Towels

[mainardguy]

Hello all. I am planning my first camino end of May. fly into Porto and head north. I plan on staying in Albergos and had a few questions.
Should I being my own towel?
How far in advance do I need to book one?
Can I leave my backpack there safely while I explore the town??

 

[Bradypus]

Bring a towel - very few albergues provide one. I like to save weight and bulk by using a very light cotton cloth.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

@mainardguy , welcome to the forum. Yes, you definitely need your own towel. Most pack a travel towel or similar. Ditto sleep sheet as a minimum.
Booking - generally it’s suggested to book your first couple of nights, and then take it from there. Starting off a little slower is often considered a good idea for a newcomer, so don’t make the first couple of days distance’s too long.
Yes, you can safely leave your backpack in the Albergue when you go out, but obviously you’ll want to carry your valuables with you. Everywhere. Including to the shower.

Bom Caminho !

 

[trecile]

If you don't want to have to use your T-shirt to dry after a shower you'll need to bring your own towel! I like the Packtowl Ultralite. The body size weighs only 3.4 oz/100 gm.

https://www.packtowl.com/ie/shop/towels/ultralite-towel/11125.html

 

[mainardguy]

@mainardguy , welcome to the forum. Yes, you definitely need your own towel. Most pack a travel towel or similar. Ditto sleep sheet as a minimum.
Booking - generally it’s suggested to book your first couple of nights, and then take it from there. Starting off a little slower is often considered a good idea for a newcomer, so don’t make the first couple of days distance’s too long.
Yes, you can safely leave your backpack in the Albergue when you go out, but obviously you’ll want to carry your valuables with you. Everywhere. Including to the shower.

Bom Caminho !

Thank you so much for your feedback. I feel that I have so many questions and am watching as many YouTube videos as I can to find out stuff. Appreciate your input

 

[mainardguy]

If you don't want to have to use your T-shirt to dry after a shower you'll need to bring your own towel! I like the Packtowl Ultralite. The body size weighs only 3.4 oz/100 gm.

https://www.packtowl.com/ie/shop/towels/ultralite-towel/11125.html

Thanks for your feedback. I really am looking forward to it but am worried I will forget something important. Lol

 

[trecile]

Thank you so much for your feedback. I feel that I have so many questions and am watching as many YouTube videos as I can to find out stuff. Appreciate your input

I think that you are probably better off asking your questions here than relying on YouTube videos for information. Except maybe @Robo's channel.

 

[Antnix1]

Hello all. I am planning my first camino end of May. fly into Porto and head north. I plan on staying in Albergos and had a few questions.
Should I being my own towel?
How far in advance do I need to book one?
Can I leave my backpack there safely while I explore the town??

i bought this a few years ago and i still have it https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07GJFKFS7/ .. recommended.

 

[mainardguy]

i bought this a few years ago and i still have it https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07GJFKFS7/ .. recommended.

That's cool. Thanks

 

[mainardguy]

I think that you are probably better off asking your questions here than relying on YouTube videos for information. Except maybe @Robo's channel.

I think that you are probably better off asking your questions here than relying on YouTube videos for information. Except maybe @Robo's channel.

Thank you. I will look into that

 

[J Willhaus]

Have used several "camp towels " and most just smear the water around on me. I do like a plain muslin or cotton t-towel. Also just a plain old hand towel that I bought at an Asian store in Spain worked fine for me last winter. I don't buy a large towel as don't want to carry it.

 

[lovelyshell]

I used a PackTowel but I have brought a sarong with me and used that for my body and the PackTowel for my hair. I’ve also seen people use the Turkish cloth towels which are dry by morning. Just don’t bring a terry cloth towel, it will be heavy and probably never fully dry.

 

[CWBuff]

I really am looking forward to it but am worried I will forget something important. Lol

You will, but then Camino will provide*

*excludes towels

Seriously, as suggested above a towel and a sleeping liner;

 

[karyn61]

I use this towel, it's a hair drying towel and I like the size and absorbency.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9YRN3GG?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[Jeff Crawley]

"A towel is just about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can carry. Partly because it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it around your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you — daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course you can dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost." What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase which has passed into hitch hiking slang, as in: Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."

On a less serious note consider a Hamman or Peshtemal towel (the thinner variety) or even a Japanese Tenugui both very absorbent and fast drying (though the Tenugui are a bit on the small side for most Westerners)

EDIT: don't forget, Saturday 25th May 2024 is Towel Day!

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

Loved 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ' . Thanks for the quote!