Alternative transportation and the certificate

[janulda]

Hello everyone. Me and my family are planning our Camino for the next year´s spring. We would love to do the northern way and enjoy the sea coast, but probably will not be able to do all the way on bicycles (i guess it would take at least 40 days). We are thinking about renting a car or travel by a train for some parts of the road. To obtain a certificate - is it necessary to cycle THE LAST 200 km to Santiago? or can we do e.g. San Sebastian-Gijon on bicycles and then get to Santiago with alternative transportation? Thank you

 

[brawblether]

You must walk 100km or cycle 200km into SDC to obtain a compostella, so no, you cannot use alternative transportation on the final leg if you wish to receive a certificiate.

 

[nellpilgrim]

Hello everyone. Me and my family are planning our Camino for the next year´s spring. We would love to do the northern way and enjoy the sea coast, but probably will not be able to do all the way on bicycles (i guess it would take at least 40 days). We are thinking about renting a car or travel by a train for some parts of the road. To obtain a certificate - is it necessary to cycle THE LAST 200 km to Santiago? or can we do e.g. San Sebastian-Gijon on bicycles and then get to Santiago with alternative transportation? Thank you

Hi Janulda,
What a fantastic journey you'll have and Spring is such a beautiful time to walk/cycle. Though you won't be able to get a Compostela you will get the blessings of St James (and lets face it he is 'the big gun'-he's also a bit less picky than the authorities and throws out his blessings-like snuff at a wake -to all who ask and a few more for good measure to those that can't) and you'll have crafted those most precious of commodities-wonderful shared family memories.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Your 40 days estimate sounds strange -- even the most deliberately slowest cyclists can manage 40-50 KM/day, -- so 40 days, even with multiple rest days, would mean leaving from somewhere fairly deep inside France.

A cycling Camino in full is very unlikely to take more than 4 weeks, unless you were to deliberately make it longer. For most people, it takes 2-3 weeks. A serious professional sports cyclist can do the Camino in as little as 24 hours !!!

But yes -- what someone else said. The final 200 KM will have to be done by bike.

Would I be right in guessing that the younger ones haven't began their training yet, and might therefore be seriously underestimating their own capabilities ?

 

[piogaw]

Hello everyone. Me and my family are planning our Camino for the next year´s spring. We would love to do the northern way and enjoy the sea coast, but probably will not be able to do all the way on bicycles (i guess it would take at least 40 days). We are thinking about renting a car or travel by a train for some parts of the road. To obtain a certificate - is it necessary to cycle THE LAST 200 km to Santiago? or can we do e.g. San Sebastian-Gijon on bicycles and then get to Santiago with alternative transportation? Thank you

Hello janulda,

In order to receive a compostela, you must either:

-walk the last 100 kilometres to santiago, or

-you must cycle the last 200 kilometres to santiago.

The rules are black and white. You can not do san sebastian to gijon on a bike and take alternative transportation to santiago. Why not travel by car or train on the first part of the camino del norte and walk or bike the last stages to santiago.

If you are going to be biking, it does not take 40 days to get to santiago. Conversation with peregrinos who travelled by bikes normally takes from 50 to 80 kilometres per day on the camino.

Good luck on your planning and buen camino.