one brave (and lucky) peregrina!
I'm glad it turned out ok.
Yup, I cheated from the second I ser foot in SJPP.But surely the Camino does not start at the train station but on the doorstep of the albergue where you spend the night, right?
From your lips to God's ears!OH! No no no, that is soooooo bad!
Methink you'll have to do at least one Camino a year, every year, to make up for it
If I get it dirty before I go, will that save it from being broken or stolen?The stuff you take on the Camino ends up three ways, dirty, broken, or stolen.
I take 2 SD cards and each evening download them and then swap card #1 for card #2 in the camera. That way if I lost a card, I'd only loose a day's worth of photos. Plan worked until my home travel day when I didn't remove it from the camera until I got home and was sitting in my car. My thought was, no use taking the camera in the house, just the card to download. You know how you push on the SD card and it releases it just a little so you can grab it? This time the SD card flew into the air and has never ever been found. I think it went down the little slot where the hand brake cover is.If you have a camera take out the memory card each night and put it in the passport pouch. It would be bad losing the camera but worse losing your pictures too.
If I get it dirty before I go, will that save it from being broken or stolen?
I take 2 SD cards and each evening download them and then swap card #1 for card #2 in the camera. That way if I lost a card, I'd only loose a day's worth of photos. Plan worked until my home travel day when I didn't remove it from the camera until I got home and was sitting in my car. My thought was, no use taking the camera in the house, just the card to download. You know how you push on the SD card and it releases it just a little so you can grab it? This time the SD card flew into the air and has never ever been found. I think it went down the little slot where the hand brake cover is.
I do the same as Doug.....never leave your valuables in the Albergues....you are responsible for your valuables....don't leave them behind.I took a very similar approach on my first camino. I found the combination of main pack and the piggy back was just far too heavy, and took up too much of my weight budget. My current approach is to take a stowable day pack. I initially tried the Sea-to-Summit ultra-sil pack, but have since move to a slightly more robust bag from Kathmandu. It weighs about 150 gm. I use it as my carry on bag and for valuables (passport, phone, camera, etc) at the end of each day as well as for any shopping.
On my first Camino at the municipal in Burgos I went to retrieve my stuff off the drying line just in time to see some guy un-clipping my micro-towel off the line. He was quite startled when I walked up and told him it was mine.I take an 'Onya' bag which folds up into a 4" block, but folds out into a strong light backpack, great for bits and bobs you need to keep on you, but also strong enough that you can fill it up with food or whatever if you go shopping..
sorry Dutch - old, smelly socks are NOT immune to thieves! When on a campsite near Chartres I had manky socks and my microtowel nicked off the drying line!
On my first Camino at the municipal in Burgos I went to retrieve my stuff off the drying line just in time to see some guy un-clipping my micro-towel off the line. He was quite startled when I walked up and told him it was mine.
Those towels are quite handy and useful. It would have sucked to lose it.
Not sure what the guy's intent was with my micro-towel. He just handed it to me while looking down at the ground and shuffled away. As far as I remember it was the only mocha brown, extra-large sized micro-towel on the line, so I doubt it was a case of mistaken identity, ha ha.Same thing happened with me, but as the person said he thought it was his, I did not feel too funny about it. Just took note then began using my micro towel as a bed curtain!
In Leon, a friend had her entire mochila stolen, so I have a stamp from the Leon estacion de policia. I was glad to be the one delivering the narrative in Castilian, as my friend did not know Spanish language.
I'm sure some of you remember my post about the albergue in Leon, where things apparently are frequently stolen. It was a really trying 24-hour period. It was also a dirty place with lots of icy standing water in the bathroom and shower, but be grateful!
Honestly though--passport, money, credit cards, electronics, sunnies on your person at all times, EVEN and probably ESPECIALLY while you are in the shower. Get a waterproof bag to take into the shower for your things. Works great.
Darn it, there is always that guy or girl who tries to pull fast one. Fortunately, you were able to recover it before it actually disappeared! Nice.Not sure what the guy's intent was with my micro-towel. He just handed it to me while looking down at the ground and shuffled away. As far as I remember it was the only mocha brown, extra-large sized micro-towel on the line, so I doubt it was a case of mistaken identity, ha ha.
I'm always concerned that future pilgrims reading these threads may get too overly concerned and may be put off from walking the Camino. I hope nobody does that. I'm speaking only for myself, but I just don't like the prospect of anyone being taken advantage of, so if an experience told prevents it just happening once, it was worth telling.
Oh, here comes that soft heart! Hey, MTto, you have to get back to Spain! When are you heading back?This thread really points out the differences of our personalities, & how we view what is important to us. It is also the strength of the forum.
Being that as a species we can adjust & overcome adversity all I ask is that you keep a soft heart for those who digress from social norms.
Not until I can convince my wife & we both can get off work! I am a very patient man.Oh, here comes that soft heart! Hey, MTto, you have to get back to Spain! When are you heading back?
Great advice - especially about painting the charger! Thanks. SueFolks don't magically become honest simply because they are walking the CDS. They are, and remain, a representation of society in general. So, sadly, yet realistically, theft happens. As a previous poster said he even lost some used toenail clippers! Boots, walking poles, backpacks, phone chargers, etc all are taken. Nothing is safe. Thats the fact. So, the security we seek is not so much in the fortification of the things we have, but, may be found in the realization that the burden we carry worrying and protecting our things is too heavy to carry. As I walk the CDS, this is one of many stones I plan to leave on the trail. Until that time; When you leave your boots, use the laces to tie your hiking poles to the boots(both laces), take a silnylon shower bag(or a ziplock) and take you phone, passport IN the shower with you, use a piece of spectra cord and tie one end to the shoulder strap(or frame) of your pack and loop it around the bedframe, or while outside to a rail/pole, etc, and attach a carabiner to the other end. Lock the backpack by attaching the carabiner to one of the loops (or make a loop inside using spectracord) inside your pack. Zip it shut. This "lock" works very well-spectra is a real bear to cut, and it weighs next to nothing. Use a real brite pink or dayglo green paint and color your phone charger.
A bit of a rarity!I noticed the large albergue in Roncevalles has (apparently lockable) lockers
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