Toilets on the Camino Frances

[colleen.bartolomei]

Walked the Camino Frances in September this year and was disgusted by the amount of rubbish left on the trail by pilgrims. The most offensive were the heaps of toilet paper and tissues strewn among the bushes,between the rows of fruit trees and under grape vines - on farmers' land! The bars along the way generally provide excellent facilities but there are some long sections with no available toilets. Why can't something be done about this? What about composting toilets that require no plumbing! I'm sure that the local farmers would be happy! Maybe rubbish bins too at points where the trail meets a road and more signage urging pilgrims to respect the properties they walk through!
colleen

 

[Soliwo]

You might want to check this topic: http://www.caminodesantiago.me/board/el-camino-frances/topic9884.html

 

[Abbeydore]

Hello Colleen, I'm propose we all take or purchase plastic bags to collect rubbish along the way.
I'm going to start my/our Camino on April 1st for 14days, 1 bag a day. If everyone did this, bet the mess would be clean-up pretty quick.

David

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The places that need a restroom the most, also could use a rest stop. Here is my suggestion for some entrepreneurial junta: build some vans that are portable toilets and espresso bars. Each morning, the vans leave from the major cities, and position themselves about five kilometers past towns that do not already have a bar. The vans are "leased" to employees, who can profit from food, water, coffee, and beverage sales. Each night the vans and toilets can be cleaned and restocked. My guess is that thirty to fifty vans could be used on the Camino Frances along, employing fifty to eights seasonal workers on a seven-day-per-week basis, and the vans would not be put in locations that compete with established businesses. Long stages on the VDLP are the number one complaint among pilgrims, so another twenty could be used there, and still supported by the lesser number of pilgrims. If facilities were available, the VDLP might increase in popularity.

I predict that no one in Spain has the drive to bring such an idea to reality, but I could be wrong.

 

[Soliwo]

I agree, though I haven't actually done my camino yet, that the prospect of a toilet building or a tourist rest stop every 5km doesn't immediately appeal to me. Not that human poo next to the road is appealing too.