Sad news: an Irish cyclist passed away on the Camino (Pedrafita de O'Cebreiro)

[Olivares]

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/notici...ook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fbcamino

Sad news for the pilgrims community that have to mourn the pasing of a 65 years old Irish pilgrim cyclist found by a local on the side of the road by his bicycle. No visible damages to the bicycle, so a traffic acident has been initially ruled out. The pilgrim exhibited head injury and it is speculated that this was either natural causes and/or a fall that resulted on a fatal head injury. Autopsy results should be released soon. The Camino on that section (pass Alto de San Roque by Hospital da Condesa) is mostly small gravel and many cyclists prefer to take on the adjacent paved road. An investigation is underway.

Later reports are placing the incident 1 km from Hospital Da Condesa.

May he rest in peace. Buen Camino!

 

[AMDG56]

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis
(may his soul be at God's right hand)

 

[wayfarer]

Condolences to his family, may he rest in peace.

 

[Ekelund]

May he rest in peace, my heart goes out to his family. I hope his last moments was filled with joy for being there on the camino on his bike.

 

[pilgrim b]

May he rest in peace and rest eternal.

 

[shefollowsshells]

In my prayers!

 

[Monk Moses]

Prayers!

 

[Frank Carroll]

This is so sad. I am Irish too and doing the camino in July. I will says a few prayers for him along the way.

 

[Silverton]

Olivares, thank you for sharing the Voz de Galicia report. El pobre--he is in all our prayers.

 

[morgan]

My The Lord have mercy on him R.I.P.



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[Susan hopes]

May his soul shine ever brightly to light his way to heaven. May happy memories comfort his family in the times to come.

 

[AntAthOBuaidhe]

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

 

[Stephen]

That is very sad news. I'm sure he, and his family, will be in many of our thoughts and prayers.

 

[Anniesantiago]

So sorry to hear this news.

 

[Vermontgal]

So sad! We were just there a couple of weeks ago - and I remember thinking that I did not envy the bicyclists around O Cebreiro AT ALL because the up hills seem to take such extraordinary exertion...wishing him and his family peace

 

[Kuriya50]

May he rest in peace!!!
"O Lord, you have freed us from the fear of death.
You have made the end of life here the beginning of true life for us.
For a time, you gave rest to our bodies in sleep and
you awaken us again with the trumpet.
The dust from which you fashioned us with your hands
you give back to the earth for safekeeping.
And you will recall it, transforming with
immortality and grace our mortal . . . remains.”
Saint Macrina
sister of Saints Basil and Gregory of Nyssa

 

[Jabaldo]

May God watch over his family and friends

 

[ksam]

Another star shining down on us from the Milkyway. Prayers for him and especially his family. And another reason to wear a helmet when riding!! Don't know if he was...but head injury sounds like perhaps not. Never ever ride w/o your helmet!!

 

[lizaresandrea]

What sad news for all of us and for the man's family. I pray that there was no foul play and that when he was dying, he was comforted by all the angels and Saints who bless pilgrims walking the camino. My family loves biking and a biked camino was an option we were considering. In O Cebriero, I will say a prayer for him.

 

[obinjatoo@yahoo.com]

Condolances to his family...

 

[fernandezr]

May he rest in peace!!!
"O Lord, you have freed us from the fear of death.
You have made the end of life here the beginning of true life for us.
For a time, you gave rest to our bodies in sleep and
you awaken us again with the trumpet.
The dust from which you fashioned us with your hands
you give back to the earth for safekeeping.
And you will recall it, transforming with
immortality and grace our mortal . . . remains.”
Saint Macrina
sister of Saints Basil and Gregory of Nyssa

Thank you for this prayer...beautiful and comforting and true.

 

[celtictrekker]

Very sad to hear, may he rest in peace

 

[Olivares]

http://www.diariodenavarra.es/notic..._roncesvalles_tras_una_caida_159420_2061.html

 

[Olivares]

Oh dear. That would have been heartbreaking.
I hope they are resting comfortably now.

I was worried about the decent off the Prynees for that reason. So I took the road to the right (just after the peak) and ambled down that. It did take longer. .(I think its 3-4km longer) but I was just able to walk and not worry about tripping or falling.
By that stage I was mentally as well as physically fatigued and was less coordinated than I normally am.

Right versus left on to Roncesvalles; Right is actually only 400 meters longer!!!

The female (55 years old) fractured her arm and is hospitalized in Pamplona. I was very surprised when I got to that junction and most people went left. There was not a chance that I was taking the steeper descent into Roncesvalles. Too early on the Camino to take such a risk.

 

[Olivares]

Really? 400 metres? That is awesome. I dont know why I thought it was 4km longer.
Thanks for clarifying that...I will edit my post so as not to inadvertently deter any one from doing it. Its quite a pretty section as well.
Thanks Olivares!!!

I can understand it; by that point 100 meters feel like a 1000!! Actually from the wooden sign pointing right or left is 4 kms to Roncesvalles. I really think most people go left because you can see Roncesvalles at a distance to the left . It is counterintuitive to go right if you really want to get there, but it is actually the safest and fastest way into the complex.

 

[CaminoKris2013]

I can understand it; by that point 100 meters feel like a 1000!! Actually from the wooden sign pointing right or left is 4 kms to Roncesvalles. I really think most people go left because you can see Roncesvalles at a distance to the left . It is counterintuitive to go right if you really want to get there, but it is actually the safest and fastest way into the complex.

Very good to know...right it will be.


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[Shivers]

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. Finished my camino last Wednesday and so sad for this poor man that he did not.

 

[Tobyturnips]

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/notici...ook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fbcamino

Sad news for the pilgrims community that have to mourn the pasing of a 65 years old Irish pilgrim cyclist found by a local on the side of the road by his bicycle. No visible damages to the bicycle, so a traffic acident has been initially ruled out. The pilgrim exhibited head injury and it is speculated that this was either natural causes and/or a fall that resulted on a fatal head injury. Autopsy results should be released soon. The Camino on that section (pass Alto de San Roque by Hospital da Condesa) is mostly small gravel and many cyclists prefer to take on the adjacent paved road. An investigation is underway.

Later reports are placing the incident 1 km from Hospital Da Condesa.

May he rest in peace. Buen Camino!

Very sad news....ar dheis Dé of raibh a anam

 

[MickMac]

I t

Oh dear. That would have been heartbreaking.
I hope they are resting comfortably now.

I was worried about the decent off the Prynees for that reason. So I took the road to the right (just after the peak) and ambled down that. It did take longer. .(I think its 3-4km longer) but I was just able to walk and not worry about tripping or falling.
By that stage I was mentally as well as physically fatigued and was less coordinated than I normally am.

Edit: The path to the right is only 400 metres longer. See post below.

Myself and a german friend took the safe route as well but ended up walking down a major road we must have missed the left turn as we decended. Is it before the junction with the highway? It seemed about 4 kilometers longer.

 

[Olivares]

I t

Myself and a german friend took the safe route as well but ended up walking down a major road we must have missed the left turn as we decended. Is it before the junction with the highway? It seemed about 4 kilometers longer.

Mick-- for my life I could not tell you where you could have been...??? There are no major roads after this junction we have been talking about. If you take a right it is marked all the way to Roncesvalles and is a bit of paved road and then trail all the a way to Roncesvalles. As a matter of fact, you go by Ibaneta, the monument, popular stop, so there are visitors cars, etc.., That is the closest spot I can think of that may resemble a traffic road....

 

[ChakraVedi]

Being also a cyclist planning on cycling the Camino, this comes as a real sad news to me.

As a fellow cyclist I wish that "His soul may rest in Peace"!

 

[MickMac]

Mick-- for my life I could not tell you where you could have been...??? There are no major roads after this junction we have been talking about. If you take a right it is marked all the way to Roncesvalles and is a bit of paved road and then trail all the a way to Roncesvalles. As a matter of fact, you go by Ibaneta, the monument, popular stop, so there are visitors cars, etc.., That is the closest spot I can think of that may resemble a traffic road....

Many thanks Olivares, I will look on googgle maps. We followed the paved road all the way down avoiding the steep decline to the left which was signed, till we came on this road, turned left onto it, then walked for about 2 kms till we could see Roncesvalles below us on the left it felt quite dangerous but we survived.

 

[MickMac]

Mick-- for my life I could not tell you where you could have been...??? There are no major roads after this junction we have been talking about. If you take a right it is marked all the way to Roncesvalles and is a bit of paved road and then trail all the a way to Roncesvalles. As a matter of fact, you go by Ibaneta, the monument, popular stop, so there are visitors cars, etc.., That is the closest spot I can think of that may resemble a traffic road....

Found it ! on goggle maps you might not believe it, the road was the N-135 or Roncevaux pass (does not look so big now) unbelievably stupid of us , I blame fatigue and the fact that two of my toe nails were falling off and bleeding heels..
Some pilgrims took the short cut further up the decent through the forest we found one of them a young girl from Belgium receiving medical treatment in the monastary .

 

[Olivares]

That's an easy mistake to make, more so under such dire conditions...YIKES! Were you able to go on; I can't even imagine!!

Last year (March) a Brazilian pilgrim was found way off the trail in that area; unfortunately he suffered a heart attack and had passed away by the time a local came upon him.

The Camino pilgrimage is a lot of good things, but one thing that is not is a walk in the park. It is definitely doable, but caution should always be present.

Buen camino to all.

 

[MickMac]

That's an easy mistake to make, more so under such dire conditions...YIKES! Were you able to go on; I can't even imagine!!

Last year (March) a Brazilian pilgrim was found way off the trail in that area; unfortunately he suffered a heart attack and had passed away by the time a local came upon him.

The Camino pilgrimage is a lot of good things, but one thing that is not is a walk in the park. It is definitely doable, but caution should always be present.

Buen camino to all.

Toe nails grew back 6 months later. Thanks to Saint Compeed I was able to go on, got better as time passed would not have missed it for the world.

 

[Olivares]

Keep reading reports of injured prilgrims, mostly falls with broken arms, wrists, and ankles. I read a couple of days ago that bus stations along the Camino are starting to look like emergency rooms in local hospitals....May was wet, much like last May.

A pilgrim (Spaniard from Barcelona, 65 years old) just got rescued (June 4th) lost in the Fisterra area. Apparently, he wandered around some dangeorous cliff area looking for the Camino, fell, and had to be med evac by helicopter.

 

[MickMac]

Just a suggestion for any Statiticions out there, maybe someone can have alook at the injury patterns on the Camino i.e. Type of injury, Location that injury occured, Weather conditions, Time of year, Age of pilgrim, Time walked before injury, etc. maybe there is a pattern at certain points on the Camino ?