Biking the Via de la Plata

[jaws101]

We have recently completed the Camino Frances by bike. Although we think we may have had a better experience walking, due to our circumstances we are better riding bikes. We are now looking at riding the Via de la Plata, starting maybe middle to end of October. We live in Spain so travel logistics are easy. What we need to know is where can we get some GOOD info about the route, maps, etc. A good guidebook seems not to be available at present. If anyone has any suggestions please let us know.

Thanks

 

[sillydoll]

Mundicamino sell a 3-in-one cycle guide which includes the Via de la Plata. They have maps with gps intergration.

http://www.viaplata.eu has a lot of useful information.



Info from my book YOUR CAMINO

 

[LTfit]

If you would like a guide and read Spanish this is my suggestion:

http://www.elpaisaguilar.es/index.php?s=libro&id=512

I didn't end up buying it as I found it too heavy for walking but would definately take it if were on a bike!

Last July there were more biking the Via de la Plata than walking...I was one of the VERY few along the route from Sevilla to Montamarta.

Have fun planning!

 

[Davroos]

Hi

I rode this route in April via Ourense. I took a German guide book, but I do not speak German. I did this as it was the best one around. It did have maps and profiles, the profiles were more important to me. I also used mundicamino's website and used the profiles from there as well. As for the German book, at the start of each walking chapter, it does mention where the albergues, hotels etc are.

How far do you plan on riding each day? How many days are you looking at. I used godesalco website and planned my itinerary through this. It gave me another idea as to where I should ride to and then stay. I would then look at mundicamino and see if they had a place to lock up the bikes. To me, this is one of the most important aspects of the trip.

As an indication, I gave myself 12 days to do this trip, but I also planned a couple of extra days in case of problems, which we did have. My girlfriends rack broke a couple of times. Luckily there were 3 of us so we were always able to get to another village/town. Finding places to fix your bike is also a problem but there was always somebody who would help us or point us to a welder, mechanic, etc. For a country that has produced many world class cyclists, bike shops are few and far between. This is a secluded route so make sure you have your bike serviced before you go. I did this for mine and my girlfriend's bikes, but by the end of 1000Ks, I had lost my gears and both her and my friends bike were running out of brakes !!! In the end, it took us 13 days.

I am not trying to put you off, trust me, the 3 of us said we would ride this route again !!!

One last question, are you going to follow the road or the track? We followed the track and it is very well marked, the only problems we had were going through a national park after the Roman dam out of Merida, leaving Salamanca and Zamora as the markings were quite crappy. The 3 of us did have bike GPS units and if you want, I can email you this file

If you would like to see the ride, you can view the GPS here - http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1543185

I am still in the process of writing my blog, but once done, I will post the links to the stories and photos

If you need anymore, just ask !!!

Thanks

David

 

[jaws101]

Thanks for your info.

We hope to ride the route towards the end of October. As we live in Spain we can spend as long as necessary on the trip, but our days will be determined by where the accommodation is. We have just ridden the Camino Frances over 13 days, but some of those days we cut short because of the rain and mud and the cold temperatures. We would like to ride the actual camino, but again it will depend on the conditions. We cycled more of the roads on the Frances than we would have liked, again because of mud.

Will look forward to reading your blog.

Thanks again for your response.

 

[Davroos]

We rode this just before Easter. It was warm for the first four days, then the cold came. We ran into a little rain, hail, sleet and snow !!!

We followed the track the whole way and realistically, other than on our first day where there was some riding over rocks, the track was like riding on bridleways. This did change once we got into Galicia, the track became more technical and we did push a lot. I am a very proficient mountain bike rider, but some of this was beyond me, maybe without luggage, but......................

Having walked the Portuguese, walked and ridden the Primitivo, this route was very different. There were no chapels/churches like on those routes. Yes, there were churches, but this route is not religious, but if you like Roman ruins, you will never get sick of seeing them !!!

I loved this ride, the seclusion was great and I ride this one again