Treat my sleep sheet / sleeping bag?

[nxm]

Hello all,

I start the Le Puy in two days and have been procrastinating about treating my sleep gear (silk sleep sheet and lightweight down sleeping bag) with permethrin. Is this something I really should do? I will finish my walk in Pamplona.

Thanks very much for the advice.
Nathan

 

[Tincatinker]

Nathan, as you have probably read quite a few of the bed-bug threads I'm sure you are aware that permethrin treatment seems to provide the best secondary protection against the little sods. Detection and avoidance is the better protecter its true but not always easy. I'm sure you are also aware that Bed-bugs are as easy to find in posh hotels as in battered Albergues.

With two days to go I personally would be busy spraying. Down will take a while to dry.

Buen (bug-free) Camino

 

[gavin01]

The big question would be how susceptible you are to bed bugs! I'm one of those who comes out in large lumps when I get bitten by insects - so I wasn't prepared to take a chance. I put my liner in a polythene bag and soaked it in permethrin and I didn't have any problems. I also don't remember seeing any visible signs of infestation either.

 

[Pingüigrino]

Hi. Reading posts in this forum, make me think american members are very concerned about bed bugs. When I was young, perhaps seven, I remember there was a bed bug problem at some places in Spain. DDT solved it. Never heard about bed bug later until started reading pilgrims forums.
Maybe I´m a lucky man, but being in the military for 38 years never hear about bed bugs bites. Being a pilgrim, walking thousands of miles, and sleeping in dozens of albergues, pensions, etc NEVER being bitten. I have heard about bed bugs in certain sites, but only once meet a bitten pilgrim. And he had slept in a abandoned house the nigt before.

 

[Magnara]

We had no problem (among 5 of us walking together) from Le Puy to SJPP in April and May two years ago. We didn't do anything against bedbugs and and we stayed in all sorts of accommodation along the way.

 

[nxm]

Just an update. I did end up treating my sleep sheet and backpack and would have/wished I had treated my sleeping bag and clothes sack. The gites thus far have been very good, clean and comfortable. I stayed in a gite in Chanaleilles (du Pont) and did have bed bugs there (only two as far as I could tell and they appeared to come from the blanket I made into a pillow (not liking the look of the one on the bed). The sleep sheet made one run for it (I grabbed and washed down the sink). The other was under me and my sleep sheet in the morning and dead.

I would now endorse the recommendations to treat everything if only to not perpetuate down the trail. If you are not sensitive to the bites you may never know you took them with you.

Bon Chemin