Biking the Camino del Norte/ April 2015

[Skaggs5771]

Hello everyone, I am doing the Camino del Norte (well sections of it) in April of 2015. This has been something that me and my girlfriend have been wanting to do for about a year, and now we have all the funds we could possibly need for this endeavor. BUT there is one issue! Our careers do not allow for us to take the time off to do the Camino del Norte in its fullness. We are discussing how to best approach this, and I'm looking for any input you might have.

We're allotting 5-7 days to bike from San Sebastian to Guernica, then to Bilbao. From there we were going to bus/train to Vilalbo, and then bike into Santiago in time for the Pilgrims Mass.

*This is a total of 325km, but would we be worthy of a Compostella?
*Do we have to bike the last 200km instead of breaking it up along the route? (We are both Basque and our families are from Guernica so the first section of the Camino del Norte has a lot of meaning to us.)
*We have mountain bikes from REI that we are training with, but what's the best way to get them overseas so that we aren't using equipment we're not familiar with?

I know this is a lot but any input would be a blessing. Thanks...

 

[grayland]

The requirement is to complete the LAST 200 miles in order to qualify for the certificate. Nothing before that counts toward this requirement.

 

[Skaggs5771]

Ok that's what I was afraid may be the case, at which point I will need to rethink the time a allotment for the last segment.

 

[peregrino_tom]

Skaggs - it's typically five walking days from San Seb to Bilbao, so taking 5-7 days on a bike is preeetty slooow. Or do you mean 5-7 days for your whole trip?
I think you've got your distances wrong - I make your planned itinerary about 245km (based on walked stages) not 325.
Assuming you've got more than 5-7 days in total I'd suggest something like this
Do San Seb to Bilbao in a leisurely 3 days (about 130km), then a day's travel to La Caridad (20km before Ribadeo), then 4-5 days in to Santiago (around 210km).
PS if you have more time than you thought try starting in Irun. The tiny ferry boat at Pasajes will let you take your bicycles on board
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peregrino_tom/8677995401/in/set-72157633351850582/lightbox/

 

[Skaggs5771]

Wonderful pictures! Yes I failed to properly measure the route (Google maps), and yes we were hoping to limit the entirety of our time on the Camino to 5-7 days so that we could spend time with our families over there. Though this is in all regards a 'pilgrimage' perhaps its best to devote more time to the experience and less to a schedule (don't want to lose sight of why we're doing this to begin with. Your itinerary sounds like the perfect medium here Tom, thank you. I was able to figure out the mechanics of transporting our bike on Delta and Air France. Thank you again, the input is worth its wait in gold plus some.

 

[Skaggs5771]

Tom, What time (month) did you do the del Norte? The season in your pictures looks just right.

 

[peregrino_tom]

Tom, What time (month) did you do the del Norte? The season in your pictures looks just right.

I started in Irun at the end of March 2013. There were quite a lot of t-shirt days which were like a (good) English summer, but then there were some days when it was cold, windy and rainy (like a normal English summer!). NB there's general agreement that last year had an unusually cold and wet start to it.
edit: year corrected! - thanks lg

 

[lettinggo]

I think you mean 2013 Tom...
Last winter/spring was unusual wet and cold and the reports ticking in was from challenged pilgrims.
Well... weather is what weather is.
Regardless, have a great experience.

Bune Camino
Lettinggo