Gerald asked me to write a bit about the Via, months ago. Sorry about the delay.
I cycled the Via de la Plata and Camino Sanabres in 2013, also on a bike hired from Triana Backpackers, lovely hostel, lovely people. My first camino cycle. The bike was fine too, though I had to do some adjustments during the first few days. A mountain bike obviously!
I used the Bicimap guide La Via de la Plata by Valeria H. Mardones and Bernard Datcharry – available only in Spanish. A great guide book with very clear maps and all-important alternative route suggestions for sections where the official camino is too steep or rocky to cycle. Their maps also generally show alternatives for those who want to stay on the road. I wish they would write guide books for other caminos!
They recommend from March to June and from mid September to mid November as the best times to cycle in order to avoid the heat of summer. The problem with cycling is that you can leave a summery Sevilla and arrive in Galicia two weeks or so later to a completely different climate.
I left Sevilla on 14th April in great heat and arrived in Santiago on 28th having cycled through thunder and lightning, heavy rain and sleet on some of the last days in Galicia, wearing sox on my hands as gloves.
I cycled from 60 – 70km up to 90km or so a day.
After heavy rain the camino can turn to mud very quickly, a kind of mud that gets into gears and brakes. There are a few streams to be forded that can become rivers. Better to stick to the road then. And the N630, probably the original camino, is almost always nearby, with very little traffic since the A66 motorway takes most of it.
I also walked this route in 2010, leaving Sevilla on 12th March. I gave up near Caceres – it was very wet is my best excuse – and returned on 8th October, arriving in Santiago on 3rd November.
Some specifics:
First day out from Sevilla, after Guillena I stayed on the road via Burguillos to avoid a ford that I was told would be difficult with the bike. Almaden de la Plata is 70km from Sevilla but with a climb of 500m, maybe too much for the first day.
Monesterio to Fuente de Cantos I found difficult and confusing, overgrown in places, with separate routes marked for the Via de la Plata (granite cubes) and the Camino (arrows) at times. I think I went astray here when walking. Maybe take the road to Calera de LeĂłn, EX 103, and on to Fuente.
After Carcaboso I got stuck to the axle in mud and had to push hard. A Spanish cyclist I met had taken the road via Valdeobispo to rejoin the camino at Ventequemada.
From Aldeanueva to Baños de Montemayor and on to Fuenterroble is a continuous climb. I walked a lot of it.
At Granja de Moreruela the turn off for the Camino Sanabres from the Via de la Plata could easily be missed, by me anyway. I’m sure the Via de la Plata on to Astorga to join up with the
Camino Frances is fine but I loved the Camino Sanabres.
After Puebla de Sanabria a few steep climbs to Padornelo, A Canda and Albergueria. Also leaving Ourense. I walked a good bit.
I got a puncture somewhere before Puebla de Sanabria. I walked into the town rather than try to fix the puncture – I was never good at puncture repair – and found a helpful bicycle repair place. Since then I have always carried a puncture repair spray that i have never had to use... but I have Marathon Schwalbe tyres on my own bike.
I also hired a bike from Triana to cycle the Camino del Norte. I had great fun trying to put it together, with help from the hospitalera in Albergue Goikoerreta near Irun. The bike arrived in a cardboard box, of course, and I had never seen disc brakes before, never mind assemble a bike. But we managed it. I cycled off with the stem facing the wrong way and the gears didn’t change very smoothly but in Zumaia I got everything sorted in a bicycle shop.
Since then I have cycled twice with my own bike. It’s great having your own bike but on the other hand there is the hassle of bringing it by plane, and more importantly, getting it back home again! The other advantage is not having to decide in advance when to go home.
When I arrived in Santiago I had to leave the bike back to a shop in the centre, Rua Vilar I think, having had to wash it first in a petrol station.
I first started cycling caminos because of a foot problem and since have gradually become a bicigrino but I think nothing compares to walking for getting a feeling of the country. On a bike you don’t have the same contact with nature, always having to have an eye to the road ot track in case of potholes, stones etc soyou can’t be away with the fairies as much. Nor do you meet people as much, just once usually, apart from any cyclists who might be cycling similar daily distances. On the other hand, when cycling you arrive at your destination –usually – not worn out, still able to visit and explore wherever you end up at the end of the day. As a fellow cyclist remarked once, "you know all those albergues, they're like hospital wards". Likewise a deviation of a few kilometres to have a look at something is not a problem.
Hope that's of some use.
the packed panniers , and some days i was drinking more than 3 ltrs of water .
