Sorption of water vapour in hygroscopic porous materials is associated with latent heat release and absorption. This phenomenon should be taken into account to achieve a better understanding of the coupled transfer of vapour and heat in hygroscopic porous materials. In this paper, water vapour adsorption and desorption in the longitudinal direction of spruce samples are studied. Neutron radiography is used to measure changes in moisture content and wireless thermocouples are used to measure temperature changes. During the adsorption and desorption experiments, large changes in moisture content and temperature are observed. A hygrothermal model is developed to simulate vapour and heat transfer during adsorption and desorption experiments. Generally, the numerical model predicts well the measured moisture and temperature changes. The large moisture change is due to the low vapour resistance factor in the longitudinal direction of the spruce samples. The latent heat associated with vapour adsorption is the cause of the large temperature changes. It was found that vapour permeability affects both vapour and heat transfer, while thermal conductivity only affects heat transfer.