Road bike to Santiago in June

[Don]

I plan on riding to Santiago in June, hopefully with my 25 year old son. I have fantasized for years about starting in Paris, but we might not have time. Maybe start in Le Puy or Saint Jean, or maybe even Roncevalles. I do a lot of road riding, averaging 100+ miles a week, but not sure how many Ks I can plan on each day with gear. Any insights or ideas will be very welcome?

[emccune]

some buddies and i rode the camino from sjpp - santiago july 2011 (ST. JAMES AND THE GANG). here are a couple suggestions:
1. use a generic cross (not mtn, not road). generic because parts for specialized bikes can be hard to find.
2. do not have rear-suspension (too much drag)
3. stick to the camino, even though the road can be tempting, esp when wanting to make up time.
4. be prepared for lots of hills.
5. not by choice, but by luck, we started riding in pamplona (the bikes got delayed in LAX). a blessing in disguise, because having those bikes while traveling from sjpp - roncevales would have been hell.
6. don't be in a hurry
buen camino

[athene]

We cycled the camino in August 2011 from SJPP to Santiago - 2 middle aged parents and 13 year old son. We do a fair bit of cycling but this was our first long distance trip, and certainly the first with loaded bikes. We were on touring bikes with panniers and stayed in hotels/hostels (booked in advance - not difficult) so we didn't carry camping gear, and as it was warm were able to travel pretty light. We mostly stayed on the roads, with some forays on to the camino itself - most of the mountain bikers who stayed on the camino track the whole way were 20- or 30- somethings and fitter than us (well the parents anyway!). We cycled over 13 days, with most days 65-80km and a couple of shorter days - 26km into Burgos and 40km into Leon. We didn't take a day off completely - you could do that and still complete within 2 weeks. We came across people who were doing the route in 8 or 9 days, but we didn't want to do that much each day - we wanted not to leave too early, to be able to have a civilised lunch and a bit of relaxation time at our destination. It was eminently do-able, and if you cycle 100 miles a week you should have no problem. We found the roads good for cyclists, and most drivers courteous. The trip was wonderful - I can't recommend it enough - and am happy to share our itinerary if it would help.

[Don]

I would LOVE to see your itinerary! We are actually thinking of starting in Paris. That wil be a logistical and a linguistic challenge. I do speak Spanish, but no French.

[athene]

Hi Don - I need to put this in 2 posts as it's too long in one go. The info in the next post gives you the stages we did, and the places we stayed - with comments about these. We made our bookings only a couple of weeks before we left, so didn't have huge choice in some places. Booking.com was the best website. I was keen at the peak time of the year not to find ourselves with no place to stay, but there are so many places to stay along the camino I don't think it would have been a problem, especially as you're much more flexible with bikes. I'm not sure the same will be true in France as there won't be the refugios, and often villages will only have one hotel.

We’ve also put an account of the trip on Facebook: Not A Family Holiday – The Camino By Bike

http://www.facebook.com/groups/kempcamino2011/

The facebook page gives you a bit more info about the stages themselves, and if you're a Garmin geek allows you to look at the detail.

[athene]

Part 2:
Day 0: Sunday 7th August

Flight to Biarritz 15.30

Cycle Biarritz to Bayonne (10km)

Train Bayonne 20.22 arr St Jean Pied de Port 21.40

Hotel: Villa Goxoki, Route Napoleon, 64220 Saint Jean Pied de Port,

You can do better than this – it was a bit po-faced and out of town up an uncyclably steep hill – well, with panniers anyway. Would be better to be in town and easy if you book in advance

Day 1: Monday 8th August
St Jean Pied de Port to Akerreta 53km

Hotel Akerreta, Transfiguración St., 11. 31698 Akerreta. Navarra Tel. +34 948 304 572, Joxemari 100 euros

This was lovely and in a tiny hamlet – but up hill at the end of the day. Was used in the film The Way !

Day 2: Tuesday 9th August
Akerreta to Estella/Ayegui 72km

Hotel: Camping Iratxe Cuidad de Vacaciones, Avenida Prado Iratxe, 14, Ayegui 31240 Tel +34 948 555555 vicente@campingiratxe.com 56 euros

Booked this for the swimming pool and because Estella was full – but was a cabin on a big campsite/holiday village 4km up the hill from Estella – this took 4km of climb off the following morning, but was a slog in the heat at the end of the day. Food pretty chavvy - think you can do better than this !

Day 3: Wednesday 10th August
Estella/Ayegui to Najera 67km

Hotel: Duques de Najera, Carmen 7, Najera 26300 Tel +34 941 410421 info@hotelduquesdenajera.com 90 euros

This was lovely and slap bang in the middle of the pretty town

Day 4: Thursday 11th August
Najera to St Juan de Ortega 83km

Hotel: Alojamiento Rural La Henera, C/ La Iglesia, 4 San Juan de Ortega (Junto al Monasterio), Barrios de Colina, 9199 Burgos Tel: +34 902 367 104 (speaks English) / +34 983 219 592 Owner Manuel y Marcela 70 euros

There’s nothing much in St Juan, and what there is is all about pilgrims – a church (big), a refugio and a bar, which is the only place to eat and run by the same people who run the place we stayed in. The Henara was really nice, and we had a good evening here

Day 5: Friday 12th August
St Juan to Burgos 26km

Hotel Nh Palacio De La Merced, Merced 13. Burgos 09002 Tel +34 947 479900 89 euros

Bargain through booking.com – probably our swankiest hotel and v good value at 89 euros. V good location just across the river from the cathedral

Day 6: Saturday 13th August
Burgos to Fromista 85km

Hotel: Hostal Camino de Santiago C/Francesca -26, Fromista , 34440 Tel + 34 979 810 053 caminomila@terra.es 60 euros

Fromista a bit odd – and this place basic but clean and friendly efficient landlady. Really nice place to eat (tapas) in the specialist cheese place called Venta Boffard, which has a pretty garden

Day 7: Sunday 14th August
Fromista to Calzadilla de los Hermanillos 69km

Hotel: CTR Casa El Cura, C/La Carretera 13, 24343 Calzadilla de los Hermanillos Tel +34 987 337647 lacasaelcura@yahoo.es Gemma Herreros 65 euros

This Meseta village even more odd, and this the only decent place to stay that wasn’t a refugio. Run by sane lovely lady with completely bonkers husband – they looked after us and fed us well and did a wash for 4 euros

Day 8: Monday 15th August
Calzadilla de los Hermanillos to Leon 45km

Hotel: Hotel Conde Luna, Avenida Independencia, 7, León, 24003
Tel +34 98 720 6600 reservas@hotelcondeluna.es 86 euros



Slightly impersonal but spacious 4 star place – location pretty good, and v good value for 86 euros. Another booking.com job

Day 9: Tuesday 16th August
Leon to Rabanal del Camino 75km

Hotel: La Posada de Gaspar, Calle Real 27-29 RABANAL DEL CAMINO 24722 Tel +34 987631629 laposadadegaspar@hotmail.com Agustin 68 euros

My favourite I think – I really liked both this place and the hotel

Day 10: Wednesday 17th August
Rabanal to Villafranca 60km

Hotel: Hotel San Francisco, Plaza Mayor, 6, Villafranca del Bierzo, 24500 Tel +34 987 540465 hotelsanfrancisco@hotmail.com 82 euros



Lovely town, and this was pretty basic but clean and on the main square. They were very helpful and friendly letting us hang washing in the boiler room

Day 11: Thursday 18th August
Villfranca to Sarria 83km

Hotel: As Rodas, A Valiña, 7, Sarria, 27618, Tel +34 669 799512 morondonga@gmail.com 70 euros



The big mistake ! 8km out of town up hill in the wrong direction, and after all that effort was a truck stop. Nuff said !

Day 12: Friday 19th August
Sarria to Sedor 76km

Hotel: Pazo de Sedor . Lugar Sedor, s/n – Castañeda, Sedor, 15819
Tel +34981501600 info@pazodesedor.com 104 euros



Really lovely country place with pool and beautiful big room, and good food and wine. Hadn’t got our reservation - so check.

Day 13: Saturday 20th August
Castañeda to Santiago 45km

Hotel: Hotel Hospedería San Martín Pinario, Plaza de la Immaculada, 3 15704 Santiago de Compostela Tel +34 981 560282 reservas@sanmartinpinario.eu
153 euros

A huge old monastery right next to the cathedral – amazing building, rooms small but nice. We had to have 2 rooms here, hence more money. We thought perfect for the end of the Camino – if you want really swanky (300 euros swanky) go for the Parador de los Reyes Catolicos

Day 14: Sunday 21st August

Need to sort packing bikes, getting bikes to Santiago airport,

Flight Ryanair 21.15 arr Stansted 22.20