Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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John Holiday
Posts: 528
Joined: 2 Nov 2007, 2:01pm

Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by John Holiday »

Am proposing to ride this route in September,probably from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.
In view of the difficulty of getting there ( & back) with my usual Thorn Raven,was thinking of using rail/bus links & either my Brompton or Birdy Grey.
Has anyone done it on a Folder or any thoughts on suitability?
jimpolaris
Posts: 8
Joined: 19 Jun 2015, 2:24pm

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by jimpolaris »

Hi.I have cycled the Camino Frances 3 times in the last 4 years and I can thoroughly recommend it.the easiest way to get to s j p d p is fly to Biaritz,stay in the youth hostel,ride to bayonne,not too far,then train/bus to s j p d p.
main alternative is to fly to bilbao,get bus direct from airport to san Sebastian then short train journey to bayonne then as above.
3rd alternative is bus from airport to bilbao bus station then bus to hendaye,train to bayonne and again to sjpd.
Of the 3 I prefer the biaritz option.
You will find the following publications v useful.
1 the cycling pilgrim,john curtin.
2camino frances 1 2015.
3camino de Santiago,john brierly.These 3 publications can be obtained from The Confraternity of st James,see website.
There is also Michelin road map in booklet form,you can buy this in sjpdp.
Just for the record I did a mix of roughly 65% off road 35% on on an old but good steel mtb.
If you are 21 and super fit you can do a lot more off road but at 74 common sense comes into the equation.
Finally the camino is a brilliant experience,Camino Portuguese for me this year.
don't hesitate to contact me if you need any more info.
Buen Camino,jim heyes.
jimpolaris
Posts: 8
Joined: 19 Jun 2015, 2:24pm

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by jimpolaris »

ps you can also travel from san Sebastian to bayonne on the bus but it drops you about a mile from bayonne rail station.
iviehoff
Posts: 2411
Joined: 20 Jan 2009, 4:38pm

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by iviehoff »

Why is it a problem to get back? Easyjet fly SantiagoComp-Gatwick and Ryanair SantiagoComp-Stansted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_ ... la_Airport Also Vueling fly A Coruna to Heathrow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Coru%C3%B1a_Airport if you fancy riding up north to see the nice bit of coastal Galicia north of SdC. (I don't reckon the southern rias, too heavily built up).

But SdC is on a good railway line and I know people have put bikes on some trains from there. Leave you to research where you can get to that might be useful to you.
John Holiday
Posts: 528
Joined: 2 Nov 2007, 2:01pm

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by John Holiday »

Thanks for the helpful responses.
Looking forward to my ride!
MartinBrice
Posts: 464
Joined: 13 Nov 2007, 9:57am

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by MartinBrice »

we went on the ferry to santander then rode to leon and followed the camino, more or less. to get back we used the bus: dead easy to put bikes on, wrsap it in a plastic bag made of bin liners, take off front wheel, could not have been easier. camino is good, it's worth learning a bit of spanish, the michel thomas cd system is good.
tempsperdu
Posts: 131
Joined: 9 Jan 2014, 8:31pm

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by tempsperdu »

There is always www.bike-express.co.uk although never managed to find a space for the dates I wanted to go.
Might have to book a year in advance.
The camino de santiago forum has a bike section if you haven't already tried that.
I think there are people in Santiago who box up bikes for shipping back and lots of advice on traveling to and from.

buen camino
samsbike
Posts: 1178
Joined: 13 Oct 2012, 2:05pm

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by samsbike »

My uncle is currently doing this as a walk.

Is it as interesting to ride?

I thought it was a bit about soul searching etc (I really need to read up on it and borrow the books he has) with no electronic devices allowed.
robing
Posts: 1359
Joined: 7 Sep 2014, 9:11am

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by robing »

I did some of this route when I cycled around Spain and to be honest I can't see the attraction as most of the areas between Seville, Salamanca and Burgos were largely the flat plains of Spain and pretty boring.
iviehoff
Posts: 2411
Joined: 20 Jan 2009, 4:38pm

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by iviehoff »

robing wrote:I did some of this route when I cycled around Spain and to be honest I can't see the attraction as most of the areas between Seville, Salamanca and Burgos were largely the flat plains of Spain and pretty boring.

The route sections you are referring to form part of one of the feeder routes, not the main route which is the subject of this discussion. And, yes, riding across the plains of central Spain is going to be largely flat plains. The main route is from the W Pyrenees to Burgos and then westwards from there to Santiago de Compostela. This is a route mostly in the hills, though I would say that there are sometimes (even often) nicer hills further north, for example it by-passes the Ebro gorge and the Picos de Europa to the south. Probably the route stays a little to the south of the nicest hills because it keeps out of much of the north coast weather that way.
iviehoff
Posts: 2411
Joined: 20 Jan 2009, 4:38pm

Re: Camino de Santiago/Way of St James

Post by iviehoff »

samsbike wrote:My uncle is currently doing this as a walk. Is it as interesting to ride? I thought it was a bit about soul searching etc (I really need to read up on it and borrow the books he has) with no electronic devices allowed.

You can do it like that as a pilgrimage if you want, but many people do it as a leisure route, some on horseback, and many by bicycle. The people I know who have done it by bicycle have enjoyed it. The advantage of it is that it has extended traffic-free sections and other parts on quiet lanes. But as I mentioned in the previous post, it misses quite a lot of the best scenery of northern Spain.
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