My partner and I are going to be cycling this beautiful route. We would love to hear from you if you have done it. We cycled the La Loire le Velo last summer for our first ever cycling holiday and fell in love with this type of adveturing. So now we have the bug, and well, look out world here we come!
Cycling The St.James Way, AKA The Camino de Santiago......please tell us about your journeys, and expierences.
Dom, 2011-05-15 11:55
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Cycling The St.James Way, AKA The Camino de Santiago......please tell us about your journeys, and expierences.
Hi , I have cycled and walked the camino a few times and you are in for a very nice experience. Where are you starting from ? Pack light if doing this in summer and be prepared for up to 45c on parts of the route ( Burgos to Leon etc ).Make sure you have enuf water, but on a bike getting to next water shud be no problem.
The classic French route ( from St Jean Pied de Port/ Rocevellas ) gets very busy but that can be nice and social.As long as you dont mind people waking up at 4am and rustling plastic bags in the communal( and very affordable ) Pilgrims Refuges. people get up at 4am to get an early start and beat the heat as it can be too hot for some by 10am.
Try to get a list of the more cyclist friendly Refugios as many of them do ( understandably ) give priority to walking pilgrims, and you may have to wait until as late as 9pm to find out if they have a bed for you or not. The theory is that its easier for a cyclist to ride 10km to the next place than a walker.............
Might be good idea to pack a sleeping mat just in case.In summer i never needed a sleeping bag, so warm, most times i didnt even need a sleep sheet.
Google the cofraternity of St james for lots of info.
Many local cyclists do the camino in summer and go on the walking footpath. This can be quite dangerous as there are really 1000s of people walking. I might advice following the yellow arrows designed for cyclists as a safer bet.
Cant think of anything else at moment, except to say that Camino is wonderful experience and i hope you enjoy it as much as i have.Oh yes, you pass some some of Spaims best wine regions too ;-)
please get in touch if you have more specific questions,
best wishes and ULTREYA, Jim Fullwood.