Starting Sep 19- Do I need to carry a sleeping bag?

[walksoftly]

I have a month to walk starting Sep (flight home on Oct 20th) , will I need to take my sleeping bag? I'm would really like to be reassured that I don't need to carry the extra weight. I didn't take it on the Le Puy+Frances which I finished in September two years ago and that was the right decision except I'm worried now as the weather will be colder and I'm a bit wimpy about being cold.
Would love to anyone's input. TIA.

 

[Portia1]

Depends on whether you can sleep while chilled. A lightweight sleeping bag is probably a good thing. Can’t count on blankets being available in albergues and the nighttime temps are getting colder then.

 

[gerip]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01CEVT922/?tag=casaivar-21

Packs down smaller than a sleeping bag liner & weighs about the same. Perfect for the shoulder seasons, as some albergues can be mighty damp/chilly and the hospitallers may not want to turn on the heating yet.

 

[walksoftly]

Thank you both! That's very helpful. I guess I will go with a sleeping bag, and I'll look into an ultra light one. Much appreciated!

 

[nickpellatt]

Blankets on the Norte are very very common, I took my sleeping bag, but probably only use it 5 - 8 times on a 50 day trip. There wasnt even a fight to get blankets either ... I was also using them to make 'curtains' all around my bottom bunks for added privacy and noise insulation.

One thing I'd change about my camino, was to swap my bag for a silk type liner.

 

[Karl Oz]

One thing I'd change about my camino, was to swap my bag for a silk type liner.

It's a contentious point, really. I took my silk liner on the Sanabres in late May, and was cold on several nights. Liners are great when it is warm/hot, but at altitude (even in Summer) they can be aggravatingly insufficient. Each to their own though.

 

[nickpellatt]

It's a contentious point, really. I took my silk liner on the Sanabres in late May, and was cold on several nights. Liners are great when it is warm/hot, but at altitude (even in Summer) they can be aggravatingly insufficient. Each to their own though.

The Norte doesnt have much in the way of altitude, so less likely to be so cold. I needed my two season bag on the Frances, which I walked in the same season.

 

[raymondo gelato]

I went in late March in snow and took no sleeping bag, just 2 liners (one silk) and some extra warm clothing in place of a sleeping bag. Warm layered clothing and woolen socks can be slept in, using 2 liners in quite cold conditions. I wanted to travel extra light. I slept quite well. Light sleeping bags provide little warmth in cold conditions.

 

[lt56ny]

I started in last September last year. I arrived in Santiago on November 1. One thing is you can't predict the weather. The other is everyone has a different tolerance for cold and heat. I only had a silk sleep sack and that was sufficient. I would assume you will get to Santiago no later than about Oct. 17 or so. There were lots of albergues that had blankets. The only time it got cold for me was the last 7 or 8 days in a few albergues that didn't have blankets. In fact in 1 or 2 it seemed colder inside then outside. I just slept with my clothes on and had no problems. I personally do not think you need a sleeping bag. If you are from a northern climate and can sleep with the window open in late Autumn you definitely do not need one.

 

[VAtoNC]

Thank you both! That's very helpful. I guess I will go with a sleeping bag, and I'll look into an ultra light one. Much appreciated!

I bought an ultra light one. Most of them are mummy bags, and if you're ok with that then do it. Personally I felt like I had been poured into the thing. I couldn't move much and certainly couldn't turn on my side.

 

[naplesdon]

I walked the Frances in September into mid October several years ago and the weather was mild enough for a silk liner and albergue blankets.

 

[Karl Oz]

All good points. On my four caminos in Spain I have carried a (lightweight) bag only once, serendipitously on that bitterly cold late Spring of 2013. And boy was I glad I had it! The other trips I used my silk liner, and yes, there were times I had to get dressed during the night. Not ideal but better than laying there cold. As mentioned above, you can't predict the weather, so you need some sort of plan to cope with unexpected cold nights in an albergue.

 

[gerip]

I bought an ultra light one. Most of them are mummy bags, and if you're ok with that then do it. Personally I felt like I had been poured into the thing. I couldn't move much and certainly couldn't turn on my side.

Same here, but I actually use mine like a quilt. My feet are usually cold, even in summer, so I put them in the bottom part of the bag, which is sewn closed, with the zippered part of the bag remaining open and covering me like those more expensive items. There's plenty of room for me to move and turn during the night, and remove the top part (or put it back on) like a blanket depending on how cool. I don't like sleeping in my clothes, as they won't be as fresh in the morning, and if I feel too hot at night I'll have to get up to take stuff off. And I just don't trust albergue blankets, seeing how others use them.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I have a month to walk starting Sep (flight home on Oct 20th) , will I need to take my sleeping bag?

Yes.

But you'll be OK with the lightest one that you can get your hands on.

 

[peregrina2000]

Sorry to get on my soap box, but all the categorical advice like “yes, you need a sleeping bag” or “no, a liner is all you need” is good only for the person giving that advice and not for anyone else. Everyone here is trying to give good advice, of course, but whether any person needs a sleeping bag or not depends on the temperature range in which that person can sleep comfortably with or without bags or liners. That is an extremely individual physical characteristic. I “run cold”, so I always take a bag. I also take lambswool gloves — I left them home this year, and though I started in June, there were mornings when my hands were frozen. My walking buddy’s hands were fine.

I always tell people who ask — if you are the one who brings a sweater into restaurants and theaters during the summer because the AC is too cold, you likely need a sleeping bag at any time of year. If you love the icy AC, and go in wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts, you likely don’t.

Anyway, my point is that just because 45 people say that you need a bag and 35 people say that you don’t, that really doesn’t help you answer the question. And just to make it more interesting, it appears that there is a gender correlation.
https://www.glamour.com/story/theres-a-scientific-reason-women-are-always-colder-than-men

 

[JabbaPapa]

Maybe ...

But the truth is that when the weather starts getting a bit colder, in some Albergues/Refugios a sleeping bag is an essential.

 

[Karl Oz]

Sorry to get on my soap box, but all the categorical advice like “yes, you need a sleeping bag” or “no, a liner is all you need” is good only for the person giving that advice and not for anyone else. Everyone here is trying to give good advice, of course, but whether any person needs a sleeping bag or not depends on the temperature range in which that person can sleep comfortably with or without bags or liners. That is an extremely individual physical characteristic. I “run cold”, so I always take a bag. I also take lambswool gloves — I left them home this year, and though I started in June, there were mornings when my hands were frozen. My walking buddy’s hands were fine.

I always tell people who ask — if you are the one who brings a sweater into restaurants and theaters during the summer because the AC is too cold, you likely need a sleeping bag at any time of year. If you love the icy AC, and go in wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts, you likely don’t.

Anyway, my point is that just because 45 people say that you need a bag and 35 people say that you don’t, that really doesn’t help you answer the question. And just to make it more interesting, it appears that there is a gender correlation.
https://www.glamour.com/story/theres-a-scientific-reason-women-are-always-colder-than-men

I could not agree more. I made the point recently in a different thread that opinions about shoes/sleeping bags/whatever should be phrased in a non-didactic manner, with a humility that recognises different conditions and individual requirements. Opinions are both welcome and valuable, not least due to their wide differences in outlook. Nothing wrong with disagreeing with them, but uncompromising repudiation is seldom persuasive.

 

[kelleymac]

I carried my down sleeping bag, that could squash down small. I was happy to have a nest I could be warm in each night. I have always walked in early Spring or Fall-- I have considered using liners instead, but I like to be able to poke my feet out if I get overly warm at night. -- I will say that I have been in albergues that do not have blankets and have not turned on the heat. Grañon did not have any in the Spring of 2016, and a woman next to me was shivering under a blanket someone else had brought. She had booked with a tour that had told her that she would not need a sleeping bag.-- But that was years ago now, and perhaps things have changed.
-

 

[K Turner]

I'm two weeks into my Camino and just have a sleeping liner. It's been incredibly hot and the albergues are warm and stuffy without air conditioning. I've used my liner just twice. I tend to run very warm at night so for me personally, I'm glad to not have an actual bag.

You know yourself best. Follow your gut.

Buen Camino!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'm two weeks into my Camino and just have a sleeping liner. It's been incredibly hot and the albergues are warm and stuffy without air conditioning.

Except that the OP will be walking in a completely different season and in completely different weather conditions.

Plus 2019 has been exceptionally hot.

I personally need a sleeping bag even in summer, but that's just me ; however, outside summer, a sleeping bag is an essential, and I happily state that categorically and that's that, etc.

Having said that, for many people an ultra-light bag (rather than, say, the heavy military bag that I use myself) would be all that's needed -- heavier than a liner certainly, but not so thin or unprotective in cooler weather conditions either, which are pure & simple unavoidable from September onwards.

 

[Mettetäti]

I have used a 500 g polyester sleepingbag, that can also be used as a blanket. Great in April. I would take it if I was going now

 

[gerip]

I carried my down sleeping bag, that could squash down small. I was happy to have a nest I could be warm in each night. I have always walked in early Spring or Fall-- I have looked at liners, but I like to be able to poke my feet out if I get over warm at night. -- I will say that I have been in albergues that do not have blankets and have not turned on the heat. Grañon did not have any in the Spring of 2016, and a woman next to me was shivering under a blanket someone else had brought. She had booked with a tour that had told her that she would not need a sleeping bag.-- But that was years ago now, and perhaps things have changed.
-

Last year I was following the #worldtowning family while preparing for my Camino. They walked in June, and at the end of their Camino they discussed what they would have left behind and what they would have brought instead. The mom and the two kids said they would have brought a sleeping bag. I made note of that and brought my own. Glad I did.

 

[Bala]

I always tell people who ask — if you are the one who brings a sweater into restaurants and theaters during the summer because the AC is too cold, you likely need a sleeping bag at any time of year. If you love the icy AC, and go in wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts, you likely don’t.

That's the best rule of thumb on this subject I've ever read.

It's such an individual decision. There were nights in May I slept with my 45° down bag zipped to my neck with a blanket on top, and wasn't the only one, while others in the bunks across from me had light liners. I take a sweater everywhere in summer, because I freeze in air conditioning. I happily sit out on the deck when the temperature edges up toward 100° F. What works for me works for me, not necessarily for anyone else. I love my sleeping bag.

 

[Xali1970]

I carried a snugpak traveller for the primitivo in october/november. Weighs in at 900g vs 750g for a cotton liner. It is quite roomy (I.e. not a mummy bag). It'll give you a comfortable night's sleep when it's cool, and when it's unzipped it's great when it's around 12-15° C

 

[Lifeisgood]

Can only second all of the advice, it is an individual decision!

*Low budget advice*
To anyone who is traveling on a low budget and thinks it is better to carry a sleeping bag but does not have the money for a good and light one: A really good, cheap, and light weight alternative is the combination of a sleeping bag liner and a simple fleece blanket! I used this combination last year and it was perfect for albergues without blankets. Also, wollen socks, leggings and long sleeves for the night help, too!

 

[Mycroft]

I have a month to walk starting Sep (flight home on Oct 20th) , will I need to take my sleeping bag? I'm would really like to be reassured that I don't need to carry the extra weight. I didn't take it on the Le Puy+Frances which I finished in September two years ago and that was the right decision except I'm worried now as the weather will be colder and I'm a bit wimpy about being cold.
Would love to anyone's input. TIA.

Which Camino are you talking about, walksoftly? Are you saying 2 yrs ago you walked Le Puy+Frances and this is what you are walking again? Or will you be on a different Camino route?

 

[Teej41]

I have a month to walk starting Sep (flight home on Oct 20th) , will I need to take my sleeping bag? I'm would really like to be reassured that I don't need to carry the extra weight. I didn't take it on the Le Puy+Frances which I finished in September two years ago and that was the right decision except I'm worried now as the weather will be colder and I'm a bit wimpy about being cold.
Would love to anyone's input. TIA.

I'm commencing from SJPP on the 21st September and plan to be 'on the road' right through until around November 3. I'm definitely taking a sleeping bag - it's a Highland Trekker 'Superlight' which weighs about 540g and is over 2m in length. It's the only sleeping bag that I've ever had into which I can fully immerse my 6 feet and 2 inches frame.

 

[Bajaverde]

I have a month to walk starting Sep (flight home on Oct 20th) , will I need to take my sleeping bag? I'm would really like to be reassured that I don't need to carry the extra weight. I didn't take it on the Le Puy+Frances which I finished in September two years ago and that was the right decision except I'm worried now as the weather will be colder and I'm a bit wimpy about being cold.
Would love to anyone's input. TIA.

I did the Norte in aug there is plenty of accommodation with more opening all the time. Use the newer albergues better cleaner about the same price. I carry only a 5 Oz 150 gym silk sheet sleeping sack for cleanliness. You absolutely do not need and should not carry a sleeping bag

 

[Bajaverde]

I did the Norte in aug there is plenty of accommodation with more opening all the time. Use the newer albergues better cleaner about the same price. I carry only a 5 Oz 150 gym silk sheet sleeping sack for cleanliness. You absolutely do not need and should not carry a sleeping bag

Add: all the albergues I stayed in had blankets or mantas for warmth

 

[Frank1963]

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