Camino Frances by Bicycle

[Cathlec]

Hi
I am planning to cycle the Camino Frances in May/June 2008, and am finding it difficult to get information about cycling this path, i.e. are there serious obstacles, how many kilometres can one expect to cycle per average day (excluding 'hill' days), what weight can I bring on the bike, are there bicycle shops along the way, in case I need some repairs, etc. Can anyone help?
Catherine from South Africa

 

[William Marques]

There is a group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Santiago_Bicicleta/ with 500 cyclists you may have found.

are there serious obstacles, how many kilometres can one expect to cycle per average day (excluding 'hill' days), what weight can I bring on the bike, are there bicycle shops along the way, in case I need some repairs, etc. Can anyone help?

1. There are three mountain passes, one on your first day if you start in SJPP and two near the end. That apart there are no particular obstacles.

2. If you are on the road between 50 & 100 km per day say 60 km av. If you are on the path between 40 & 60km say 50km av.

3. As much as you can carry but planes and common sense means that you should keep it to a minimum.

4. There are bike shops in all the towns along the way.

Buen Camino
Wiliam

 

[WolverineDG]

Please please please please please: when you are approaching a group of pilgrims on foot, do something to let them know you are behind them. Honest to God, we can't hear you until it's almost too late. Use a horn, a bell, or your voice (Hey guys! Buen Camino! or honk honk honk honk like one good-natured guy did this September) so we can get out of your way (if necessary) or not accidentally step in your way.

Kelly

 

[vinotinto]

Hi
I am planning to cycle the Camino Frances...are there serious obstacles,

Yes, they are called pilgrims on foot. ;-) As another poster said, please be careful and let them know you are coming up behind them. By all means, don't talk on your cell phone while riding - as one rider was doing when he almost hit me. And blasting down narrow hill trails like a madman/madwoman is a bit scary for the pilgrims trying to avoid you while carrying a heavy pack.

I'm not much of a bicyclist anymore, so you might look for threads based on a cyclist's Camino experiences. But I did see a number of crashes on the way (the most during the downhill Pyreenes stage - that's a tough one), along with bikers all along the way repairing flats or busted parts. So I'd be wary of those potential issues and prepare accordingly.

Finally, keep in mind that walkers have priority in the albergues - you may have to wait until 5PM or so before you can check into one. :arrow:

 

[steve]

I would add the following comments, based upon our experience of doing the Camino by bicycle in 2006:

Always check the brakes. In Galicia, one fellow pilgrim on a bike flew past us on a 15 kilometer decline when he lost his back brake. When we met him at Molinaseca he was still shaking.

We used saddlebags (panniers) on the two bikes plus a small backpack. The idea was to not get things out of the saddlebags during the day.

Our longest distance for one day was 80 kilometers. We stayed an extra day in Puente de la Reina.

We took spare inner tubes rather than attempt to repair flat tires along with way.

We took a tire pump and I checked the tire pressures each day.

Buen Camino Steve

 

[jfitzsimmons]

Hi,

I found the book
The Way of St James, le Puy to Santiago: a Cyclist's Guide
John Higginson. Cicerone Press, Milnthorpe, 2005 208 pp.
helpful.

Look at the site The Confraternity of Saint James site
http://www.csj.org.uk
and in paticular their 'bookstore'
http://www.csj.org.uk/acatalog/The_CSJ_ ... des_7.html

Jerry Fitzsimmons

 

[Deirdre]

This is sort of a "new thread" within the thread.... Cecelia commented in another post on cyclists on the Camino...and previously in this thread VinoTinto mentioned letting those Pilgrims "a pie" know when there are cyclists approaching...

Anyone who has completed the Camino can recall a wide variety of experiences, both good and bad. At the risk of sounding a bit like Pollyanna, I think I have chosen to block out the "bad" ones and hold on to the "good" ones. Or perhaps it is simply that the good far outweigh the bad.

At any rate, on my fourth day on the Camino, I got lost. The details are unimportant, let us just say that after stopping for lunch (we had already been walking about 6 hours) we set out form Lorca to complete the last 6 km to Estella. I stopped to retie my shoes and my companions got a few hundred mteres ahead of me. I could see them, so just continued following on... I did not know that they had gone wrong. We went up into the mountains and they disappeared but then I found them in the distance and followed on again...and that was the last time I saw them. The short version is that by the time I realized that I needed to go back, I had been wandering about 2 hours. It was 14h in the afternoon - the extreme heat of the day and I was low on water. I had intense blisters and was rapidly getting exhausted. I finally returned nearly to Lorca and spotted the blessed "flecha amarilla" that my companions had missed. At that point, I continued on my Way in the directon of Estella.

I had not seen another human being in about 5 hours. I was literally walking with my eye on a goal - a tree (if I can just get to there, I'll make it), a hill, a building. The sun was intense and there was not another Pilgrim in sight either in front of me or behind me. Vaguely, I heard the sound of a strange bird...and then again. I stopped in the middle of the narrow path to listen. And a voice behind me said, "Perdona". I turned around and there was an Italian cyclist whom I had caused to stop in the middle of the path. The strange "bird" was the sound of his bicycle bell trying to alert me to his presence. My face must have shown my joy at seeing him, he asked me if I were all right and I told him I had been lost and how happy I was to see him.... and I'll never forget his comment..."Well, you're very close now... it is only 6 km to Estella." Well, it felt like 600 km, but at least I had a distance, a real, do-able goal.

When I finally arrived in the albergue in Estella, I was truly, completely exhausted. I had been walking more than 12 hours and could barely put one foot in front of another. I went to my bed and while I was in the shower I heard such a ruckus out in the sleeping room! When I got out of the shower, to my extreme dismay a group of about 10 - 15 young men cyclists had arrived and were laughing, joking, and busily unpacking, repacking, showering, laundering...all the albergue stuff. I thought, "How will I ever sleep?"

As it turned out, when it came to lights out, they said not a word. They slept. And although they rose as early as I (5:30am) they were far quieter... their bags had already been repacked and so they did not need to "rustle, pack, search" and they did it all so silently as not to disturb any other Pilgrims in the room. They were up and gone within a few minutes and you barely heard a sound. I learned alot from them that morning.

And oh, by the way. While I was sitting in the bar in Estella having some food and a drink, a young man walked over to me and said hello. I replied, and he asked me how I was...that he was the cyclist whom I had met (read: blocked) on the path and he was happy to see that I had made it to Estella and was just inquiring as to how I was doing. So typical of the Camino...

So I decided early on (to try) not to judge other Pilgrims. It was a personal choice not to begrudge anyone his bed nor to question his motives. As I may have mentioned before, I never shared my own motives with any of my companions on the Camino. Although I pretended I was "out for a walk", that was certainly not the case - but I wasn't prepared to discuss it.

I found it funny and charming to have 15 cyclists fly by calling, "Hola, Buenos Días, Animo, Ultreia, Vamos, Anda, Buen Camino!" one after the other. And often I was walking alone along a road and they would always salute, call out encouragement, or just smile as they passed by. Sure, there were the rare few who weren't so pleasant, but who knows what problems they may have been having? Perhaps like in a previous post, the brakes failed? Or, I often thought as my blistered feet hurt so much....I could have been on a bici... and think about those blisters...I wouldn't be smiling either!
Buen Camino,

 

[KiwiNomad06]

So I decided early on (to try) not to judge other Pilgrims. It was a personal choice not to begrudge anyone his bed nor to question his motives. As I may have mentioned before, I never shared my own motives with any of my companions on the Camino. Although I pretended I was "out for a walk", that was certainly not the case - but I wasn't prepared to discuss it.

I must say, I tend to explain to others about my plans for 2008 as 'going on a long walk in France.' I have friends who call me a 'closet Catholic'. I am 'lapsed', and interestingly, it only tends to be other 'lapsed' Catholics who pick up the phrases that indicate a shared 'past". But in my own quiet way, I am trying to 'sort myself out' in a religious sense, a lot more than most people would realise. I am unlikely to discuss this with other Catholics, who generally find it hard to understand why I don't go back to Confession and Communion etc. I have no idea whether I will meet anyone that will I choose to discuss my religious thoughts with while I am walking - but you can be sure I will be thinking them, at least on some days of walking.
Margaret

 

[brendan nolan]

Hi Catherine,
A belated welcome to the Forum , I've only just picked up this 'thread'.
I'm not a cyclist so don't know exactly how it works for wheeled pilgrims, but here's a few thoughts from an ambulatory pilgrim.
Walking pilgrims have fairly constant community (if they wish) as they walk, some leaving, some joining according to their pace as they go along. When walking pilgrims meet cyclists in the evening it is only for one night because the cyclist moves on quickly so I don't know if lone cyclist actually meet/form relationships with other pilgrims. Maybe if you start alone you will find yourself in a group as you go along - that is if you wish that.
Re warning for walking pilgrims - please announce your coming - 1) silent bikes give a fright! 2) We can say 'Hola, buen camino!'
And now the thread follows Deidre's and Margaret's thoughts: there are phrases like 'closet/lapsed catholics',..., 'catholics who find it hard to understand.....' , ' ...not judge other pilgrims ....'
So a few thoughts on my experience, reactions and approach to pilgrimage. When on pilgrimage in 1996 I met with a Dutch pilgrim who said, ' You are all going home as heros for doing this. I'm going home to a broken marriage.' In the context of his announcement I was stunned and had no answers to his problems, so I walked with Willie for 4/5 weeks listening to what he had to say and staying with his pain; listen was all I could do.
So when I went on pilgrimage in 2005 one of the things I decided upon was that I would ' listen to pilgrims', if they wanted to tell their story then it would come out; I would never question a pilgrim on motives or enquire about their 'story'. With some pilgrims I walked 5/6 weeks from France into Spain before the time became right for them to tell their story and the appropriate response was to listen. I also found it difficult when other pilgrims asked direct questions about my motives and then switched off when I had answered their tick list, but they didn't want to know other reasons for making a pilgrimage.
Re 'lapsed' catholics, my view is that either they have been 'pushed out' or maybe, more commonally these days, they are on a journey which many 'traditional' catholics don't really understand - even in a Church which refers to itself as 'a pilgrim church'- I have my doubts! So to try to explain the 'life' journey is incomprehensible to people who feel safe and content in their religion.
I think that on the Camino one is able to sensitively discern the people/times when one can tell one's story.
Buen Camino to all,
Brendan

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Brendan,
Thanks once again for such a supportive reply.
Margaret