How exciting
It's an awesome trip. I made it from London to Leon, realised that whilst I could make it to Santiago in the time I had available (I think I had 4 days from SJPDP... it was a long time ago) I decided I would be missing out on an important experience by cycling and headed to Gijon to get the ferry home. Then came back and walked the last bit at a slower pace later in the year.
Your plan sounds doable, I took two weeks off work end of May/June so probably had a couple of extra days to you. I would make sure you have some contingency time. I went via Paris and mostly navigated via google maps (do not recommend). Quite frankly I think I am lucky to be alive - I arrived in Paris about 10pm so it was quieter but pretty still awful, fairly sure some of the route I took into Paris was basically a motorway/pretty horrendous underpasses where bikes weren’t allowed. Followed a cycle route past Versailles to get out of Paris which was also truly appalling, Kind of ok if you’re a local but not designed for long distance travel (on and off pavements/road works meant hopping over crash barriers with a laden bike which added hours). Sure there must be better routes now!
The weather was pretty bad when I went (thunderstorms/heavy rain) and I had a shocker of a headwind around Bordeaux. Stealth camping was no issue but it was cold/very wet when I went (huge amounts of standing water everywhere) and I needed to find more accommodation than I had planned. Finding accommodation was a bit of a nightmare in France. Nothing like turning up at a place you've booked in a thunderstorm bedraggled and being told ‘non’ because they don’t like the look of you. At least the HotelF1 takes anyone and seemed ok about bikes
. Lot of places wouldn’t accept arrivals after 8pm or outside specific hours so check booking conditions carefully.
I had ridden from London to Dover through an almighty thunderstorm and was soaked when I got on the ferry. By the time I got to France I was chilled to the bone. If I was going to do it again and the weather looked bad I would take a metallic blanket or an old sweatshirt you can chuck later on to wear on the ferry to stay warm. I had planned to cycle on after I arrived in Calais but called it a day. At the time Calais was not a safe place (refugee camps), I don't know what it is like now, but at the time the hotel staff advised me not to go out alone in the dark and the bike needed to be in my room to stop it being stolen.
Collecting stamps will be a challenge, look for tourist info places, they usually have wonderful people but cyclist unfriendly opening hours. Cathedral stamps are often in the tourist info, not the cathedral.
Don’t turn your nose up at McDonalds drive-ins… hot water, English style toilets with toilet paper, they are warm, cheap food, easy to leave the bike, no comments if you look unkempt, wifi… I know, it’s not exactly a romantic vision of cycling in France but in terms of sheer practicality they can’t be beaten.
Ring roads and navigation... work this out in advance.... I had a road atlas and google maps, survived to tell the tale but could have planned the route better
Some of the cycle routes are definitely more scenic than practical with far more up than taking the slightly bigger road.
Cycling in Spain is *much* easier by comparison. Don’t even think about taking the walking/mountain bike route, use the road. There are rush hours/quiet periods but mostly the main road is quiet, wide and made from beautifully smooth tarmac. The descent down to Obanos is wonderful, if you catch the setting sun some of those rides through Spain are spectacular and you'll hook up with local cycling clubs. The Dutch guidebooks are excellent but use your judgement - sometimes the main roads are fine depending on the time of day. Some of the smaller, recommended roads are very narrow and full of local lorries during the day whilst the main, so-called dangerous road, is almost empty (or maybe they just felt that way after France).
After you’ve cycled from the UK the road up the Pyrenees will be no big deal, it does seem to go on for ages with a lot of switchbacks but it’s not so steep. Seem to remember the day before SJPDP having a fairly epic climb/descent but mostly I just remember being cold and wet and my fingers looking like I had been in a bath for hours. There are some wonderful people in SJPDP. When I arrived about lunch time (my plan was to carry on into Spain that day) the tourist info took one look at me and said go to a specific hostel and the chap who ran it, whose kindness still inspires me, helping me hang up all my things to dry and then spending ages in their shower warming up. I am glad I stopped, I was so cold and wet the break did me good. I met loads of pilgrims in SJPDP who were just starting and were super excited, went to the pilgrims office etc, it will feel very different to the rest of the trip.
I would look for bike friendly/rural hostels in Spain (see guidebooks/apps) and stay away from city centres because it's so much easier with the bike. Cycling, especially, road cycling is very different to walking a camino. It's not better or worse, just different in my opinion. The distances you can cover will be flummox to many walkers who will feel you are missing the point by moving so quickly. Expect some walking pilgrims to be hostile towards you if you are on a bike, most are fine but some seem to feel you are stealing their accommodation (even if you are just stopping in town for lunch or visiting a church) and will be very vocal about how awful it is that you are doing a camino by bike. Just ignore them, the overwhelming number of people you meet will be positive and friendly. Cycling that far in that time scale is no mean feat, especially if the weather is bad I am sure you will have many contemplative moments....
I hope you have an amazing time, you get a real sense of the landscape as you cycle and there's nothing like coming over a hill and seeing the next cathedral in the distance to inspire you to keep going.
but thats half the reason...
