Derek Sullivan
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances 2017
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I myself will be attempting cycling the Camino Frances starting in Pamplona in May.I cycled from SJPP to Santiago last September, but used the roads rather than the walkers trails. It took me 15 days using a touring bike.
Where you are not on the main trail you will not have the benefit of following the yellow arrows and will need a map(s) that give a slightly wider geographic context than the walking guides.
The CSJ in London have a cycling guide pamphlet which I used, and I also found the Michelin Camino guide useful.
There is a very good and free map system available for download at maps.me. This was very good when I took some detours to places such as the monasteries at Yuso and Luso.
It also helped me to bypass Pamplona by headling south from Erro to join the Camino Aragones and then get to the Templar church at Euanate.
if I were to do it again I would allow more time and flexibility. Cycling is more solitary than walking and I would want more nights in Albergues to meet others and share their pilgrimages.
Don't plan too precisely, allow time to "smell the roses", and enjoy the experience.
Buen Camino
Thanks for InfoI haven't cycled it. Although there is a serious climb and descent, I think the bad reputation of the SJPP - Roncesvalles section is due mainly to the length for walkers, and the fact that it is often the first day before they have jettisoned their excess baggage and gotten their feet hardened.
There are difficult pieces all along the Camino Frances - often only for short sections, but places where a cyclist should consider taking the road instead. The hard parts are narrow paths without room for cyclists to safely pass walkers, very muddy sections where the wheels/boots get clogged, or loose rock on steep downhills. Cyclists need to remember that the walkers are struggling with wobbly knees too, and can't nimbly leap out of the way for an out-of-control cyclist.
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