Should I bring a lock?

[Willin']

Hi all,

I'm leaving tomorrow for the full (hopefully, since this is my first Camino) Lisboa to Santiago and still researching money/credit card/ passport security. One site I came across mentioned that some residences have security lockers for personal things. I wouldn't have expected that at an albergue but since I'm a tenderfoot I may have to spend a night or two in an intermediate location.

Is a padlock of some sort a sensible thing to bring along? I'll be adopting various security strategies depending on the situation, ie, spreading my money and docs out in various hard to access locations while walking, but it sure would be nice to tuck everything away in a safe every once in a while if I go out to play.

Any thoughts?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Is a padlock of some sort a sensible thing to bring along?

The few places with lockers include lock and key, so a padlock would be wasted weight, I think. Have fun!

 

[JohnMcM]

Hi all,

I'm leaving tomorrow for the full (hopefully, since this is my first Camino) Lisboa to Santiago and still researching money/credit card/ passport security. One site I came across mentioned that some residences have security lockers for personal things. I wouldn't have expected that at an albergue but since I'm a tenderfoot I may have to spend a night or two in an intermediate location.

Is a padlock of some sort a sensible thing to bring along? I'll be adopting various security strategies depending on the situation, ie, spreading my money and docs out in various hard to access locations while walking, but it sure would be nice to tuck everything away in a safe every once in a while if I go out to play.

Any thoughts?

Falcon gives you good advice Willin'.

My advice regarding locks is simple. Take a lock of hair from a loved one, it may bring you more security and peace of mind than all else.

Buen(secure in mind, body, earthly goods and spirit) Camino

 

[Penbaysail]

So far, I haven't seen an albergue or gîte where a padlock would be useful. If there are locked lockers (relatively few so far), the facility provides a lock & key.

Better to work out a system where you carry your valuables with you (money, cards, passport, and credencial). Cargo pants pockets do it for me when away from my pack but I also use a clear vinyl pouch in my pack so I can visually check the contents.

Good luck.

 

[Willin']

Many thanks for the kind advice !

 

[WGroleau]

So far, I haven't seen an albergue or gîte where a padlock would be useful. If there are locked lockers (relatively few so far), the facility provides a lock & key.

Most I've been at had lockers and offered to sell or rent a lock. One left the lock up to you. One had combinations. All but one had lockers smaller than my backpack, so I had to unpack anything I might worry about.

 

[Former member 49149]

Some kind of body belt is a good idea, and a dry sack you can put it into for shower time. No need, as already said, for a padlock. Buen camino

 

[MeliCunn]

Wasted weight! I used a Bandiwear belt. It worked perfectly for passport, cash, and phone.
Take a multi-purpose hook in the shower with you. Just don't forget it in the 2nd albergue you stay in, like I did!
Oh, well. I am sure some other pilgrim made use of it!
Buen camino

 

[trevorcc]

Why, just have faith and trust your fellow pilgrims and leave all the worry at home. As I say if someone wants to steal they probably needed it more than me.

 

[Willin']

Many thanks for the great advice folks. I'm on the Camino now so we can close this thread. I took the dry bag route but so far have not needed it since the first stages have all been something other than albergues. Cheers!

 

[WGroleau]

Take a multi-purpose hook in the shower with you. Just don't forget it in the 2nd albergue you stay in, like I did!
Oh, well. I am sure some other pilgrim made use of it!

Suction cup hook? If that was in Villamayor de Monjardîn last year, it served me well for several days and then "disappeared." But I never take anything abandoned when I'm walking: the pilgrim might come back for it. When hospitalero, though, and it is unclaimed for several days, I figure it's a freebie. Aparently others don't feel that way: I've lost two chargers and some medicines. One charger went with the last person out of the albergue (I was second-to-lost) and he didn't even wait the ten minutes it took for me to remember it and go back. Everything else, the staff said they hadn't seen the day after it "disappeared." Why would anyone steal thyroid hormone replacements?

 

[WGroleau]

Why, just have faith and trust your fellow pilgrims and leave all the worry at home. As I say if someone wants to steal they probably needed it more than me.

Well, there have been thefts, but I suspect they are rare. By the third day, most pilgrims are trying to decide what to throw away, not what else to add to their weight!

 

[habanerocat]

I've stayed in albergues with only one free mains socket with multiple extension leads running off it. Maybe 20 mobile phones and other electronic stuff all charging away on the counter top. A sight to behold. No problems with theft on the Camino.

 

[long trails]

I carry a fold up ultralight backpack that weighs just a few grams. At all times I have my valuables on me in albergues. I would not trust every pilgrim you meet. I know a few people who have had stuff go missing.

 

[WGroleau]

I carry a fold up ultralight backpack that weighs just a few grams. At all times I have my valuables on me in albergues. I would not trust every pilgrim you meet. I know a few people who have had stuff go missing.

Yep. Either the albergue cleaners were lying or pilgrims took my battery charger, my iPhone charger, my toiletries bag, and TWICE, my thyroid medicine. That last one is really hard to believe! And this was three different albergues, different days.

However, I've almost never used a lock, and I've never had laptop, iPad, phone, or money stolen, in at least a couple of dozen hostels and albergues.

 

[Deleted member 29041]

The few places with lockers include lock and key, so a padlock would be wasted weight,

We must have been staying different places then , because I've come across a few places, where I could have used a small padlock to lock the locker. Thinking back, they were private albergues.

I have also recently (last April, before embarking on the Inglés) read an official (online?) guide, that actually recommended bringing a small padlock . I seem to remember that it was from the Galician Xunta or tourist office, but don't hang me up on that.

That said (written, actually ), I myself have no inclination towards dragging a padlock across Spain. I carry my valuables with me, even bathing, and that's that.