Really Necessary to Bring a Tent?

[Oak Hill Walkers]

On some other site, I read that it's a good idea to bring an ultralight tent (in our case a two-man version) as insurance to not finding lodging, especially in this Holy Year.

Is this too much insurance? Should we pack a tent? We're planning on 10 miles per day maximum, so at least we'll be in a position to "win" in a race to secure lodging.

[Covey]

Lose the tent!!!

Extra weight, and if you ever need to use it, you will be on a grotty camp site out on the edge of town.

A couple of years ago I walked with a Canadian Lady for a week who had an artificial leg and she was managing around 10 miles a day. We had no difficulty in finding places to sleep because we would finish walking at lunchtime and check in to an albergue.

[HuskyNerd]

I agree that you should lose the tent. However, it's always good to be prepared. As a mountain backpacker here in the Northwest I always carry an emergency blanket like the one shown here: Amazon.com: MPI Emergency Blanket (1 blanket): Sports & Outdoors , along with a lightweight sleeping pad, which doubles as an outdoor mat for resting on the ground. I was comforted to know that, if for some reason I pooped out along the Camino late in the evening and couldn't drag myself to the next town, I could pull out my emergency blanket, roll out my sleeping bag on my pad, and be warm, dry and safe under the stars. This added a total of 2 lbs to my gear, but I never regretted the peace of mind.

[Covey]

About 40% of pilgrims wander the trail with a foam sleeping/ground mat strapped to their pack.

You see some pilgrims using the ground roll when sun bathing, but in the last five runs down the Camino Frances, I have never seen anyone having to use it to sleep on at night!!!

Another waste of space and weight!!