Getting bike to Le Puy

We are also planning to bike from Le Puy to Santiago this coming Spring, so any tips would be appreciated.

funkytwig said:

Was wondering what the best way was to get ourselves and out bikes to La Puy. Have looked at European Bike Express but it is a little expensive. Flying seems a much cheaper option, what is the best airport to fly to and how do we get from airport to Le Puy?

Regards,
Ben

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I don't know about leaving airports in Britain with a bicycle, but here is a site http://www.velo.sncf.com/img/carte_des_trains_de_jour.pdf showing what TGV/Corail routes you can take a bike on with you. For some of these you need to collapse your bike down, but on some Corail cars they have special bike compartments where you can leave your bike "as is". You look on the timetable for a bicycle symbol for these.

if you then arrive say in Lyon, things get easier, as many of the regional trains from there to Le Puy allow bicycles. The timetable for summer is here: http://www.ter-sncf.com/Images/I22i_tcm18-20953.pdf If there is a bicycle symbol at the bottom of the column, it is possible to take a bicycle on that train, as there is a special compartment. It always says that the space is limited... but personally I never found the bicycle section full when I used the regional trains in France... though a few times I did have quite a few other cyclists for company.

Many thanks for the information. We will use the references you have listed. Steve

Not being a cyclist myself, I haven't paid any attention to this forum section previously. However, now I have friends who are expressing interest in biking the Camino. What is the prevailing strategy coming from the US: bring the bike over or rent/buy one in Europe?

In 2007, the first time we did The Camino, we rode bikes from SJPP. At that time, KLM had an offer that one bike could go free in the place of one suitcase. Note that this was before airlines started adding on so many extra fees for luggage.

For rain transportation in France, use the web sites previously noted to find the trains that have space for bikes. These are generally the regional trains.

in 2007, upon arrival in Santiago, I purchased the departure bus tickets several days in advance of the actual date. I had the Alsa representative note on the tickets that we would have two bikes.

in 2009, after much thought, we decided to begin our second Camino by foot from Le Puy. We got as far as Cahors and hope to start this year from Cahors.