Many pilgrims were quietly on their phones (no sound) after lights out in the dormitory. The lights had been turned off by a hospitalera at 10 pm, so there was a lengthy time for sleep. I switched the lights on at 7 am and more pilgrims began to surface. Pilgrims appeared gradually in the common entry area, quietly shutting the doors to the dormitory behind them many with their own breakfast foods, so I hoped that today there would be enough for those who did not bring food. A few minutes later, the other hospitalera, who had set out breakfast items the night before, came out from her little room to continue the morning ritual. Three days ago I woke naturally in the albergue at Najera, before the 7 am lights on, and began the morning ritual for the albergue: put on the coffee and hot water and set the table with a few items for breakfast: generally left-over bread and a few other items bought by the hospitaleras and put out for the pilgrims. Not all of this will happen to you, but if/when it does, just be ready to let it go past you - and not into you and start spoiling your camino. Then in the morning they have all gone.). Take all the toilet rolls (you thought the night before - OK, there are 3+ in each toilet, that should be fine. Cheers, tomĪfter Sarria can be even more of a test: quite often groups will turn on all the lights when they are ready to get up (and will talk to each other as they pack up, possibly as early as 4am in summer) And leave the lights on after they’ve left. There will be times when your fellow pilgrims are coming in late and turn on all the lights/start snoring immediately their heads hit the pillow/do all their social media stuff in bed on bright phones - or even have phone conversations/ use alarms or have the phone beep every hour/work on their bright laptops through the night (typically cyclists checking elevation profiles)/get up early and make a lot of noise.Īfter Sarria can be even more of a test: quite often groups will turn on all the lights when they are ready to get up (and will talk to each other as they pack up, possibly as early as 4am in summer) And leave the lights on after they’ve left. It can really dent your camino if you can’t get into a 'live and let live’ frame of mind. Actually a lot of modern places are so bright with safety lights you need eye pads to get any darkness anyway.īut equally important is being tolerant of others who are not as considerate as you. I do think you need to use a head-torch to do a quick check on, around and under the bed before you leave, as this is a good way of retaining your full complement of socks! If you have a red light setting on a headtorch that’s a useful less invasive way of doing stuff in the dark. So, yes, avoid an audible alarm, try not to be re-packing everything in plastic bags or pulling velcro strips in the dorm before 6am. There are a lot of detailed tips you can pick up on this, but IMO, more important is just approaching this with the right state of mind.īe considerate of others and work out how you can do what you want to do within that framework. Everyone woke up in good spirits and grateful for the enforced quiet. The hospitallero has since passed away but I always think of him with great fondness. No, I know the doors weren't locked, it was just to ensure everyone got a decent rest. When you signed in the night before, the hospitallero warned pilgrims to not leave before 0600 when everyone would wake up - if you wanted to leave earlier, one could stay at a different albergue. I stayed in an albergue - maybe in Castrojeriz? - where they played Gregorian chant to wake everyone up. She got out of the bathroom just before I grabbed her bathrobe where she had her alarm in a pocket (!!!!) to throw it out the window. Unfortunately, she forgot to turn off her alarm and so it went off every 5 minutes until she finished all her stuff in the bathroom - a good 20/25 minutes. She got up and moved into the bathroom to shower and wash up. One time, a pilgrim set her phone alarm to wake her up at about 0500.
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