- Time of past OR future Camino
- Francés, Norte, Salvador, Primitivo, Portuguese
Yes, hand wash every day. Albergues have clothes lines to hang your clothes. Every few days you can get together with some other pilgrims to do a load of wash in a machine.The problem is that I would need to pay for laundry every day, or hand wash. Secondly, how will I dry the clothes? Do albergues have drying clothes hanging everywhere? Will someone try to hang their drying underwear on my bunk bed?
Check out my method for hand washing - or rather "dry bag washing" clothes. You may need a larger dry sack, as your clothing might be bulkier than mine. The dry bag can be used to store your sleeping gear - making it a double use item.
I've mentioned my method of using a dry bag as a "portable washing machine" before.
I use a 12 liter dry bag to wash my clothes in, rather than the albergue laundry sinks. As I'm undressing for my shower and the water is warming up I put half a laundry detergent sheet and water in the bag, then my clothes. Then I fill the bag about 3/4 full with water and close it up. I give it a few shakes and set it aside to soak while I shower and dress. I then shake the bag some more to agitate everything well before rinsing in the laundry sink. The detergent sheets don't create a lot of suds, but get the clothes clean. After wring them out well I roll them up in my towel and twist it. This method gets my clothes cleaner than using the laundry sinks alone in the albergues. I think that the long soaking time is the secret. I even use the dry bag to wash when I'm staying in a room with my own bathroom.