Kenny Allen
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- France done planning Nord next year, 2017
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Hi GerryHi,
I'm planning to cycle the el Norte in reverse this year. (That means cycling west to east, not cycling backwards!)
The penciled in plans at the moment are:
Cycle from home in Ireland to British midlands, Sheffield looks to be the easiest option
Pick up European bike express to Bayonne
Cycle to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Camino Frances to Santiago de Compostello
Camino Finnistere and Muxia
Back via Camino del Norte to Irun
Pick up European bike express again in Bayonne
Back to the UK
Finally cycle home!
I've cycled Camino Frances and Finnistere in 2015 but del Norte is new to me.
Plymouth or Portsmouth to Santander on Brittany Ferries is an easy, if long, crossing that you might consider.
I'm having great fun planning right now and would love to hear what you have come up with!
Interesting that many inquiries come from cyclists, but I've not seen many follow-ups of their experience - and of those who have cycled, did they consider walking? or vice versa, have walkers cycled? How was the experience different? Curious in Canada
When you doing it Gerry ??Cycling vs walking?
I've not walked the camino but I cycled Frances and Finnistere in 2015. I did consider walking so you might be interested in my reasons for cycling.
I live in the Irish midlands. An archaeological dig of a monastic graveyard in a nearby town, Mullingar turned up two skeletons who had been buried with scallop shells. A reasonable assumption is that they were two monks who had made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostelo in the middle ages. Aha, I've always wanted to acquire some grave goods, this sounds like a fun thing to do!
To mark the end of fifty years of working life I wanted to do my own version of the camino. I decided it would have to be human powered, as far as possible, and start from Ireland. Walking from Ireland, down west France and across Spain would take me a minimum of 70 days and, for family reasons I could not get away for that long. So Leatherlugs the bike, named after a beloved childhood donkey, and I decided to cycle.
From home to Cork, ferry to Roscoff, across Brittany and the Vendee to La Rochelle. At that stage we decided we wanted to be in Spain so we took the train to Dax and started again on camino Frances. Then to Santiago de Compostello and Finistere. We took the bus back to Santander and the ferry back to the UK. A wonderful, magical trip that I'm still trying to understand.
My experience of cycling the camino is that it's a more solitary occupation than walking. There were very few cyclists when I was there in May. That's if you don't count the Spanish mountain bikers who zipped past me in a flash of lycra!
Leatherlugs can do three or four times the speed of the walkers so that meant meeting different people every night in the albergues.
As a result you don't get to be a part of the 'camino families' that seem to develop among the walkers.Evening conversations were always wonderful but there were many people that I'd have loved to continue the conversation with on the following day. Yet I also cherish the solitary days on the bike on the mesata which gave the prefect time to think.
I'm planning to return to cycle Frances and Del Norte this year with a friend. I've no doubt it will be different but every bit as great.
I envy the walkers their communities of the camino and will definitely walk it someday soon.
So, cycle or walk? I dunno!
What's your planned daily pedal??Nothing confirmed yet but the plans are to be in St-Jean on 19th May and to start on 20th. We need to be back in Bayonne on 17th June.
movinmaggie, I cycled the Camino Frances in 2013 with my husband. We rode from Bayonne. It was a hard ride but what wonderful experiences and memories. Check out www.cyclingsofties.blog which is a compilation of our experiences. We are hoping to ride el Norte later this year but so much rests on what happens at home first.Interesting that many inquiries come from cyclists, but I've not seen many follow-ups of their experience - and of those who have cycled, did they consider walking? or vice versa, have walkers cycled? How was the experience different? Curious in Canada
Matthew, that's what we're hoping to do later this year in September and will be using using the ferry to Santander.I cycled the norte from Santander to Santiago (Brittany Ferry from Plymouth) June 2015 then bus Santiago to Santander with packed bike in bus boot, then in August 2016 took the same ferry and packed bike by bus to iTunes. Cycled from there to At Jean Pied de Port to meet my sons who had cycled there from Devon via Geneva, Marseille, Perpignan and we all cycled back to Santander for the ferry back to Plymouth. So I've cycled the whole Norte in two parts..
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