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Search 69,459 Camino Questions

Any advice would be appreciated

Peter Ray

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Camino 2017
It might be a long way off,but I am doing some planning now whilst I have some time. I have been debating on which route to cycle ( Leon to Santiago ) or Portuguese Coastal from Porto ( Sept. 2017 ). I know that the French way has some serious hills which is deterring me somewhat and I don't know a great deal of what the Portuguese Coastal way presents when you are off the boardwalks. Bush paths might not be great for cycling and busy roads can be scary. I also spotted a post in which an individual said the ocean wind on the coast is very strong and in one's face. Hence, I am in a quandary. I am in reasonable shape for 60, but I want this experience to be enjoyable as opposed to being arduous. I have been given some feedback from an earlier post about this but I was wondering if anyone has cycled the above and could give me a few ideas, advice, or pointers.
Thank-you.
 
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I would choose Leon to Santiago although I walked both and did not cycle. There are many cobblestone roads on the Portuguese route and many areas where there wasn't much shoulder to walk on and it felt somewhat dangerous.

Of course it may be different cycling and YMMV. Buen Camino either way.
 
Transport luggage-passengers.
From airports to SJPP
Luggage from SJPP to Roncevalles
I would choose Leon to Santiago although I walked both and did not cycle. There are many cobblestone roads on the Portuguese route and many areas where there wasn't much shoulder to walk on and it felt somewhat dangerous.

Of course it may be different cycling and YMMV. Buen Camino either way.

Thank-you...
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
I can only comment on the Frances route.

Leon to SdC is not too tough a cycle. The toughest day of that section for us was the ascent up to O'Cebreiro, largely because we missed (no idea how) the sign for the cycle route so ended up on the rocky walking path. Needless to say we pushed our bikes up it!

It's not too far though and once you reach O'Cebreiro the remainder is pretty much plain-sailing - though challenging enough to make it seem like an achievement. There are some quite steep road descents which enable you to knock off a few miles effortlessly so long as you have the nerve!! My brakes got pretty hot!!

We had no problems getting a bed for the night as cyclists though we always checked beforehand that the albergue was bike-friendly and had somewhere secure for us to lock our bikes.

Pack light, give walkers plenty of warning of your presence (saves people assuming ALL cyclists are inconsiderate) and you'll have a great time.
 
Thank-you Osborne, it was kind of you to take the time to get back to me. I think I might take your advice and do the French way. My wife and I will probably use 2 star hotels and rent bikes in Leon.....any advice on that ? We live in Western Canada so transporting our bikes would be quite expensive. Also, busy roads would not be our preference as once bitten twice shy....we were both hit by a vehicle at a crosswalk in October ( he claims he never saw us ) we were hurt, but lucky not to have been killed. We were pedestrians.
Thanks again.
 
I am in reasonable shape for 60, but I want this experience to be enjoyable as opposed to being arduous.
Several hundred kilometers on a bicycle, but you want to avoid arduous? :) I am doing that now at my computer, no bicycle required.

I hope it is BOTH (but not too arduous). ;)
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
No worries Peter.

We used BikeIberia for bike rental. They will drop off and pick up bikes from your start and finish accommodation. We're 'only' in UK but still didn't want to put our bikes on the plane. Also, in places, it is quite rough and I was glad of the Giant bikes supplied which were more fit-for-purpose than our own.

BikeIberia set your bikes up as you like. We chose not to have panniers, instead bungeeing a dry bag onto the back rack - and asked them to leave pedals off so we could take our own. They also provide a handlebar bag, spare tubes, repair kit and drinks bottles (the latter to keep). You just need to find a cardboard box at the end in Santiago to pack all the loose bits in to. Easy to find outside shops when they put their rubbish out.

We largely kept to the main trail but there were places where it ran parallel to the road and so, of course, we took to the road then. Spanish roads often have a wide road 'shoulder' which kept us relatively safe, and others were small country roads (part of the walking route) - super experience! The year before our ride, we were both taken out and injured by the same taxi in Cambridge when on our bikes so were keen to avoid too much heavy traffic!!

Out of interest - how long do you have as you may be able to start further back than Leon?

Happy to offer any advice if you have specific questions... and don't forget to look on the Biking the Camino section of the forum. There is lots of advice there too.

You'll love it. We did!
 
No worries Peter.

We used BikeIberia for bike rental. They will drop off and pick up bikes from your start and finish accommodation. We're 'only' in UK but still didn't want to put our bikes on the plane. Also, in places, it is quite rough and I was glad of the Giant bikes supplied which were more fit-for-purpose than our own.

BikeIberia set your bikes up as you like. We chose not to have panniers, instead bungeeing a dry bag onto the back rack - and asked them to leave pedals off so we could take our own. They also provide a handlebar bag, spare tubes, repair kit and drinks bottles (the latter to keep). You just need to find a cardboard box at the end in Santiago to pack all the loose bits in to. Easy to find outside shops when they put their rubbish out.

We largely kept to the main trail but there were places where it ran parallel to the road and so, of course, we took to the road then. Spanish roads often have a wide road 'shoulder' which kept us relatively safe, and others were small country roads (part of the walking route) - super experience! The year before our ride, we were both taken out and injured by the same taxi in Cambridge when on our bikes so were keen to avoid too much heavy traffic!!

Out of interest - how long do you have as you may be able to start further back than Leon?

Happy to offer any advice if you have specific questions... and don't forget to look on the Biking the Camino section of the forum. There is lots of advice there too.

You'll love it. We did!

Thanks again for the information. We will use Bikeiberia. I will need to ship luggage ahead from Leon as we plan to tour Spain after. With respect to time,we have about 8 days for the Camino portion of our trip. I did not realize that there is a biking section to the forum, I will check it out.
 

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