Camino de Santiago: a Guide for Cyclists
when you’re thinking about cycling the Camino you’re going to be in the footstep in a 1,000 years old Route so whether you’re doing the French way Portuguese way any of the roots the whole point is to get there right you will have great time on either of these you’re really taking part into a deep history one Camino guys once you get onto the Camino you will hear that all the time just people wish each other good [Music] journey welcome everyone I’ve started for the Camino in 2006 actually St there I’m like closer to 20 years and we specialized on the way of San James the Cino the Santiago which I hope you guys have heard about it and if you haven’t the C Sano is must know I’ll go through a bit of History just to give you a bit of background my adventure were started more on a rugby pitch but As I Grew Older I went to the mountains the hills that’s more my environment the walking and the cycling so I would have cycled for example frenchway I’ve cycled the East Coastal Way which will talk about cycle as well the Via Fran in Italy so I’ve got a good understanding of the cycling what we’ll talk about is what is the Camino a bit of History I like to do that to uh bring you on a historical Journey rather than just a package of the Shelf we’ll mention some of the most popular cycling routes and give you some recommendations what to expect as well on cycling the Camino some logistic and what to buy then we’ll start with a small video to give you the flavor of the landscape you will [Music] encounter every road has a traveler every Journey has a [Music] beginning a middle an end [Music] and every Adventure offers Revelation join the discovery One path one row one Cino infinite experiences Buen Camino when Camino guys once you get onto the Camino you will hear that all the time just people wish each other good journey and this video that you just saw there was some symbol you see you saw somebody dropping a stone onto a big lump of stones with a pole in the middle that for example is one of the iconic places along the C called CR F or the Iron Cross where people drop a stone and the symbolic of this for examp is to leave a worry behind so you carry it with you during the journey and as you reach cruso which is the highest point before reaching Sano you drop it there and you leave it behind so there are a few things like thiso I will talk a bit about history the Camino de Santiago Camino means the way and Santiago in Spanish son St Thiago James is the way of s James literally translated to English s James was one of the 12 apostles and he was asked by Jesus to preach religion and son James went as far as Northwest of Spain and Gala he wasn’t very successful at but when he came back to Israel he was beheaded that’s the picture on the top left by King herodes and you can see the picture in the middle here put the remains of St James his followers put there and the stone boat sailed out in the Mediterranean Sea and here it’s picture reaching back to the northwest of Spain and Galicia so it’s a return to Strong point of heart the pilgrimage of Santiago or Way of St James is not a linear thing some people say oh I want to do the real Camino and there is no definition to the real Camino the way of s people in medieval time would leave their home and obviously travel all the way down to Santiago so depending on where they were living the journey was slightly different although you see that it put next in a few places but the most famous of the Camino is the frenchway you may have heard of and here you can see a picture of on the bottom right of the Codex calexis which was the first guide book ever written that described the route that the priest followed to good sanago the priest is pictured at the top the gentleman on the horse and so it’s called the French way although 90% of it is in Spain simply because it was written by a French Mo but son James and if you’re doing this trip you’re also taking part in history s James is also called el mat Mo MATA in Spanish means death so the killer of moros the more were the Muslims it is pictures like the S picture as well as the require of the peninsula of Spain you have to understand that when his remains were found in 820 ad the mo the Muslim had control over the south of Europe and even France up to the middle of France really so the remain remains of San were found around 820 and you can see that the green area is being pushed back south why because the church basically gave a plenary Indulgence to all those Believers and Christians who would pay the pilgrimage to Santiago which is that little top left cor dot so Christian would go there obviously the Lords and they would fight the mes until they left the peninsula that they conquist a big part of Spanish history so when you’re thinking about cycling the Camino walking on cycling you’re going to be in the footstep in a 1,000 years old route or network of food so you’re really taking part into a deep history I would say the world why I would say that it’s because at the time the Americas were discovered in 1492 so you know that was the farthest Westerly point on Earth to the people of Europe you know it’s very important anyway just to give you some figures the cabino Santiago is more popular than ever most people walk the cabino right so that’s just a fact and and the cycling is much smaller however it is very easily cyc there are nine rout represented on this map there are the nine routs we operate however there are other minor rootes from Madrid Santiago Etc but we don’t operate this each route let’s say the French way for example the yellow route represent 800 kilometers of Journey already so it’s not a one week each section are the little numbers that you can see are working sections actually so to do sighting you have to take two of these sections represent more or less five or seven days trip the way we operate this trip will start in a big enough City to have connection to an international airport and same for the end therefore our trips are not necessarily Eight Days Seven Nights because if after eight days you are in the middle of nowhere PR you to work one extra day one few day and being in a big city which brings you to internation the Camino is a linear Journey okay it’s not to the France it’s not circular where you are Center base and you go for a cycle here or there or neither it is a cycle where you have different option each day in the sense that an easy and harder here you’re going in a linear fashion and there is a most direct way and there is the less direct way and that’s up to you okay but one thing I hope you guys are cyclist or ride the bike regularly and these are just a few tips we like to tell to our clients cycling Bec cabino is if you cycled five or more hours I don’t know if you guys have brought some of your friends on a long cycle you can see they can get grumpy if their bom start to get S after a few hours Etc cycling for five six seven days or more in a row is not for everyone it’s also important that you have a clue about a bike and at least be able to repair pcture never mind other thing okay because we have some service that help you with that also cycling is good for people who may have joint issues the cyle get me done and we’ll see at the end some technal thing with an ebike for example that makes it a lot easier for people and if you’re happy with mountain bike the Camino is not a road racer bike trip and the same thing cycling is not if you’re just trying to cover more ground if you’ve never cycle never gone on a weekend cycle or anything like that say look I want to see more so cycle don’t do it go out this weekend and cycle for three four hours and see how you get on don’t like it you’re like going to enjoy a full week of cycling all right so it is a bit less sociable because obviously it’s hard to be bunched up and if you have some people don’t have a clue about cying I like to do this one guys because some people have the wrong impression but cycling it’s important to have the right approach to cycling the cabino now once you’re cycling the cabino it is brilliant you know I’ll show you some pictures it is quite Scenic obviously depends on the road but as you are going a linear fashion it is relatively flat but over 100 kilometers 200 kilometers you will always have couple of HS Mountain Revenge to cross so it’s just something to be aware of we say cycle at your own pace when we organize a cycle on the Camino we go for 50 kilom to 65 kilm per day so again you’re on a mountain bike you also on the holiday so hopefully you want to stop in small villages and have a coffee have a beer a glass of wine whatever have lunch as opposed to your weekly or bi-weekly ride where you go for 5 hours non-stop you’ve got your stack in your jacket behind so I wouldn’t advise to do that although you can do it but it’s more relaxed environment cultural immersion obviously uh let’s say that you’re doing two weeks and you’re doing the full French W for example you will cross the bus country and Poma fam bu races the rioa famous for their wine their red wine in particular then they going to be Gast famous for their meat and then Galia famous Water Seafood and their Green Landscape you can see on the top right it’s the cathal built by G Etc they really have a lot to see the cycling RS the one we we organize most and the easier and the best one would be the Portuguese Coastal Way which is the purple two sections here on this map so that’s represent around 210 kilomet and that can be done in a week and the French way so we have it same thing 200 230 kilomet and can be done in a week so Portuguese Coastal Way and the French with the last section in one week if you have more a week and then we can get you started at the start of the frenal anywhere and when you think about doing a trip the real question is how long do I have to commit for my trip and how many rest days do I want and from that point we’re going to get you to start farther away from Santiago just to give you an idea about cycling the Camino versus walking it a lot of people ask oh well am I on the road or not so these are the maps of the guide book we provide with a SP of package show you the walking trail is in red and the road is in blue in my mind it all depends on the level and the mindset of people I’ll explain myself where I cycled it with my friend you know we started and my friend M and we started and you know you cycle on the trail because you a b of the adventure that is what we enjoyed so was fine we stuck to the walking trail but then you know after four or five hours you’re a bit tired you want to get to your hotel in the evening and you can see a sign you know the Town you’re getting to for that evening saying 8 kilometers and you know you see the walking tra veing right and you see the road Straight Ahead like these kind of last 10 kilomet sometimes we just stick to the town I can straight to Our Town Hotel have shower and then sometime be Etc so I want you to understand that there’s no right or wrong there is nothing forbid you do what you want all right it depends on how hand you out with the bik how do you feel that day you know if it is a quiet rainy day you know maybe sticking to the road is not so bad because if you’re you know it’s one thing to be on a trail uphill is difficult physically downhill is difficult for safety know the sleep is quickly happens so anyway just wanted to show you that to see the difference one thing to be aware of as well is that the tray is never too far from the road you’re never more than a kilometer from the RO no the matters so it’s safe you know there is easy access to get you Etc so it’s really good one of the reason people do the cab Joo maybe for religious reason or not but anyway at the end Once you walk 200 kilm or cyle 200 kilomet into Santiago then you’ll prove that by stamping your pilgrim passport which we will provide each of these St oh yeah the mon I remember before Etc you know it’s pretty cool you will get your picate in Santiago this is the French route which is 7 150 kilm from BR to Santiago if you have two weeks or a bit over two weeks it’s an amazing adventure you’re starting in the Pyrenees so a bit of mountain landscape then you’re going into pla then you into flat area when things are fatter we increase the number of kilometers if we can and then we finish off in Santiago so there’s no difficulty on this train except the mountain area in RS and surrounding and oo so here you see 28 because you got a th met scent for example it’s not easy you may have to push your bik Etc this is Point Arena the bridge of the queen in Arena this is to show you a bit of the trend so this is the walking train which is used by cyclist depending on your level of Fitness again the time of the day you might get off your bike and push it please know that we will carry your luggage so these guys are carrying their own uh packets in the Pion but we provide the luggage transfer so you might have a backpack your cam bag and a snack at range jacket but you will be lighter than these guys this also to give you an idea of the landscape the Camino is going as straight as possible you can see the trail here the white line so it’s following the farm line and trails and as well it shows you that you know it might be flat except when you arrive to the town where you might have to go up you know 100 P so so you Reser have these things as well if you’re thinking about having something flat do not do it it’s not the Netherland you will have to go up here sometimes just beware you can see here trade through the town and then Ving left and over that hill and the same way you’re going up you’re also going down there’s marking so you can see these guys are cycling nice and easy and you can see the blue post there before the next corner and to the left you look at the middle left of picture there’s a sign so it’s very easy to follow and the countryside so when you’re cycling let’s say that we’re cycling 56 kilm I would count four hours to do that or on the bike obviously it’s not a race it’s D truck so you don’t go as fast as on the road and you’re taking your time maybe you w stop to the toilet and there is a little cafe to the left there so you might stop there some nice trucks some nice coverage as well Vineyards it’s cool so this is to show you as well that depending if there is one of you two of you two of you you might have a chat there’s five or six of you it won’t be like your side your satday Cy group it’s likely like you’ll be bigger you know you have to be careful when they workers as well so you can see that you’re sharing the Camino with workers you have to be careful as well obviously you’re all going in the same direction so they won’t see you coming they might hear you be careful they might have their airpods and they might not hear you so you just have to be careful but other than that it’s nice and shield and these are some of the places you stop along the way so this is after it’s a free wine there is wine and water okay it’s a a Boda it’s it’s a winery which is behind that actually and they’re offering free wine at to there it’s pretty cool this true the marking as well there is regular markings on land poost on curbs on Bridges it’s it’s hard to get lost however if you’re cycling you may drift away from the easy part so these are just the type of things you need to be careful you do not have a double marking cyclist go right worker go left it’s not like this the cabino not saying that it’s made for workers but it is what it is and cyclist come along or horse riders come along and it’s their responsibility to adapt their joury obviously we give you a guide book with the cycling truck and we give you a mobile app as well with a GPX truck with all of that and with your own experience you have to make the most out of it to your level of comfort for that day and sometimes you’re on road like this so this is the L mountains over there can see it’s flat for there but you know in in 20 30 kilometers we have to go over that and that’s oboro the main Square in Santiago where you will get there so whether you’re doing the French way Portuguese way any of the roots the whole points you get there right some other signage sometimes you got a Milestones like this as well it really depends on where you are the regions these are sometimes financed by local authorities the yellow arrows the Cino Portuguese coastal route is also brilliant what is nice about it is that in a week you can see PTO is a lovely city in Portugal and sanago it’s along the coast it’s really really nice it’s not as busy for PS as the French way so that’s one that I love okay that’s me and here are the kilometers the kilometers be strictly 60 kilom because what you have to be aware is that maybe there is no accommodation at kilometer 60 so either we can do 45 or 65 or 70 it depends obviously for each stage usually we break the stage into something which is easily doable and and that makes sense depending on the terrain so for example as you get to bigger cities the normal Camino walking path and second path merge you can see that here the walking path in the middle V slightly right and back in you could as well for the road if you’re walking it doesn’t matter but this is the type of thing you experience and sometimes you’re cycling on this Trail there is a robot next to that trail again do you want to cycle on the door truck on the road up to you this the Portuguese way we in AR and this PTO Santiago again the Portuguese Coastal way as I was saying is along the coast for two F of the route so this type of place you will stop by this biona lovely spot your is right behind it I love it you know if you’re going there in the right time the right season you got nice weather BR you go for a swim go back to your hotel and next day off you go the next step sometimes on the Portuguese Coastal way you’ve got a cycling truck 50% of the time so it’s quite handy as well and obviously along the coast the second path is beside main road but it’s safer to install the second part these are just a brief presentation of the two routs that we have obviously the French way is Inland you will not see the sea the Portuguese Coastal way you’ll be along the sea for T all the time usually what I like people what I would ask you before you start is is there anything that attracts you to any of the two trips or any other trips by the way because the Portuguese Custer way is easier than the French way right it’s also shorter but they’re similar the commitment you still have to cycle you’re still out you may have a puncture Etc so there’s still these type of things but it’s good when you think about how to choose something if you might want to take the Box have been to Portugal maybe the Portuguese C is better for you okay if it’s not as important you want to do the French way which is the most traditional and the most famous Cameo then the frenchway is much better for you try to use things like this to have a hook that attracts you more you will have great time on either of these there are stops to have coffees and braks and toilet along both of these roads it depends if you can have something that attracts you more it’s better make friends for life along the Camino depending if you’re cycling with friends already on the way or you will meet people and on the Camino after a couple of days you will recognize these guys with these type of bikes and you might step around the same places you might have lunch together or whatever like these things happen now there is less so of this friendship in cycling just because the logistic of a Cycling group is different Walkers you see each other you overtake each other several times a day because a coffee break is 15 minutes so somebody that over took you 10 minutes half an hour ago you might over take them in an hour cycling the fitness gaps are more proeminent therefore if you’re fast you might be faster the r way and you might stop less for breaks so there’s less of that but you still need people in be play eat local food as well so Gala is Greatful Seafood Portugal as well depends where you are whatever guys it’s Rich you know we’re talking about two countries here there countries that are strongly cured meats and cheeses and stuff like this here at the top left you have a cola CA which is the hot chocolate M bide slack the massive p p p for those who are more veggie there is more and more veggie option along the Cino you’ve got the classic Tor deata top right you’ve got Pon which are a little chilies which are not spicy bottom left is sanago which is an almond baked cake and then you have risoto and ourselves we part of our walking guided tools we have one evening vegetarian food watering to raise awareness eing vegetarian we have also recorded five recipes for chefs along Camino if you’re in Spain guys it’s not uncommon to salad when you think it’s Lees and tomatoes and and onions or something like this and the corn and they comes with a tuna at the top tuna for them may not be meat so we are trying to raise awareness by giving them idea of recipes so very important in terms of accommodations we organize two and three star accommodations with private bathroom all the way on the cycling tour the accommodation is different from the walking because we try to have a garage or for the bikes these are some FS the one top right here is the bab biona the one that I was talking to you on the Portuguese Coastal Way gear as default this is the type of bike we provide you with a mountain B that’s typically what it is aluminum frame it’s good quality bike it’s still very decent I’ll show you how they are delivered so we also have ebikes very high quality B HED bikes that are made in Spain actually so it is important for us we’re also a b cor so we’re trying to do sustainable tourism local it’s very important to us and we now have as well a gravel as well some people like these which are a bit more versatile and that’s that’s cool all of these bike will ask you for your size small medium large and you know they in a size bracket 155 cm to 165 165 to 180 Etc the bikes we bring to you they are delivered in CLE box okay the bikes come from Santiago and they arrive at your destination the day before you’re there usually it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get started because on flatback you see the second picture you need to put the handlebar perpendicular and we give you the tools there is a small tool kit with a really three or four spanners only the what you need and the repair kit as well you have a repair kit in all of the tubes have the gel so they self-repaired tubes why it’s not magical and you may still puncture at some stage you know but it’s reduces greatly the chance that this happen so you straighten your handlebar adjust the saddle and put the pedals as well transporting bikes with the pedals on is nightmare for ebikes it’s also important to be gentle with the equipment that you don’t break electric pins but dark cool piece of equipment you have to deliver with a pae a lock a repair kit and a tool kit as well just a small tool kit for basic stuff some options we get asked as well these are upgraded P if you want waterproof but the ones we provide are non waterproof and they’re fine would be upgrade pedals unless you want to bring your own if you want to bring your own let the agent at 57 hours know so that we don’t bring you pedals otherwise we will give you pedals by default it be harsh if we w’t but you’ll have to leave them by don’t them in your first hotel and the Gel saddle same thing if you won’t bring your own saddle so you have to fix it but you will have to do that yourself for those who are less confident we can bring the bike as well to bike assembly shop and for an extract we can assemble the bike for you that’s only in bigger cities okay so on most of the pages we have it’s no poer for the Camino what we do is that we organize the comination the bike backet the customer service to work note and Roads mobile app and GP exract to make it easy what we want is you guys to have great time I want you to be out there cycling you know where you’re going on the app there is the location of your next accommodation there’s a truck you a little triangle if the triangle is on the truck if you’re on the truck maybe you went to the shop or some this go back to the truck and same when you get to the accommodation just say bring me there it will bring you there it’s very handy we also give you some training program which basically tells you to go out again I would hope that you guys cycle regularly and if you’re not get started go cycling a couple of times a week and try to do the three four hours cycle the weekend and then two days in a row okay you will see you need to break in the the bike bone right and here I haven’t put the Lyra stuff if your Lyra style bring your Lyra Etc but it’s all the question of layers obviously depending on the time of the year you’re traveling you made it more or less really depends if it rains Etc just know that you’ll be out four five hours if it’s lovely brilliant if it’s a bit wet stuff you need players to keep nice and safe so we book your accommodation two star luggage transfer from place to place Hol pack with your P pass your luggage T and the support if there’s something there we also have a special bike Insurance punctures you have to deal with them yourself however chain breaks somewhere if there’s mechanical problem during our part company obvious depending on what the issue is we get taxi bring it to the closest repair shop and fix it and that’s at no cost okay we work with over a th000 AC ations so what I’ve spoken to you is General we can do lower budget we can do higher budget we can do longer trips shorter trips it really depends what you have in mind but start from somewhere say I want to go for a week I want to go for two weeks I want something challenging do not say oh what are all differences there are too many we would provide Great Value great accommodation so that you can just go there and concentrate on enjoying yourself one thing as well I didn’t mention I travel cycle with my wife and we had one person I had the mountain bike nor one regular one and share the electric bik sometimes if some of your friends are not strong cyclist you can mix and level things up and you can enjoy them as well you know lack minded try to get bring people on these routes and less bus places so do the Camino by cycling working whatever you want and looking forward to seeing you on the trail [Music]
Camino de Santiago hardly needs any introduction—if it were even possible to introduce one of the most iconic trail networks in Europe.
đź”— Check self-guided options for cycling the Camino: https://bit.ly/3xcQrax đź”—
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Drawing thousands of pilgrims and adventure enthusiasts every year, it’s a walk steeped in history, surrounded by stunning landscapes, and adorned by medieval towns. Or is it?
Many would argue that Camino de Santiago is best experienced on two wheels. Needless to say, even thinking about completing this route is an undertaking in its own right.