Toilet Availability

[gelston]

A delicate matter for me. Are there facilities along the way that can used or is it au naturale on thelast 100km of the Portugese Way? This is my first Camino.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Be prepared to squat behind a bush and PLeASE carry out your TP!

 

[jsalt]

Are there facilities along the way

You will probably find enough cafes along the way to pull over, rest, relax, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, and use the rest room. Never fear, all will be well . . . . and if it’s not, Plan B is to duck behind a bush, as Anniesantiago says.
Bom caminho
Jill

 

[movinmaggie]

Just a suggestions; bring no TP at all - the Camino is becoming an eyesore with so much of it everywhere. Carry your own wiper that you can continue to wash. Use a zip lock bag for this then put a bit of bleach in a vial which you can add to your laundry later in the day.

 

[Stivandrer]

Allways - if TP is used, it must be buried, use stick, stone or the like ...

 

[AllanHG]

It seems like even best efforts to dig a shallow hole doesn't solve the disposal problem as the Camino is littered with TP! I agree that everyone should have a small plastic bag and take their TP to a garbage in the same way that you would if they were camping. It would make the path for pleasant for pilgrims and local people alike!

 

[Anniesantiago]

Allways - if TP is used, it must be buried, use stick, stone or the like ...

Please do not bury it or put it under a stone.
It does not decompose fast enough.
Carry a ziplock or plastic bag and carry out your paper please.

http://hikethru.com/hiking-information/backyard-science/toilet-paper-decomposition

 

[kelleymac]

I carry a lightweight trowel for the emergency need to poop. It happens sometimes. -- Also, instead of toilet paper, I use a sanitary pad. I start out with a clean one every morning. The new ones have absorbent stuff like disposable diapers that draws urine away. So I can pee and then just pull up my pants and be dry. I throw the pad out at the end of the day.
-- I started doing this after seeing toilet paper blowing all over the place on the camino. My son and I picked up a bag of trash a day off the camino, but I didn't pick up the toilet paper as it was too gross, and I didn't have a pair of gloves.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I carry a lightweight trowel for the emergency need to poop. It happens sometimes. -- Also, instead of toilet paper, I use a sanitary pad. I start out with a clean one every morning. The new ones have absorbent stuff like disposable diapers that draws urine away. So I can pee and then just pull up my pants and be dry. I throw the pad out at the end of the day.
-- I started doing this after seeing toilet paper blowing all over the place on the camino. My son and I picked up a bag of trash a day off the camino, but I didn't pick up the toilet paper as it was too gross, and I didn't have a pair of gloves.

Not a bad idea, Kelley.
And thanks for picking up trash.
If every pilgrim would spend one walking day picking up trash, it could make quite an impact.

 

[naplesdon]

Not a bad idea, Kelley.
And thanks for picking up trash.
If every pilgrim would spend one walking day picking up trash, it could make quite an impact.

Just ask the Ditch Pigs, we hauled cart after cart away from along the Meseta last November. Behind the rest areas are the worst, basically they are being used as a public waste sites of all sort of excrement, bandages, etc. YUCK and SHAME to anyone who leaves their trash behind on the Camino.

 

[Deleted member 43985]

Just ask the Ditch Pigs, we hauled cart after cart away from along the Meseta last November. Behind the rest areas are the worst, basically they are being used as a public waste sites of all sort of excrement, bandages, etc. YUCK and SHAME to anyone who leaves their trash behind on the Camino.

This was truly horrific and as you say, shameful. You walk for miles and miles looking for shade and when you find it, it turns out to smell worse than an outhouse. Why would people crap in the one place you want to relax in the shade?!? Unbelievable...

 

[Bradypus]

Why would people crap in the one place you want to relax in the shade?!?

Because they find it marginally less embarrassing than crapping in the open in full view for a km or two in all directions across the meseta? I can understand why they do it. What irritates me is that they do not find a way to remove the evidence afterwards. If people can bag and carry dog turds for disposal later then why not their own?

 

[movinmaggie]

Unfortunately, we are all members of 'the choir' who know better. Who is going to get the word to those who are not being responsible? and how? I'm racking my brain; what if we all, and whomever, could do a fundraiser or 'crowd funder' or whatever they're called these days, to raise funds the type of disposable facilities they use in Japan.....I know it's a stretch, but it will just continue to get worse as the crowds keeping growing. We shouldn't have to leave it all to the 'ditch pigs', bless them. I'm just curious...are there any 'powers that be' in Santiago, or the Cathedral, or in government that have ever considered the situation?

 

[kelleymac]

We can all pick up a small bag of trash a day and carry it to the next town. Perhaps pilgrims who see us picking up garbage will be less likely to drop garbage. The meseta is a night mare for trash. I'm an Assistant Scout Master working with boys ages 11-18. We teach that there are three kinds of people in this world: Those who leave trash, Those who don't leave trash, and Those who bend over and pick up other people's trash.

 

[kelleymac]

I was surprised that in Galica there were places with picnic tables, shade and water, but no latrines. I surmised that perhaps cafe owners want to make sure people stop at cafes and pay something to use a toilet. I'm sure the farmers would love to have port-a-potties or even flush toilets put in.