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You might want to confirm that bedding will be provided, either directly with the albergues or checking a site like Gronze. I would expect you will get bedding, and shouldn't need to carry a sleeping bag, or even liners if sheets as well as blankets are provided.
Hi, Lhollo. . .
It will likely still be very warm to hot on the Frances during your time there.
Bedbugs do not live inside the bedding, or inside pillows, or inside mattresses per se, but more in the cracks and crevices of the bed frames, baseboards and around furniture. Sometimes if folded bedding is left undisturbed they may hide there, and at any seams of mattresses.
A quick look for signs of bedbugs will help to identify a potential infestation. I check any place that I lodge at, even at a Parador.This is a YouTube video on what to look for. It is for a hotel room, but it will give some good instruction on what to look for in general.
Permethrin and pyrethroids are often mentioned as repellents to help keep bedbugs from biting, but they do not repel bedbugs. If the bedbugs are not 'immune' to permethrin, then if they are exposed they will eventually die. . . just not before they are able to feed. However, it can be a good strategy to spray the inside of a backpack and the insides of stuff sacks so that any bedbug hitchhikers die before you unpack in the next albergue and potentially let loose the critters.
I cannot tell whether you will want to use blankets provided by albergues. I have never had a difficulty with this, but neither have I relied upon albergue blankets. I carry a sleeping bag and liner, but have used the provided blankets from time to time. Everywhere I have stayed in a private albergue, fresh sheets have been provided, but you might carry a liner if, for example, you want to avoid the cost of fresh linen if there is an extra charge for that.But from what I’ve been reading, people tend to prefer their own sleeping bags even though sheets and blankets are provided? I’ve read a few horror stories about the blankets in particular.
a holiday
Well it certainly is not work, so based on the norm in regards to 1. work versus 2. holiday, I have to go with door number 2, lol.
Many times I've been treated as special, I've been given things for free, helped, treated as someone who is doing something very hard, who is putting myself in a vulnerable sitation for a higher purpose. Not really how the average vacationer is treated. Spanish people in general do see the camino as a higher purpose, unless they detect that the pilgrim is actually a touregrino.Well it certainly is not work, so based on the norm in regards to 1. work versus 2. holiday, I have to go with door number 2, lol.
I would guess that most of the locals working along the Camino in the various customer based service industries (wait staff, housekeeping at hotels, reception at hotels, bartenders, cafe staff, shoppes and market employees etc) do not look at pilgrims as a bunch of people arriving in Spain (or France, Portugal etc) to go to work, lol. I imagine they see pilgrims as a bunch of people who are off from work (that is what is known as a holiday) or retired or perhaps financially secure enough to be able to spend 1-5 weeks trekking along carefree without any real sense of a schedule.
And Bed Bugs, and Pillows, and perfectly normal pre-camino panicAnyway we were talking about sheets.
Sorry you are bothered, lol.Many times I've been treated as special, I've been given things for free, helped, treated as someone who is doing something very hard, who is putting myself in a vulnerable sitation for a higher purpose. Not really how the average vacationer is treated. Spanish people in general do see the camino as a higher purpose, unless they detect that the pilgrim is actually a touregrino.
Here's my friend talking about his caminos:
"Siento que he colmado mis expectativas y me siento realizado con lo que buscaba y me ha dado el Camino. Me siento realizado con todo lo que he hecho"
"I feel that I have filled to the brim my expectations and I feel fulfilled in what I was looking for and in what the Camino has given me. I feel fulfilled with everything I have done."
TBH it bothers me that you are assuming you know what people think without asking them. I've had accomodation owners eagerly show me their own compostelas. I've had the bus ticket man at Sevilla airport randomly pull up his trouser legs to show me his camino tattoos!!!
Anyway we were talking about sheets.
I wouldn't count on that at all. Bedbugs can just as easily crawl into a silk sleep sack as onto cotton sheets.and from what I gather the silk can protect from bedbugs,
Please don't wait until you are home to de-bedbug your gear. Put everything that can go into a dryer for 30 minutes on high temperature. That will kill the bugs and eggs. Don't worry about washing on hot. If it's a warm/hot day you can put items that can't go into the dryer in a black plastic trash bag, seal it up and set it in the sun for several hours. The temperature inside should get hot enough to kill the bugs and their eggs. If it's not a hot day liberally spray everything inside the bag with bug repellent, seal the bag and leave it for several hours.If you know your luggage has been exposed (by which I mean you unpacked and stayed there), take great care when getting home -
@Lhollo I think you need personalised medical advice on the bedbugs - you are unlikely to have any contact with them but it sounds like if you did get unlucky and get a biting, it could make you ill. You might need to bring some medication with you just in case, and a doctor's letter.
There's pretty much nothing you can do to stop them getting on you in the night if they are there. I've stayed at a very remote unstaffed albergue where it was a choice between endure the bugs or sleep on the ground outside, but that's never going to happen on the French way, as there's so much accomodation and it's better run. If you arrive and check before unpacking and see signs, just leave. If you know your luggage has been exposed (by which I mean you unpacked and stayed there), take great care when getting home - there's a resource on here about what to do. But don't go around with the heebie jeebies the whole time, trying to wrap yourself up in liners. Sunburn is a far bigger concern in general.
Oh yes, and reading your description of your condition, I would seriously consider poles. Maybe talk to your physio about this.
If sheets and blankets are provided, I wouldn't bring a sleeping bag or a sleeping bag liner. It seems to me just extra weight with no added value. I don't think they provide protection against bedbugs and, if there are bedbugs, they would just increase the chances that you transport them to other locations. In terms of temperature, I'd expect it still to be quite warm atr that time of year and it seems to me that they bedding they provide has you covered (as it wereThey all provide sheets although it’s an extra cost in some places. But from what I’ve been reading, people tend to prefer their own sleeping bags even though sheets and blankets are provided? I’ve read a few horror stories about the blankets in particular.
I’m not sure how hot/cold it will be: whether we’ll want added warmth toward the end or actually will be trying to keep cool (although I see in an above response that it should still be hot at night).
@Lhollo none of us can guarantee your camino for you. I will certainly mention you to my Old Guys next time we are having a conversation. You strike me as a good soul and that usually does for them. Others here will no doubt offer their prayers and hopes for you. This forum is a gathering of remarkably generous people.
You are correct in that people with all sorts of challenges have made Camino, some over huge distances, arriving in Santiago in triumph. Others, young, fit and eager have broken down and been obliged to abandon their plans. Over ambition, the folly of youth or just bad luck can change the world in moments.
I appreciate that you are looking for support and that is my intention. I wonder why you are planning to set out from St Jean and to tackle some very challenging ascents and descents in your first couple of days walking. I would urge you to consider walking from Roncesvalles to say Logrono rather than risk that hill. The Camino does not start in St Jean pied de la Porte.
Thank you. This is very kind of you (although I confess that I don’t yet know who the Old Guys are! Sorry for any ignorance).
I know the first part from SJPP is really hard and is a risk. There are two reasons for starting there. One is because it is that landscape that first attracted me to the Camino and I’ve been dreaming of walking there ever since. The other reason is that I am a sucker for a challenge! It’s not just wild ambition though, I need the goals. I am actually pretty fit—I have to be, to keep my daft joints in place—so should be up to doing it (I usually feel this way, when I’m not having a confidence wobbly as I did in the above post!). Just need to avoid injury.
My Old Guys? Rock, Air, Water, Fire. Though usually encountered on Camino as Mud, Wind, Rain and Sun. The quartet drivers of my happy world
We don't do religion here so I'll leave this at that.
Buen camino
In sept-oct 2018 I walked the CF with only a silk liner. I was fine in Sept. it got a little cooler in Oct so I slept with my nylon jacket on. I was fine with that. As for bedbugs, you either get them or you don’t . I encountered them in my first week, but only once during the entire 6 weeks of staying in alberges nearly every night.I’ll be doing the first section of the Camino Frances, from SJPP to Los Arcos, between 1st and 10th September (including exploration days).
I’ve booked private rooms in advance for the whole route (medical reasons—wish I could stay in bunk beds but can’t). Some of the rooms are in hotels or guest houses, others are private rooms in albergues.
My question: will we need sleeping bags? Or just liners of some sort?
I’m thinking about bedbugs, temperature and pack weight.
Re the bedbugs: I’ve had to request lots of extra pillows in the accommodations and it hadn’t previously occurred to me that bedbugs might be a problem. Given that I’ll be using the accommodations’ pillows, is it worth worrying about the rest of their bedding, or are the blankets and mattress the main issues?
Thanks for your thoughts!
In sept-oct 2018 I walked the CF with only a silk liner. I was fine in Sept. it got a little cooler in Oct so I slept with my nylon jacket on. I was fine with that. As for bedbugs, you either get them or you don’t . I encountered them in my first week, but only once during the entire 6 weeks of staying in alberges nearly every night.
The liner was fine for most of September. If it gets cool you can ask for a blanket. Bedbugs often go for exposed flesh. My bites were on an arm that was outside of the sleep sack. You can inspect for bedbugs at any accommodation. Even in the US i always check for evidence of these before I use a room while on holiday. Check out youtube for many videos on this. Buen Camino to you Lhollo!Thanks for this. Did you find you needed the silk liner toward the start of September, or was it mostly later? Did anything help with the bedbugs or did you just get bitten?
What about your face since it has to be somewhat exposed...if only to breathe!The liner was fine for most of September. If it gets cool you can ask for a blanket. Bedbugs often go for exposed flesh. My bites were on an arm that was outside of the sleep sack. You can inspect for bedbugs at any accommodation. Even in the US i always check for evidence of these before I use a room while on holiday. Check out youtube for many videos on this. Buen Camino to you Lhollo!
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