O Cebreiro by bike, how tough is it....?

[Ste66]

Hi all,

We are currently on our first Camino, by bike from Pamplona to Santiago.
At the moment we are in Leon enjoying a "day off" tomorrow we head to Astorga but as we get closer, the more we worry about the climb at O'Cebreiro.
How bad is it????

 

[Gerry Callaghan]

Nothing to worry about. Take it easy, walk if you have to. I did Villafranca del Bierzo to Triacastela on a loaded touring bike in 6 hours last May. Had to take a break to allow the brake blocks to cool down on the descent!

 

[Ste66]

Thanks for the info.
We are planning to go from Ponferrada to Sarria, is it possible, also with fully loaded touring bikes.
Did you follow the road or walkers path??

 

[Gerry Callaghan]

If the walkers path was a nice dirt road I took that. If it was a bad rocky surface I took the road. The O'Ceberio walking path is alongside the road for quite a distance. Almost all the traffic has moved to to the A6 motorway so there is no traffic worries. Don't even think about taking a loaded bike on the Alto Dragonete or Alto Pradela routes!

 

[Ste66]

Cheers, thanks for that, we'll get there poco a poco.

 

[annakappa]

Personally, I think you should take the road ( very quiet) and leave all the Pilgrims struggling up the, yes, very rocky path! These really isn't much room to maneuver and its steep and rocky!

 

[Ste66]

Thanks, decision made so

 

[newfydog]

In most sections I prefer to the trail, but I would not recommend it up to O'Cebreiro. I don't mind a rough trail which requires some walking, but the climb to O'Cebreiro actually has a sign pointing bikes up the old road. Fear not: the road has virtually no traffic and degenerates to a nice dirt road in no time, It is just above the trail and in many places you can look down at the narrow path the walkers are on.

Here's the split:



And here is the road further up---my type of road!

 

[William Marques]

I have on a couple of occasions taken the road to La Faba and walked/cycled on the path from there but that was a while ago and newfydog's route may be better.

Ponferrada to Sarria is a long day personally I would make it two or take a longer day before as Villafranca is a lovely town to stop in.

However you do it. Have a safe journey.

Buen Camino

 

[Ste66]

Thanks everyone for the advice, in Astorga at the moment, heading to Ponferrada tomorrow, we'll see how it goes from there.
Ultreia!

 

[Warthog Marais]

Thanks everyone for the advice, in Astorga at the moment, heading to Ponferrada tomorrow, we'll see how it goes from there.
Ultreia!

I am most interested. Doing the short route (Astorga to Santiago) with my better half in Oct.

Would you please keep us posted on your progress Ste66?

Buen Camino!!!

 

[Ste66]

I'll be delighted to.

 

[Ste66]

William, we took your advice and decided to soldier on to Villafranca,
Thanks for that.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Thanks everyone for the advice, in Astorga at the moment, heading to Ponferrada tomorrow, we'll see how it goes from there.
Ultreia!

Hola Ste66 - I too will be cycling from Pamplona to the Atlantic (Finisterre) departing around 5 Sep. I would welcome any cycle tips you have encountered (like bike friendly Albergues) and/or places where it was better to take the road. Cheers

 

[Gerry Callaghan]

In April/May 2015 I cycled from Clonmacnoise in Ireland to Finnistere.
My camino section ran from Dax, outside Bayonne, along camino Frances to Santiago de Compostello and then on to Finnistere. Hope you find these notes useful. You can find out all the non-bike stuff in a standard guidebook, the Brierley is quite good.

I'm in my 60's and was on a Koga randonneur with two panniers. If you ever want to take over the world this is the bike for the job, I had no problems whatever.

The albergues were extremely bicycle friendly, mostly having a shed or walled garden to store the bike. Only one, Cizur Menor, outside Pamplona, could not help. Albergues in villages or small towns were a bit better for bikes than those in cities.

Walkers, understandably, have priority claim on albergue beds but I was only once asked to wait until 17:00 to allow walkers in first. This was in the municipal albergue in Finnistere. This was probably a function of being a peregino in May, things may be a bit different in July and August.

I took the Via Napoleon walkers track over the Pyrenees, even though I had to push the bike almost all the way to the summit at Col de Lepoder to the all the walkers amusement! I had a lovely blast down the mountain road to Ibaneta and on to Roncesvalles.

I followed the walkers path when it was a nice dirt road but sometimes found myself using the N-routes when the path went to rough stones. The N-routes have almost totally been bypassed by A-route motorways so you have a wide margin and a traffic lane all to yourself almost all the time. The only problem is that they can be boring!

A warning about attempting to cycle the path to the Monumento de Perigrino at Alto de Perdon from Zariquiegui. It's very rough. Don't attempt the descent to Uterga! Instead take the mountain road down to the the N111 and then left on a local road to Uterga.

If it's not hot or seriously wet then the dirt roads on the Meseta from Burgos to Leon are wonderful. If it is wet the world turns into very sticky mud! Drop in to the wonderful albergue Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino, they have afternoon tea on the lawn!

The climb to La Cruz de Ferro is a wonderful mountain cycle through the clouds and the swoop down to Molinaseca is exhilarating. If you want a genuine medieval albergue experience you can't do better than the Ave Fenix in Villafranca del Bierzo. Be warned, it's not for everyone!

The next wonderful climb is to the Galician border at O Cebreiro. Another magnificent swoop down to Sarria and then it's only 100 km to Santiago de Compostello. The camino gets seriously crowded from here with people doing the minimum 100km walk that qualifies you for the compostello.

My last night on camino Frances was in O Pedrouzo. I had an early start along the walkers route and got to S de C cathedral at 09:00, I got the first compostello issued that day!

All in all a most wonderful trip, I'm dreaming of ways to get back.

Gerry

 

[Ste66]

Hola Ste66 - I too will be cycling from Pamplona to the Atlantic (Finisterre) departing around 5 Sep. I would welcome any cycle tips you have encountered (like bike friendly Albergues) and/or places where it was better to take the road. Cheers

Only too glad to help Mike, as for Albergues most of the private ones don't care if you're a cyclist or a walker, same for the hostels and pensions, if you're paying they'll take your money.
It depends on the type of bike you're using whether you take the trail, most of the trails are only suited to MTB's. We have a couple of hybrid touring bikes with front suspension so they're not bad on the trail but faster on the road. That said, we spent most of today on the trail, from Sarria to Melide, great craic!!

 

[newfydog]

A warning about attempting to cycle the path to the Monumento de Perigrino at Alto de Perdon from Zariquiegui. It's very rough. Don't attempt the descent to Uterga! Instead take the mountain road down to the the N111 and then left on a local road to Uterga.

I would not touch that on a road or hybrid bike, but it goes just fine on a mountain bike. Our first time though we were running some pretty small tires by mtb standards and it still was quite doable.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Only too glad to help Mike, as for Albergues most of the private ones don't care if you're a cyclist or a walker, same for the hostels and pensions, if you're paying they'll take your money.
It depends on the type of bike you're using whether you take the trail, most of the trails are only suited to MTB's. We have a couple of hybrid touring bikes with front suspension so they're not bad on the trail but faster on the road. That said, we spent most of today on the trail, from Sarria to Melide, great craic!!

Thanks for the double tip - I too have a hybrid - with the front suspension and nobberly tires so except where its really rough I can follow the trail. However out on the Meseta where there is a road running beside the Camino I will take the road. Be a friend to those who are walking. 60 km today - I am impressed - from the maps it appears to be a lot of up-hill/down-hill!!
I thought that Albergues charging would not really care - a Euro is a Euro!!

Newfydog - as per above - where the track is not bike friendly I will take the road. Also thanks for your earlier tip about getting more than a few kilo's into the legs when the bike is loaded. Yesterday and today went out with 2kg in each pannier - 16 km yesterday and 25 today. Rest day tomorrow and back out on Tuesday. Buen Camino.

 

[Ste66]

Thanks to everyone for the tips, at the time of writing this, we are in our hotel in Santiago, our challenge completed, we've had a ball.
We finished today with a mixture of road and trail from Melide, it was a good finish, now for a pint or three.

Buen Camino.

 

[ajloughran]

Hi Gerry,
That was some shift you put in there.

I have walked the Camino on a few occasions and know the walking route well and, owing to the excellent marking, I never used maps.

The knees are now past their "use by date" for walking and I am considering cycling from Leon. Can you please tell me which maps you used for the trip. Do you have a route itinerary that you can share?

Thanks,
Arthur Loughran
(Glasgow).

 

[Gerry Callaghan]

I had nothing bike-specific by way of maps. The Brierley guide to the Camino Frances provided all the information that I needed.
Leon is a great start, you are on to nice meseta dirt roads almost immediately. The climb to O Cebreiro is great as is the descent all the way to Sarria. There are a few spots on O Cebrerio where bikes are diverted away from the walkers route but the signposting for this is fine.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Thanks, decision made so

Thank you.
The walking pilgrims thank you.
It's difficult enough without having to worry about flying bicycles hitting you.

 

[Saint Mike II]

As advise above from just out of Las Herrerias the Camino divides. From there all the way to O'Cebreiro it's a tar sealed road. Yes it's steep in places and narrow so keep a sharp lookout for cars. Cheers Mike

 

[LVDWD]

Just back from biking the Camino Frances.

To answer the original ? How tough is it. Well even if you stick to the road its a very steep climb and you will have your work cut out. But satisfying when you get to the top. I took the road at the point Newfy Dog advises but I think it was before then foolishly ended up on the walkers trail going up to La Faba much to the amusement of the mainly German and Austrian hikers one of whom used his walking pole to good effect to help me push the bike up. I was pretty beat by the time I got to La Faba. I think the difficulty of the climb is similar to the SJPP to Roncenvalles climb the difference being is that on the latter most of the steep climbing is on the earlier section whereas O'Cebrerio is at the end.

 

[LVDWD]

In April/May 2015 I cycled from Clonmacnoise in Ireland to Finnistere.
My camino section ran from Dax, outside Bayonne, along camino Frances to Santiago de Compostello and then on to Finnistere. Hope you find these notes useful. You can find out all the non-bike stuff in a standard guidebook, the Brierley is quite good.

I'm in my 60's and was on a Koga randonneur with two panniers. If you ever want to take over the world this is the bike for the job, I had no problems whatever.

The albergues were extremely bicycle friendly, mostly having a shed or walled garden to store the bike. Only one, Cizur Menor, outside Pamplona, could not help. Albergues in villages or small towns were a bit better for bikes than those in cities.

Walkers, understandably, have priority claim on albergue beds but I was only once asked to wait until 17:00 to allow walkers in first. This was in the municipal albergue in Finnistere. This was probably a function of being a peregino in May, things may be a bit different in July and August.

I took the Via Napoleon walkers track over the Pyrenees, even though I had to push the bike almost all the way to the summit at Col de Lepoder to the all the walkers amusement! I had a lovely blast down the mountain road to Ibaneta and on to Roncesvalles.

I followed the walkers path when it was a nice dirt road but sometimes found myself using the N-routes when the path went to rough stones. The N-routes have almost totally been bypassed by A-route motorways so you have a wide margin and a traffic lane all to yourself almost all the time. The only problem is that they can be boring!

A warning about attempting to cycle the path to the Monumento de Perigrino at Alto de Perdon from Zariquiegui. It's very rough. Don't attempt the descent to Uterga! Instead take the mountain road down to the the N111 and then left on a local road to Uterga.

If it's not hot or seriously wet then the dirt roads on the Meseta from Burgos to Leon are wonderful. If it is wet the world turns into very sticky mud! Drop in to the wonderful albergue Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino, they have afternoon tea on the lawn!

The climb to La Cruz de Ferro is a wonderful mountain cycle through the clouds and the swoop down to Molinaseca is exhilarating. If you want a genuine medieval albergue experience you can't do better than the Ave Fenix in Villafranca del Bierzo. Be warned, it's not for everyone!

The next wonderful climb is to the Galician border at O Cebreiro. Another magnificent swoop down to Sarria and then it's only 100 km to Santiago de Compostello. The camino gets seriously crowded from here with people doing the minimum 100km walk that qualifies you for the compostello.

My last night on camino Frances was in O Pedrouzo. I had an early start along the walkers route and got to S de C cathedral at 09:00, I got the first compostello issued that day!

All in all a most wonderful trip, I'm dreaming of ways to get back.

Gerry

Re the drop down to Uterga from Alto Perdon. Was advised by some Spanish bikers to take the road. Said screw that and went down the track. A lot of fun got off the bike a couple of times to negotiate some steps(did not want to go over the top at that early stage saved it for later (lol), but that was only because I failed to see path around them. Managed to avoid all the walkers and had fun telling them not to worry since I was in total control!!

 

[Martin.P]

In April/May 2015 I cycled from Clonmacnoise in Ireland to Finnistere.
My camino section ran from Dax, outside Bayonne, along camino Frances to Santiago de Compostello and then on to Finnistere. Hope you find these notes useful. You can find out all the non-bike stuff in a standard guidebook, the Brierley is quite good.

I'm in my 60's and was on a Koga randonneur with two panniers. If you ever want to take over the world this is the bike for the job, I had no problems whatever.

The albergues were extremely bicycle friendly, mostly having a shed or walled garden to store the bike. Only one, Cizur Menor, outside Pamplona, could not help. Albergues in villages or small towns were a bit better for bikes than those in cities.

Walkers, understandably, have priority claim on albergue beds but I was only once asked to wait until 17:00 to allow walkers in first. This was in the municipal albergue in Finnistere. This was probably a function of being a peregino in May, things may be a bit different in July and August.

I took the Via Napoleon walkers track over the Pyrenees, even though I had to push the bike almost all the way to the summit at Col de Lepoder to the all the walkers amusement! I had a lovely blast down the mountain road to Ibaneta and on to Roncesvalles.

I followed the walkers path when it was a nice dirt road but sometimes found myself using the N-routes when the path went to rough stones. The N-routes have almost totally been bypassed by A-route motorways so you have a wide margin and a traffic lane all to yourself almost all the time. The only problem is that they can be boring!

A warning about attempting to cycle the path to the Monumento de Perigrino at Alto de Perdon from Zariquiegui. It's very rough. Don't attempt the descent to Uterga! Instead take the mountain road down to the the N111 and then left on a local road to Uterga.

If it's not hot or seriously wet then the dirt roads on the Meseta from Burgos to Leon are wonderful. If it is wet the world turns into very sticky mud! Drop in to the wonderful albergue Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino, they have afternoon tea on the lawn!

The climb to La Cruz de Ferro is a wonderful mountain cycle through the clouds and the swoop down to Molinaseca is exhilarating. If you want a genuine medieval albergue experience you can't do better than the Ave Fenix in Villafranca del Bierzo. Be warned, it's not for everyone!

The next wonderful climb is to the Galician border at O Cebreiro. Another magnificent swoop down to Sarria and then it's only 100 km to Santiago de Compostello. The camino gets seriously crowded from here with people doing the minimum 100km walk that qualifies you for the compostello.

My last night on camino Frances was in O Pedrouzo. I had an early start along the walkers route and got to S de C cathedral at 09:00, I got the first compostello issued that day!

All in all a most wonderful trip, I'm dreaming of ways to get back.

Gerry

Hi Gerry,
Couple of questions you might answer for me to ease my concerns;

• How many days did you do/could you have done from SJPP to Santiago by bike.
• How long did it take from SJPP to Roncesvalles by bike.
• What climbs should i avoid - simply for the reason that i would not enjoy them.

Thanks,
Martin
PS - i might be back with more........

 

[Gerry Callaghan]

Hi Martin,

I stated from SJPdeP on 29th April and finished very early in the morning of 12th May, so that means a total of 13 days cycling for the camino section. I did not take any day off cycling until I got to SdeC. It would be possible to shave another two days off the trip, I got distracted by a festival in San Dominico del la Calza and had a short day. I could easily have reduced Galicia to two days but at that time I was really in the 'zone' and simply did not want the camino to end!

SJPdeP to Roncesvalles took about 6 hours. I walked and pushed the bike as far as Col de Lepoeder (5 hours!) and then turned off the walkers path on to the mountain road to Ibaneta and then Roncesvalles (1 hour!).
The walkers path from Zariquiegui to Alto de Perdon (west of Pamplona) is very rough and not easily doable on a touring bike. Apart from that I don't remember any really terrible climbs.

A lot depends on the bike you have. With a road bike you are probably restricted to following the N routes but can make the entire trip in 10 easy days. With a mountain bike you can cycle the entire walkers trail and do it in, say, 15 days. On a touring bike you have the best of both worlds, you can cycle about 90% of the walkers trail and yet clock up good speed when on tarmac.

Feel free to ask anything you need to know. I see you are in Ireland too. PM me if you would like to meet for a chat.

 

[Martin.P]

Hi Martin,

I stated from SJPdeP on 29th April and finished very early in the morning of 12th May, so that means a total of 13 days cycling for the camino section. I did not take any day off cycling until I got to SdeC. It would be possible to shave another two days off the trip, I got distracted by a festival in San Dominico del la Calza and had a short day. I could easily have reduced Galicia to two days but at that time I was really in the 'zone' and simply did not want the camino to end!

SJPdeP to Roncesvalles took about 6 hours. I walked and pushed the bike as far as Col de Lepoeder (5 hours!) and then turned off the walkers path on to the mountain road to Ibaneta and then Roncesvalles (1 hour!).
The walkers path from Zariquiegui to Alto de Perdon (west of Pamplona) is very rough and not easily doable on a touring bike. Apart from that I don't remember any really terrible climbs.

A lot depends on the bike you have. With a road bike you are probably restricted to following the N routes but can make the entire trip in 10 easy days. With a mountain bike you can cycle the entire walkers trail and do it in, say, 15 days. On a touring bike you have the best of both worlds, you can cycle about 90% of the walkers trail and yet clock up good speed when on tarmac.

Feel free to ask anything you need to know. I see you are in Ireland too. PM me if you would like to meet for a chat.

Thanks for that Gerry,
Good info, we (2) are going by MTB & were hoping to get to Roncesvalles on our day of arrival in SJPP @ approx 3pm.
Yes in Ireland - Deise boy living in South Kilkenny - i might PM later if someone would only tell me how.......
M.

 

[Gerry Callaghan]

Hmmm..... It might be tricky to get to Roncesvales over the Via Napoleon that evening if you only arrive at SJPdeP at 3pm.

I'm not saying it's impossible but everything will have to work perfectly, you will have to rush and you will likely miss the evening meal in Roncesvales. On the climb to Col de Lepoeder you won't do much better than walking speed on the bike.

I'd be reluctant to try, it would be a pity to miss one of the loveliest sections of the Camino by rushing through it.
Possible options are:
* Valcarlos route is probably doable in this time scale as it's mainly on the road.
* Go part way on the day you arrive, stay in Orisson overnight and then on to Roncesvales, maybe even Pamplona, the next day. You will have to book Orisson before hand to ensure you have a bed.

 

[Martin.P]

Hmmm..... It might be tricky to get to Roncesvales over the Via Napoleon that evening if you only arrive at SJPdeP at 3pm.

I'm not saying it's impossible but everything will have to work perfectly, you will have to rush and you will likely miss the evening meal in Roncesvales. On the climb to Col de Lepoeder you won't do much better than walking speed on the bike.

I'd be reluctant to try, it would be a pity to miss one of the loveliest sections of the Camino by rushing through it.
Possible options are:
* Valcarlos route is probably doable in this time scale as it's mainly on the road.
* Go part way on the day you arrive, stay in Orisson overnight and then on to Roncesvales, maybe even Pamplona, the next day. You will have to book Orisson before hand to ensure you have a bed.

Hi Gerry,
I think I've mastered the PM - just sent you a longwinded mail.
M.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Just back from biking the Camino Frances.

To answer the original ? I took the road at the point Newfy Dog advises but I think it was before then foolishly ended up on the walkers trail going up to La Faba much to the amusement of the mainly German and Austrian hikers one of whom used his walking pole to good effect to help me push the bike up ... the difference being is that on the latter most of the steep climbing is on the earlier section whereas O'Cebrerio is at the end.

How did you miss the turn off? It is clearly sign-posted! Still you are not the first cyclist to achieve that part of the camino, and no doubt you will not be the last!.