The Way in Stages

Having done a lot of research, the following is a possible suggestion of start and end points for walking the Camino Frances.

We, however, are going to be cycling most of it, finishing in Leon this time.  There is page after page of information on walking the Camino but much less on cycling it so this demanded a bit of time in thinking about how far we could reasonably travel loaded down with kit.  I am not used to touring on my bike with my own stuff; so used to being spoilt with the package tours who lug all the stuff of life in a van behind!  One site I did find useful was http://bike99.com/camino.html, a site which signposted other places to go to find out information.

We worked through the stages of the book and it seemed that about 3 walking stages equals one cycling stage and so wrote our itinerary based on this rule of thumb.  Importantly though, we have decided firstly to put in a spare day (just in case of mechanicals, medicals etc) and secondly to be flexible – I mean, who knows whether the hostels will be available at the places we land in?  And then there is wind, weather, hill climbs etc etc….

But you do have to have a skeleton plan to start with, it helps with booking those things which need booking such as flights  hostels, trains and so on.

A just in case note: cycling still qualifies you for the Compostela in Santiago.  It may be different experience from walking but you have still travelled there by your own efforts, and that is what the journey is about!