Luarca to Tapia de Casariego: A Night in the Albergue

Gordon: Last night we stayed in a pilgrim albergue in Spain for the first time. The experience felt more like anthropological research than a good night’s sleep. The albergue itself is beautifully situated on a cliff above a beach with sea caves at either end. We had no reservations for the evening, so on rolling past the beautiful site we made an impromptu decision to stay. It was early in the day, and we were the first pilgrims to arrive at the 30 bed accommodation. The town of Tapia de Casariego is an undiscovered jewel, and we passed an exceptionally pleasant day swimming and wandering through this old port town.

At bedtime, which for us is generally between 9 and 10 pm, we settled into our bunk beds and waited for sufficient calm to permit us to sleep. I did in fact get to sleep by 10:00, only to be awakened an hour later by an itch on one of my feet. We had been attacked by bedbugs a few nights earlier (at a very fine hotel) and the feeling was similar. Was this just a mosquito bite, or was I being swarmed by bedbugs? Normally I would have lept out of bed and resolved the question by scrutinizing the sheets under the room lights, but this was not possible in a darkened room with a host of others. As I struggled with this issue, other pilgrims continued to enter and exit from the albergue, quietly but annoyingly. This continued for several hours, with the noise level increasing as the night advanced and the apparent levels of inebriation rose. A crescendo was reached around 1:30 am, when a particularly loud group came in, colliding with the furniture and flipping on some of the lights. I thought we were in for a live sex act between a couple of them, but unfortunately they lost interest, or perhaps ability. The guy then pulled himself up into his upper bunk, flopped onto his back, and immediately began snoring like a hog. We did eventually sleep for a few hours, until we were awakened by someone’s 6:00 alarm.

Some pilgrims do not feel that you are really doing the pilgrimage unless you are staying in the albergues. However, we have decided to continue to lose a little authenticity to gain a lot of good sleep. Tonight we are very content to be staying in a lovely room with private bath in an 18th century monastery in Mondonedo (42 euros).