Tonight I travel to Spain for my sixth trip on the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route starting in France and ending at the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. After five times walking, this time I’m going with a bike.
Beautiful vistas in the Pyrenees on Spain’s GR-11 trail
My first experience walking the full 500 mile (800 km) Camino was in 2009 as a personal learning experience while developing hiking trails in the Middle East. During that summer, I started my walk farther east along the Pyrenean border on the GR-11, connecting to the Camino for a total of around two months and 800 miles (1300 km) on foot. Later my wife Anna and I wrote a guidebook to the route (Camino de Santiago: Camino Francés), and have now been working with trail development and publishing for the past decade, via our company (Village to Village Press, LLC).
Hikers and bikers along the Camino Francés
Although I love long-distance hiking, I’ve always been even more drawn to travel by bicycle. Since moving back to Harrisonburg, VA at the end of 2015, I’ve used the beautiful Shenandoah as the perfect reason to get back on the bike. Whether it’s mountain biking in the National Forest or riding gravel country lanes, you can find almost any cycling experience you desire right out your front door.
Cub Run Rd. on Massanutten Mountain, Virginia, USA
I’ve spent much of the last 15 years traveling and living abroad, and have always found that I’m happiest when on my bike. In comparing thousands of miles on foot vs. thousands on the bike, it’s no comparison—bicycle travel is the way to go. It’s the perfect pace to experience the world flowing around you without any barriers. A car is too fast; walking can feel too slow, but cycling is a pace that allows you to cover a reasonable distance and connects you to the people along the way, empowering you to go anywhere.
Crossing the Cascades, Washington, USA
Plaza in Slovakia | Family touring on the Great Allegheny Passage – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA | Our son Silas’ first bike tour
In planning to head back to the Camino this year to update our book, I decided to ride the route by bike instead of walking, partly to do it more efficiently, but also to have a new experience that would connect my passion for bicycle touring with providing travel information and guidebook to those seeking a similar adventure. And it puts two things I love together, the Camino and bike touring!
Of all the long-distance paths in the world, I think it’s safe to say that the Camino Francés is one of the most utilized (more than 300,000 people/year walk at least 60 miles / 100 km), most serviced (villages overnights every 3-5 miles /5-8 km), and most affordable (beds from $6/night – no camping or cooking necessary) ways to cross a European country on your own power. I like to think of it as a “gateway” adventure, a grand first journey that will infect you with the travel bug for eye-opening sojourns throughout your lifetime.
Riding Rockingham Country, Virginia, USA
Early this summer, while on a ride over Hopkins Gap with two friends, the idea came up to consider a Surly Troll with S&S Couplers for my Camino bike, and a bikepacking setup to carry gear. This seemed like an ideal way to travel the Camino, given that I would only take 10-15 lbs (4-7 kg) of gear at the most. [Blog post on the bike and gear coming soon!]
Union Springs Road, Virginia, USA
I approached my local bike shop, Shenandoah Bicycle Company (SBC), and they were super excited about the trip, and helped connect me to Surly who makes a Troll frameset/fork available with the couplers factory-installed (called the World Troller). This bike can be broken down to enable it to fly in a more standard suitcase size that doesn’t incur a typical airline bicycle fee (saving me $300 for this trip via Lufthansa).
Packing the World Troller: 26″x26″x10″
The folks at Surly were also very enthusiastic, and excited to see my adventure take shape, and their World Troller on the Camino. In compiling the gear for the trip, I found that bikepacking bags, while perfect for my needs, were in high demand with many items out of stock. Thankfully through a few months of conversations with suppliers and the support of SBC, I am now set to hit the trail.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
I’ll be posting images and updates from the journey on www.CaminoCyclist.com, as well as Facebook (www.facebook.com/CaminoCyclist).
The website is still being developed, and will have even more information after the trip is complete, as well as many more images of cycling the route. I see these resources primarily for future cycling pilgrims on the Camino, and also a way to extend that journey into a longer European bike tour.
This month’s trip should take a little over two weeks at my target pace, allowing time to enjoy myself and gather the important research to make our guidebooks an essential tools for other cyclists. And of course, slow down enough to step back and let the Camino work its magic once again!
View my planned 15 day cycling itinerary for the Camino Francés and Camino Finisterre.
