Wake up alarm

[1elantra]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

 

[trecile]

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you

No!! Please don't use an audible alarm in shared sleeping quarters. If I feel like I need to wake up earlier than I might naturally I set an alarm on my Fitbit that vibrates on my wrist.

or is the accommodation providing wake up calls

In a hotel, perhaps.
Albergues sometimes play music in the morning to roust the remaining pilgrims from their sleep, and others will turn on all the lights to (hopefully) accomplish the same thing.

 

[Tincatinker]

Just set your phone on vibrate & tuck it in your underwear. It’ll wake you.

Otherwise just set your phone alarm as normal. Everyone else in the Albergue will wake you even if your alarm doesn’t.

 

[Anhalter]

My wakeup in albergues usually was people getting up 1-2 hours before i planned to and then waiting for falling asleep again or my bladder forcing me out of bed.
I walk above of 5km an hour including breaks. I dont see a point of arriving anywhere at lunch. Why should i set an alarm

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Everyone else will wake you up.

I remember waking up, checking the time (4:59:50) and thinking "Wait for it". Ten seconds later about five alarms go off, then packing noise and lights shining everywhere.

 

[J Willhaus]

I always wake up at 5 or 5:30 without an alarm so my dificulty is trying to stay in bed until other people are starting to get up...I do like to get out and start walking about 6 or 6:30 if I can get my husband out of the albergue that early.

 

[Anamiri]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

I tend to wake early without an alarm. But if sleeping in an albergue, someone is always up before me, and wakes me up.

 

[dougfitz]

I have never needed to set an alarm. Rarely are the early risers so quiet that they don't disrupt those wishing to rise later!

 

[JabbaPapa]

These wake up alarms have become ubiquitous over the past three years or so.

Most seem to have lost even any basic notion that they might be in any ay disturbing to others !!

Though I have to say, one guy playing smartphone video games at 2AM last December in Pamplona, well, that stunt was beyond the palest of the pale ...

 

[Former member 92300]

I echo what others say - do not use any sort of audible alarm! That said - I often do use my apple watch to wake me up... it quietly vibrates on my wrist and I react fast to stop the vibration and don't let it turn into an audible alarm. I am also usually awake before it goes off. But do we really need an alarm to get up when we are walking the Camino? Not really because if you are staying in a dorm - you WILL get woken up when others are waking up - ensuring you do exit the building before you HAVE to leave the building haha.

 

[1elantra]

I echo what others say - do not use any sort of audible alarm! That said - I often do use my apple watch to wake me up... it quietly vibrates on my wrist and I react fast to stop the vibration and don't let it turn into an audible alarm. I am also usually awake before it goes off. But do we really need an alarm to get up when we are walking the Camino? Not really because if you are staying in a dorm - you WILL get woken up when others are waking up - ensuring you do exit the building before you HAVE to leave the building haha.

Well if same as when Im home is anything to go by, then No ha

 

[Former member 92300]

I always wake up at 5 or 5:30 without an alarm so my dificulty is trying to stay in bed until other people are starting to get up...I do like to get out and start walking about 6 or 6:30 if I can get my husband out of the albergue that early.

Me too! I usually walk alone so what I do is lay silently in bed waiting for the first person to get out of bed... and then I quickly and quietly grab all my stuff and exit the room, sometime between 6-6:30. I am usually out of the building within 5 minutes or so (10 max) including a quick bathroom stop... while the other person is rustling around the room and going in and out of the room... and once I leave I almost never see the person who got out of bed before me before reaching the next town lol. I never want to be that person who wakes up and makes noise but takes forever to leave the room and not return while others are trying to sleep. If my silent wrist alarm does vibrate... I still try to wait for someone else to get out of bed first.

 

[Tincatinker]

“Every dawn your last day begins. There is no hurry; it will embrace you as it should”

 

[Kanga]

At home I have an alarm on my watch. It vibrates but makes no noise. But, like the other posters, in an albergue someone else is always up before me, so no need for an alarm.

 

[J Willhaus]

At home I have an alarm on my watch. It vibrates but makes no noise. But, like the other posters, in an albergue someone else is always up before me, so no need for an alarm.

Its probably me...

 

[howardd5]

Please don’t set an audible alarm . No mater how early you want to get up Someone will wake you up with their 5am rattle of plastic and back pack stuffing. It is beyond understanding why getting up in the dark and using a flashlight around the albergue is reasonable . Then stumbling in the dark on trail and getting lost.

 

[Phil W]

I always wake up at 5 or 5:30 without an alarm so my dificulty is trying to stay in bed until other people are starting to get up...I do like to get out and start walking about 6 or 6:30 if I can get my husband out of the albergue that early.

Yes, Janet likes early, at home and on the Camino.

 

[Kathy F.]

Be considerate of your fellow pilgrims and try to not wake them if they are trying to sleep. Whether it is 10 p.m. at night or 5 a.m. in the morning. You don't know what they are going through/struggling with and can't expect them to follow your rules.

Unless you are an albergue and you tell everyone that the music will play at 0600 - if you want to wake earlier, go to another albergue (I stayed in one such albergue; it was Heaven; there was another available albergue for anyone who didn't want to wake so "late"; enforced rest put many people in a good mood for the rest of the day).

I love those albergues.

 

[RRat]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

Don't worry. There is always that Northern European group of energetic young folks that wakes up before the crack of dawn. They try to be quiet, but there is always one in the group that drops something, trips, or inadvertently slams the door. Good thing cafe con leche is in about 5k. That's when you will run into the group and tease the noise maker. Friends for life.

 

[good_old_shoes]

I never set an alarm unless I *really* need to be up at a certain time, and even then, a silent alarm max.

The amazing thing is that your body is able to be your own alarm. Even at home when I work, 99% time I wake up shortly before the set alarm (and I need to get up at 4:30 am). It's an "inner clock" thing. On the Camino is a good time to train this. To wake up on your own at the time you need to feels very good. Natural. Try it!

Please don't set a loud alarm. Even a silent one will wake up half the dorm at least.

You'll be on a pilgrimage, walking up half an hour later than intended is not the end of the world .

 

[trecile]

Please don't set a loud alarm. Even a silent one will wake up half the dorm at least.

Yes, a "silent" but vibrating alarm on a phone can still be pretty loud.

 

[Stivandrer]

Your cot will start to move at 6 o´clock and the whole bed will rock you to a rude awakening...
silent or noisily, everybody will do their morning routine and about sevenish you will be standing in the street rearing to go....
problem solved..
Still to this day, 9 yrs ago, I still wake up programed at six o´clock, no alarm clock set, summer or winter, work day or holiday !!

 

[Former member 92300]

Please don’t set an audible alarm . No mater how early you want to get up Someone will wake you up with their 5am rattle of plastic and back pack stuffing. It is beyond understanding why getting up in the dark and using a flashlight around the albergue is reasonable . Then stumbling in the dark on trail and getting lost.

I do get up in the dark... but I would NEVER use a flashlight! Not even a red light. I find those just as annoying when I am trying to sleep as a regular flashlight/headlamp. If you are going to get up early - pack the night before and have what you need first thing in the AM out and ready to access. I seriously wake up, roll out of bed, roll up my bedding and whatever other stuff I had out, and shove it quickly into the pack and go. I do not go fumbling around or trying to pack my bag up perfectly.

As for the walking in the dark - if you are leaving at 6am which is what I usually do - it gets light out pretty fast. The few times I walk for a bit and it is still dark - it is always kind of a cool adventure. But there was this one time when one pilgrim was up and rustling around the room so I got out of bed and I was the first person out the door (which is usual for me), this was probably just after 5am and we had a hard climb ahead. I didn't have a headlamp and it was VERY dark and often through wooded areas. I used my cell phone when I needed a flashlight. I missed a turn and turned around to find the trail again. Met up with the guy who was slowly rustling around the room and we talked/walked together for a few minutes then I let him go ahead of me because he had a headlamp and I figured I would walk a slower pace but follow his light. A few minutes later he started screaming and hitting himself with his hiking poles... and I couldn't see what happened. Totally freaked me out and I didn't know if I should run towards him to help - or run away from whatever it was. Turns out a couple of weasles ran up his leg and one got stuck in his pants... talk about the scariest and funniest experiences he and I had on the Camino! And while it was terrifying in the moment... wouldn't trade the experience for anything. (He obviously wasn't hurt - otherwise we wouldn't have been laughing about it afterwards).

 

[woody66]

I have a built in alarm;goes of at 12,2,4 and 6 it's organic and called a bladder!!!!
It not waking you can lead to an indoor tsunami!

 

[Bradypus]

As for the walking in the dark - if you are leaving at 6am which is what I usually do - it gets light out pretty fast.

That really depends on what time of year you walk. These days I do most of my Camino walking in winter. It is quite possible to be turfed out of an albergue for the 8am closing while it is still dark outside! I started my most recent Camino Frances from SJPDP on 2 January this year when sunrise was about 08:40. Which didn't stop two very intrepid young men from packing up and leaving the albergue at 04:50.

 

[Former member 92300]

That really depends on what time of year you walk. These days I do most of my Camino walking in winter. It is quite possible to be turfed out of an albergue for the 8am closing while it is still dark outside! I started my most recent Camino Frances from SJPDP on 2 January this year when sunrise was about 08:40. Which didn't stop two very intrepid young men from packing up and leaving the albergue at 04:50.

True - but most of us don't walk in the winter. I left at 3 or 4 AM once... but not intentionally. I suddenly woke up (startled) thinking it was much later than it was... packed up... walked out the door... door latched behind me (locked of course) and then I realized how early it really was. It was definitely cold and dark, but at that point there was no turning back (since the door was locked haha) and my roommate thought I was crazy for leaving so early!

 

[gargar]

My watch has a vibrating alarm then my iPhone vibrating only alarm as a backup (set for 5 minutes after my watch) that I put under my pillow.

 

[VintageCowgirl]

I've been sleeping with ear plugs for 40 years so something has to be very loud to wake me up. I'm worried I won't wake up before the albergue wants everyone out. I also have an eye mask so lights on might not wake me up either. I'm hoping someone bumps into my bed while they're leaving.

 

[1elantra]

That really depends on what time of year you walk. These days I do most of my Camino walking in winter. It is quite possible to be turfed out of an albergue for the 8am closing while it is still dark outside! I started my most recent Camino Frances from SJPDP on 2 January this year when sunrise was about 08:40. Which didn't stop two very intrepid young men from packing up and leaving the albergue at 04:50.

OMG thats keen

 

[1elantra]

I've been sleeping with ear plugs for 40 years so something has to be very loud to wake me up. I'm worried I won't wake up before the albergue wants everyone out. I also have an eye mask so lights on might not wake me up either. I'm hoping someone bumps into my bed while they're leaving.

 

[trecile]

I've been sleeping with ear plugs for 40 years so something has to be very loud to wake me up. I'm worried I won't wake up before the albergue wants everyone out. I also have an eye mask so lights on might not wake me up either. I'm hoping someone bumps into my bed while they're leaving.

If you need an alarm a watch that vibrates on your wrist is perfect for you.

 

[OZAJ]

If you need an alarm, perhaps you need more sleep?

 

[dougfitz]

As for the walking in the dark - if you are leaving at 6am which is what I usually do - it gets light out pretty fast.

I was thinking that there wouldn't be anywhere in Spain where dawn occurred before 6 am. But when I checked, somewhere around Burgos marks the point where in places to the east, dawn will occur that early at the height of summer. On the longest day in Santiago, civil twilight will start around 6:20 am, and sunrise just before 7 am.

I'm not sure what it means to 'get(s) light out pretty fast'. Dawn to sunrise is around 30 minutes, but if one leaves earlier than the start of civil twilight, it will clearly be longer. I suppose if you are leaving somewhere larger, there will be street lights to assist you if you leave in the pre-dawn dark. I did do that on my first CF, but now the earliest I will plan to walk is at dawn. Even then, there have been a few darker forest paths where much greater caution was required.

There were people who left much earlier that this, and I doubt that will change. I can only assume they are prepared to light up the night from time to time when they leave the cities and larger towns. I am happy to avoid doing that.

 

[gregrobinson]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

Albergues don't do wake up calls in my experience. Maybe the hotels would... There's always a few people who set their alarms and don't seem to care that they are waking everyone up. Some turn on lights...some wait until 5am to start organizing their packs... You know you are REALLY on the Camino when none of this bothers you and you just let it roll off you...

 

[Robo]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

Interesting thread.....

It conjures up images of hiking boots and other heavy objects flying across an Albergue 'dorm room' descending on the unfortunate alarm owner like homing pigeons.

I think the reality is.........once into the Camino Groove.......it's early to bed and early to rise.

I tend to wake up........when I wake up........which is early enough.

It will all make sense when you get there

..

 

[roving_rufus]

I have rarely set an alarm on camino- except on the CP when there was a heatwave and I wanted to start before dawn for a couple of days to beat the heat as there were long enough distances between accommodation just after Lisboa (not sure i was missing much scenery wise on that section anyway). Otherwise I normally wake up in plenty of time - even on quieter caminos when I might be only one in albergue

 

[peregrino_tom]

There will always be a broad spectrum of cultures, needs and routines in a communal dormitory on a pilgrim path that attracts people from all over the world. If you have difficulty with that, and accepting you are sleeping in an environment that you can't control, then ask please yourself whether alternative accommodation might not suit you better.

 

[AK2112]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

Other pilgrims with noisy plastic bags usually wakes me up....

 

[VNwalking]

Everone's politeness is impressive. In all honesty, my knee-jerk response to the thread title was simply, 'Just NO.'
Believe me, unless you want to wake up at 04:30 or something you won't need an alarm. There's always someone who'll wake you up, long before you want to get up.

Most seem to have lost even any basic notion that they might be in any ay disturbing to others !!

Makes you wonder for sure.

Though I have to say, one guy playing smartphone video games at 2AM last December in Pamplona, well, that stunt was beyond the palest of the pale ...

No kidding.
I would have been fantasizing about doing something rash, like grabbing the phone and smashing it. Or something.
But seriously...did anyone talk to this person?

 

[DoughnutANZ]

I use Doug's method just before I go to sleep.

Doug's method:
If you want to wake up at 6am then bang your head on the pillow six times. If you want to wake up at 5:30am then hit your head on the pillow five and a half times.

Works for me every time.

 

[KariC]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

Only one time while I was hiking the camino did a fellow pilgrim put an alarm on full volume blast (Earlier than anyone else was getting up). Very rude. Agree with the vibrate recommendations

 

[Former member 92300]

I'm not sure what it means to 'get(s) light out pretty fast'. Dawn to sunrise is around 30 minutes, but if one leaves earlier than the start of civil twilight, it will clearly be longer. I suppose if you are leaving somewhere larger, there will be street lights to assist you if you leave in the pre-dawn dark.

I guess what I mean is that there is enough visibility to be able to see without using a headlamp... and then of course it just keeps getting brighter. Before 6am visibility is pretty poor, but leaving just after 6am I usually had enough visibility that I didn't need a headlamp or phone flashlight and it only got more light out as the sun rose. I was most consistently starting my walk between 6-6:30 without using a headlamp. This was the case all across the Frances and the Norte/Primitivo and Finisterre routes. Can't comment on other routes. And of course - street lamp availability depended on the size of the town, but I often left town within a few minutes and there weren't street lamps between towns for the most part.

 

[cronnik]

No!! Please don't use an audible alarm in shared sleeping quarters. If I feel like I need to wake up earlier than I might naturally I set an alarm on my Fitbit that vibrates on my wrist.

In a hotel, perhaps.
Albergues sometimes play music in the morning to roust the remaining pilgrims from their sleep, and others will turn on all the lights to (hopefully) accomplish the same thing.

Vibrating (silent alarms) on a watch work well for me

 

[RJM]

Almost all albergue it is lights out at 10 pm and everybody out by 8 am. I'm usually in my cot by 9-9:30 pm so by the time 5-6 am rolls around I've been in that bunk for at least eight hours and I naturally wake up and am ready to get out of there. I've never used an alarm of any kind in an albergue.

 

[howardd5]

I guess what I mean is that there is enough visibility to be able to see without using a headlamp... and then of course it just keeps getting brighter. Before 6am visibility is pretty poor, but leaving just after 6am I usually had enough visibility that I didn't need a headlamp or phone flashlight and it only got more light out as the sun rose. I was most consistently starting my walk between 6-6:30 without using a headlamp. This was the case all across the Frances and the Norte/Primitivo and Finisterre routes. Can't comment on other routes. And of course - street lamp availability depended on the size of the town, but I often left town within a few minutes and there weren't street lamps between towns for the most part.

The sun up varies by month , in sept it’s much later

 

[RJM]

I actually like the albergue that have lights on at 0600 hours. I've stayed at a few, but only remember two specifically Roncesvalles and Burgos municipal. Lights on, everybody up. I'm awake already anyway and ready to go. Kinda reminds me of being in the military again in a squad bay lol. Having the lights on does come in handy for getting my stuff gathered and ready.
As was mentioned before on this thread, albergue living is unique and requires one to be flexible, patient and open minded. Everyone is different and interacts differently in that environment. If that's too much too handle and deal with I highly recommend booking more private accommodations.

 

[David61]

Just set your phone on vibrate & tuck it in your underwear. It’ll wake you.

Otherwise just set your phone alarm as normal. Everyone else in the Albergue will wake you even if your alarm doesn’t.

And no waiting ten minutes to hit the snooze button, you naughty pilgrims!

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Sometimes the albergue will help, as others have said. In the German albergue in Pamplona they play Gregorian chants at some ungodly hour and that certainly encouraged me to get up.

 

[SabsP]

I loved waking up with the Gregorian chants at the albergue Casa Paderborn in Pamplona or at the albergue San Saturnino in Ventosa.
Two nights of perfect stillness, no partygoers and lots of mutual respect.

 

[Henriettagal]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

Don't worry.... unless you are a heavy sleeper...you'll be up. early... everyone is. If you can get an alarm to vibrate r/t ring. Your roommates will love you!!

 

[CTLawGal]

is it really stupid to ask why so many of you get started so early? On a hot day that makes sense, but it seems early starts are not solely driven by weather. To arrive early at next stop? To walk more miles?

 

[trecile]

is it really stupid to ask why so many of you get started so early? On a hot day that makes sense, but it seems early starts are not solely driven by weather. To arrive early at next stop? To walk more miles?

I've only started really early to beat the heat a few times. I generally start around 7am otherwise.

 

[Anamiri]

is it really stupid to ask why so many of you get started so early? On a hot day that makes sense, but it seems early starts are not solely driven by weather. To arrive early at next stop? To walk more miles?

I start early to avoid the heat, very fair skin prone to skin cancer and I dont do so well in the heat. And also because I'm a naturally early person - I would rather be walking than hanging around an albergue, especially if awake anyway. I'm never the first up, someone else is always awake, making noise and taking ages to get ready.

I always have my gear packed the night before, a quick check, and then slip quietly out the door.
An hour down the road to a great coffee, I love Camino mornings.
The only person I have to worry about is myself, no work emails and housework before walk, no breakfasts or lunches to make, no animals to feed. No question about what to wear to work. Just me and the road.

 

[Anamiri]

I should qualify early.
There's normal early, and there's crazy early. I once stayed in an albergue in Navarette, when a guy left about 3.30am. That's not just crazy early, it's certifiable. He started to get ready about 2.30am, talking in a really loud stage whisper (he was a bit deaf) to his wife who was 'sshhing' him to no avail. The entire room was awake by the time he left, also 'ssshhing' him.

But the story got more interesting. He was at the other end of the room from me, so it wasn't until the next day that I found out the full story, and I shake my head to this day.
The back story was that he had walked from SJPDP, and upon discovering that his shoes were too small was walking barefoot, but due to the pain of walking on the gravel, could walk only very very slowly so was leaving super early.
By this time he had walked right through 2 towns, Pamplona and Logrono, that would have had shoes to fit.
Turns out he had other shoes with him, but wanted to save them!!

For what..!

 

[AidaYYC]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

Don't worry, there will lots of pilgrims waking up way before you do and if you are still asleep past that it is because you needed it. But no one takes an alarm clock, at least I did not hear one in the many dormitories I slept.

 

[VNwalking]

it really stupid to ask why so many of you get started so early? On a hot day that makes sense, but it seems early starts are not solely driven by weather. To arrive early at next stop? To walk more miles?

Not a stupid question.
I'm normally a night owl, but on the camino I really enjoy getting up and away early. There's something magic about walking into the morning.

I don't mind hanging out somewhere in the afternoon, but not in the morning. If I leave early there's more time to walk and more flexibility about where I end up. I can change my mind - if I get someplace early enough and decide not to stay, there's plenty of daylight left to keep going.

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

If you want a good night's sleep, book a private room! Dorm rooms are for the young and fit and those walking long distances each day. Over 75's can take it easy and still get to Santiago.

 

[CTLawGal]

Not a stupid question.
I'm normally a night owl, but on the camino I really enjoy getting up and away early. There's something magic about walking into the morning.

I don't mind hanging out somewhere in the afternoon, but not in the morning. If I leave early there's more time to walk and more flexibility about where I end up. I can change my mind - if I get someplace early enough and decide not to stay, there's plenty of daylight left to keep going.

Thank you! I appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts on this! I had thought early departures might, for some, also be associated with sleeping in a dorm where there is no breakfast, so might as well get moving and get your coffee on the path.

I enjoy morning walks as well, love to see the world awaken, enjoy dawn breaking and hear morning birds! But I also like a coffee to get started, and I'm also hoping for at least a short yoga practice before I start (bringing a thin travel mat) as I might be too tired.

I'm too old to share a room with even one person, I sleep badly because I'm worried I'll disturb others, and worrying about disturbing others interrupts my sleep, so I've booked rooms for my first Camino (Margaret, thanks for being honest about that!) - although there is part of me that kinda wishes I could do otherwise (for more flex and a different experience), maybe next time? or maybe that's just the wistful thinking of someone who would like to be young and fit? I'm not sure it matters that much, it would just be a different way to do it.

 

[markie6]

In all my Caminos, the only times I set an alarm is the day I leave for France ( to make sure I don't miss the train) and the day I am due to get my flight on my return.

The chances of you needing a wake up alarm are minimal with all the noise in the mornings from the Peregrinos sharing the accomodation. Even when the snoring stops it's enough to wake me sometimes

 

[Kathy F.]

is it really stupid to ask why so many of you get started so early? On a hot day that makes sense, but it seems early starts are not solely driven by weather. To arrive early at next stop? To walk more miles?

I'm a night owl, even on the Camino. Although I'm in bed by 9,9:30 p.m., I might stay up to read a book for a while. Exhausted, I then fall asleep pretty easily. My watch alarm is set for 0630. When I hear it under my pillow, many pilgrims have already left. That means the bathrooms are much less crowded, I don't have to worry about waking people up with my morning (quick) packing, the sun is shining, birds are singing, and my cafe con leche is only an hour out.
By the way, auto correct "fixed "leche" to leech. Yuck.

 

[David Tallan]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

In 2016, I would occasionally set a quiet alarm on my phone and keep my phone under my pillow. The pillow muffled the sound enough that, with my head on the pillow I could hear it, but people more than a few feet away could not.

In 2018, I didn't use an alarm.

 

[april_pdx]

If you need an alarm, perhaps you need more sleep?

I have a hunch it's part of my ADHD (it does weird things to sleep/circadian rhythms), but oh man this is just not the way my brain/body works.

In my day-to-day life I sometimes wake up hours before my alarm and I'm not able to get back to sleep. Other days I go to bed early (for me) and I could easily sleep many hours past my alarm. Absolute dice roll as to whether I'm absolutely exhausted or full of pep and vigor in either case.

Sleep is one of the few things I worry about re: my Camino. I work swing shift at home (2pm to 10pm). I normally go to bed at 2 or 3am and wake up around 11am! (And yes, I have to set an alarm)

When I did my long bicycle tour in 2011, I tended to wake up around 9am, and 9am was a very late hour to get going compared to other cyclists. But I often struggle to get to sleep before midnight/one am no matter how early I get up or how worn out I am. I was a mail carrier for a year and a half, woke up at 5am six days a week, and it just never got any easier.

And I sleep with earplugs in, so I might not wake up just because everyone else is!

My watch alarm is set for 0630. When I hear it under my pillow, many pilgrims have already left. That means the bathrooms are much less crowded, I don't have to worry about waking people up with my morning (quick) packing,

This is a little reassuring.

 

[Kathy F.]

April, it sounds like your sleep cycle is always whacky - I don't envy your struggles to get a normal night's sleep. I am a night owl by nature and sometimes on the Camino, I must admit I had a hard time falling asleep.

At those times, I didn't fight it. Although wandering around the albergue at night is a definite no-no, reading a book on your phone in your bed is a calming, restful activity.

Don't stress about getting enough sleep while on the Camino. Although it may take some time to fall into some kind of rhythm, whatever happens will work for you. If you are tired, you will get the rest your body needs even if over a few days.

Don't worry about waking in the middle of the night and being unable to fall back asleep. As in all things Camino, relax and listen to your body. Enjoy the moments of rest. Know that, if snoring has awakened you, you are most likely to get a good night's sleep the following night - somehow it just works that way.

You will be fine and your body will take care of you. Don't stress out or worry.

Buen Camino.

 

[dick bird]

Ok very curious.....

What are you all doing to wake yourselves up early? Are you setting alarms which imagine could upset everyone around you, or is the accommodation providing wake up calls. Just wondering

If you are not showing signs of life by 7.30 am, the hospitaleros will strongly recommend that you get ready to vacate the premises by 8.

 

[april_pdx]

April, it sounds like your sleep cycle is always whacky - I don't envy your struggles to get a normal night's sleep. I am a night owl by nature and sometimes on the Camino, I must admit I had a hard time falling asleep.

At those times, I didn't fight it. Although wandering around the albergue at night is a definite no-no, reading a book on your phone in your bed is a calming, restful activity.

Don't stress about getting enough sleep while on the Camino. Although it may take some time to fall into some kind of rhythm, whatever happens will work for you. If you are tired, you will get the rest your body needs even if over a few days.

Don't worry about waking in the middle of the night and being unable to fall back asleep. As in all things Camino, relax and listen to your body. Enjoy the moments of rest. Know that, if snoring has awakened you, you are most likely to get a good night's sleep the following night - somehow it just works that way.

You will be fine and your body will take care of you. Don't stress out or worry.

Buen Camino.

I appreciate this, thank you!