Camino de Santiago

[Alan M]

It is almost time to begin my camino. (900 km on footpaths across Northern Spain) I will cycle from a hopefully sunny Croydon on Friday to catch the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbayo. From Bilbayo I ride to San Sebastian and stay overnight with a friend and the next day, which will be Monday, I head out by train to St-Jean-Pied-a-Port to begin the Camino over the Pyrenees from France.

I aim for a mainly off-road camino, spiritual in the sense of achievement and opportunities to meet others but not a religious pilgrimage. Hopefully a linguistic and cycling challenge as well.

I will probably use this space to post a few observations along the way so please add your own comments or insights if it pleases you to do so. In total I will be away for nearly 3 weeks.

best wishes

Alan

[Sylv]

Right that's it I'm coming too!!

[Andrew G]

Have a great trip, look forward to reading about the exploits of ACC's very own Michael Palin.

Is it a fully loaded pannier trip or do you send stuff on ahead and try and catch it up?

[Alan M]

Saints be praised -

I travel light with 2 pairs of everything and some washing travel clothes wash - I am afraid my support vehicle and provisions dums failed to materialise

[Brian Nolan]

hope you have a great trip Alan - looking forward to your progress reports if you can mange them..
all the best,

ps - On the club run , that tall guy in the Saunier Duval jersey ( who done a lot of work ) is Rob . Not sure of the surname as we have a couple of Robs i think but he is very quick..

cheers,

[Mike I]

Have a good trip Alan. Don't leave your bike unattended in Portsmouth though.

Mike

[Sylv]

I did the ride to the ferry in Portsmouth once, it was nice. How long is the cruise?

[Alan M]

leave around 9.30 pm and arrive early sunday morning, but probably only 36 hours true sailing time. it was expensive though

[Alan M]

Hola todas

Well I had hoped to be more regular in my emails, but really I have found that the physical efforts of riding almost 1000km off road has demanded more of my concentration than I bargained for.

There are already some memorable highlights and experiences that I will look back on with delight but also some tough situations.

The ride to Portsmouth was great and on my way into the city I found a couple of roadies who showed me the way.

The ferry was an interesting blend with a mix of minicruisers, caravan club and leather clad bikers. I was the only cycle. We had shows in the evening, confirming my absence of interest for musical theater, but by day whale and dolphin watching which was an unexpected bonus, from a full time research team that live on board the Pride of Bilbao.

Getting out of Bilbao was very difficult and more than once I found myself on route for the autopista or an impassable tunnel. I was tired by the time I got to San Sebastian but the last 40Km was along the coast in the sunshine.

I again had an opportunity to experience the hospitality of Itzi and Mikel in SS and we enjoyed some Tapas and beer and I hope to be able to show them a good time in London in September. Thanks both.

My next challenge was getting out of SS in the rain. For some time I felt very exposed on roads of motorway dimensions if not actual motorways. I eventually made it to France when things calmed down and we entered elegant countryside and cafes and I enjoyed the ride to Saint Jean Pied a Port, but experienced a language gap and my French is almost non existent.

My first Alburgue experience was great, a fairly small hostel with a communal supper with 3 types of wine!

By Monday I was ready to start my off road experience, but a bit hung over, and although the weather was cloudy over the pyrenees I decided to take the higher Napoleon route. It took 5 hours to do 25km, much of it pushing the bike and I arrived in Roscavelles very tired and cold but after some lunch and a look round the church I pushed on for a further 25Km.

I will not fill in the rest of the detail between Tuesday and now Saturday but eventually the photos should tell a story, but it has comprised of hard rides getting easier as the Camino came out of the mountains. There are about 150 walkers to every cyclist and I have met every conceivable type of cyclling including single track fast decents, parts where it was impossible to ride and some very agreeable tarmac tracks. The coutryside has been truly beautiful and the people on the Camino friendly and helpful.

I cannot say that I have really enjoyed the hostal experience, they are safe, cheap (7 euros) but the sleepiing areas generally house about 40 beds and sleep is very diificult with the many snoring peregrinos.

Yesterday I rode into Bugos a big city but turned my ankle on the way in so am having a day off today, resting up and staying in a cheap hotel which is bliss.

However, I need an early start tomorrow as I have to crack on and do about 100Km a day for the next 4 days, so I may take to the road if circumstances dictate, that said the path is beautiful and you see so much and so many others wishing you buen camino as you pass them by.

Hasta Luego

Alan

[Alan M]

After Burgos my recollections of the journey become increasingly hazy. Mostly I was intent on gathering sufficient kilometres to get to Santiago so as to make timely arrangements for my transfer back to Bilbao. I made a tactical decision to forsake Alburgues on the basis that communal wakefulness in groups of 40 plus is a form of torture not worth enduring. That said, I did attend one more, a convent that I happened upon having asked directions of a nun. There were only 2 of us staying there as they admitted exercising discretion over its entry by not advertising its existence. I spent a restful night for a voluntary donation but no hot water.

After Leon which I passed through quite quickly and had a slightly longer break in Astorgia which I enjoyed for its market and Gaudi designed museum. This marked the end of the Meseta a long, flat and straight section with fast paths and quiet roads where I could average about 120 km a day. Leaving Astorgia I headed back up into mountains, passing through the Maragateria, home of the Maragatos, another separate cultural group living within Spain. It was near here where I met one man who was running the camino!

Over the mountains I enjoyed some very fast descents on good roads and eventually passed into Galicia for some stunning countryside and yet more hills. It was here that I lost my way and rode 12 Km down the wrong hill and for the first time turned to my maps to find my route back. Unfortunately I had to climb again all the height that I had lost but I was glad of the break from the official camino and its many walkers. That night, the last of my journey, I experienced 'diarrea prolongada' so after self-administration of appropriate medicine I set off in the hope of making Santiago in one 90Km hop. But there was a fierce headwind and I made slow progress with a steadily weakening resolve. As I arrived in Santiago the heavens opened but luckily a very entrepreneurial pension owner followed me into the main plaza and invited me to her pension, which I gratefully accepted.

I spent the next day looking round Santiago and enjoying its parks as well as watching other 'perigrinos' arrive after their 7 week walk. I had hoped to get a coastal train back to Bilbao but it proved impossible to match up the timetables of the two main different train companies - they make railtrack seem like an integrated system. Instead I caught and Alsa night bus back to Bilbao and spent an agreeable last evening in Portugalete before joining my ferry for sunbathing on the upper deck.

Taken as a whole the camino is a very testing cycle ride with every imaginable form of cycling. My choice of bike, a Scott hybrid with 700mm wheels and cross tyres was an excellent compromise and I didn't get one puncture, and the only maintenance was needing to adjust my brakes for wear about half way along. The latter part of the ride included more and more cyclists, most of whom were on touring bikes. The scenery was stunning, and at this time of year the roadside flora was particularly colourful. I met very few English people and mostly had to use my Spanish.

For any who may consider it in the future, check out some photos here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tizer/

and

buen camino

[Andrew G]

Sounds like another very interesting trip Alan. Some excellent photos as well.
The "fellow traveller" one (and your trip in general) reminded me of this. Not as good as French Revolutions, but if you like his style of writing it's not a bad read.
[img]http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/5110RYJQQAL._SS500_.jpg[/img]

[higg]

?[img]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1183/580341368_e49371c99b.jpg[/img]

Alan, Is this yours ? I thought you said you were on a Scott. What is that hanging from the handlebars ?

[Alan M]

No, that was just an example, fairly typical of the bikes used. hanging from the handlebars is a cross and rosary, obviously one of the more religious cyclists. here is my bike.
[img]http://i11.tinypic.com/4xq54s7.jpg[/img]

[Matt Robbins]

Well done Alan, a friend of mine has just finished walking the Camino and did 30 miles a day...so I know from him how much of a challenge it would be on foot or two wheels...congratulations on a great achievement!!!

[Sylv]

Good story senõr Alan!