CONTENTS
Map key
Overview map
Route summary table
Introduction
History
The Camino
The routes
Natural environment
Preparation
Pilgrim credentials and information
Getting there and back
Navigation
Accommodation
Food and drink
Amenities and services
What to take
Safety and emergencies
About this guide
The route
Navarre and La Rioja
Stage 1 St Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles
Stage 2 Roncesvalles to Pamplona
Stage 3 Pamplona to Estella
Stage 4 Estella to Logroño
Stage 5 Logroño to Santo Domingo de la Calzada
León y Castile
Stage 6 Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Villafranca Montes de Oca
Stage 7 Villafranca Montes de Oca to Burgos
Stage 8 Burgos to Castrojeriz
Stage 9 Castrojeriz to Carrión de los Condes
Stage 10 Carrión de los Condes to Sahagún
Stage 11 Sahagún to León
Stage 12 León to Astorga
Stage 13 Astorga to Ponferrada
Stage 14 Ponferrada to O Cebreiro
Galicia
Stage 15 O Cebreiro to Sarria
Stage 16 Sarria to Palas de Rei
Stage 17 Palas de Rei to Arzúa
Stage 18 Arzúa to Santiago de Compostela
Appendix A Facilities summary table
Appendix B Tourist information offices
Appendix C Cycle shops
Appendix D Pilgrim information
Appendix E Useful contacts
Appendix F Language glossary
Appendix G Spanish architectural styles
All the hard work has been done for you, meaning your own this physical challenge or spiritual journey should go smoothly.
The Camino de Santiago de Compostela (Way of St James) is among the world's most famous pilgrimages - and a UNESCO-listed route - and this typically well-researched Cicerone guide provides all the info you need to successfully ride it, broken down into 18 stages. Two versions of the route are described either one usually taking between 10-14 days: the 'Camino route', based closely on the walkers' route and suitable for hybrid or mountain bikes; and the 'road route' for readies and tourers. There's clear navigation descriptions and mapping throughout, plus sections on local history, interesting stops, accommodation and food options. And there's notes on how to qualify for your 'pilgrims' certificate'. All the hard work has been done for you, meaning your own this physical challenge or spiritual journey should go smoothly.
London Cyclist magazine
exceptionally easy to read and follow
Not so long ago, I read Mike Wells’ Cycling the Loire Valley published by Cicerone. By the time I put it down, I had decided that the Loire Valley would be perfect for my next tour with my mate from Canada, Jim Burke ... and indeed it was. (Route report to come!) Wells’ wonderful description of the Loire Valley and the joys of riding its roads got me planning right away – and it was his good advice that made the results of that planning so much more interesting. Now, I must confess, having just read another of Wells’ cycle guides, this one Cycling the Camino de Santiago, I suspect the same might be happening to me again.
The St Jean-Pied-du-Port to Santiago section featured in this book is the most commonly walked/cycled of the various Camino routes (more here on all your options). Of course most people doing the Camino walk it, but about 25,000 every year ride it. Mind you, you don’t have to ride the full 800km from St Jean-Pied-du-Port in the French Pyrenees to the Santiago de Compostela cathedral in the north west of Spain to get an official certificate describing you as a ‘peregrino’. Complete the final 200km and that will be enough.
However, unlike other cycle routes, some of those who ride this one do so not just for the joy of touring but because they are searching for a spiritual component as well. But even for those who start out looking for little more than an interesting tour, Wells says few will complete it without experiencing the spiritual element as well. According to Wells, “... the journey is still one of discovery, both of new places and of the inner self”.
Mind you, whatever your motivation for having a go, it will be a great deal easier for you than it was for the pilgrims of earlier times. For them just getting to the end presented enormous difficulties – in those days there weren’t any maps, sometimes there was dreadful weather, thieves, dangerous animals and often polluted water, just to name a few horrors. Then, even having survived all that just to get to Santiago, they had to turn around and face exactly the same to get home.
And here I am wondering if I could manage the first day’s 1100 metres of climbing with loaded panniers. Mind you, Wells assures us that it gets easier as you as you progress towards Santiago. Of course, you could always start at a point further along the route. Many do and he provides first class advice about getting to a number of intermediate starting places. And then, to complete the job, he suggest the different options available to get home by train and plane when you have completed the route.
Wells provides readers with two routes, each divided into 18 stages. One route, the Camino, is best used by cyclists riding mountain bikes. The other, which he simply calls the road route, is much more suitable for those with road and touring cycles as it is almost entirely asphalted. But both have stages that start and finish at the same place so, if you wish, you can chop and change without complication.
Making navigation easy, both routes are downloadable if you use GPS. But importantly, individual maps for each stage covering both the Camino and road routes (1:100,000 for stages and 1:40,000 for urban ones) are provided in the book. In spite of containing plenty of detail, they are exceptionally easy to read and follow and the book size of 11.5 X 17 makes it an easy fit in a handlebar bag ready for instant retrieval as required.
Then there is information about the many options for accommodation. Some are provided by religious organisations; others by local government agencies and some are run as a business by individual operators. Food is another topic. The variety, he says, is huge. But again, Wells provides excellent descriptions of local menus so you can set out looking forward to an interesting, and probably new, food experience.
And finally, and perhaps for many readers most importantly, the book has a concise but wonderfully written section on the history of the region. The Camino de Santiago is different from just about any other tour you might consider. But to get the real essence of the Camino, you have to understand its history just as much as you do the route. Wells does this and this extra bit of homework on your part would, I suspect, make this tour a wonderful and unique experience. I know it would for me!
Bob Zeller 4 Sep 2019
Freewheeling France
So, pilgrim or recreational cyclist, the Camino is, with this guide, your oyster.
I’ve lost count how many cycling guides Mike Wells has written for Cicerone. However, I can safely say that this one is significantly different to all but that to London to Paris, and even that does not match the challenge. All the others have guided the rider from source to sea along one of Europe’s major rivers, such as the Rhone.
When I spoke to Mike about his guides he told me that he likes river routes because they generally start at the top of the hill and roll on down. Here he follows a route that begins by crossing the Pyrenees and heads into famously mountainous Spain.
The Camino de Santiago, The Way of St. James, Camino Francés – begins at St.Jean Pie-de- Port and follows the old pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela. Immensely popular now, as in the past, the infrastructure for travellers is well established. To some extent, this begs the question, “Why another guide?” Well, the route is phenomenally popular, both with pilgrims and recreational pedestrians and cyclists. Secondly, this is actually two guides in one. The ‘Camino Route’ and the ‘Road Route’, as the author differentiates between them, follow the traditional pedestrian route (with a few exceptions) and a parallel route almost entirely on asphalt. Ending at the same point each stage, the first is off-road orientated - tourer, gravel, cross, or trail bikes should do it - and the second suitable for all bikes. The choice is yours, given the advice at the start of each section in the guide, and, so long as you are not on a road bike, mixing and matching is made easy.
The road route comes in some 28km longer than the 770km ‘Camino Route’ and there are summaries of distances, ascent, and descent to aid planning. In addition, there’s all the usual information in the familiar Cicerone style. However, the author recommends supplementing the accommodation list with the regular updates provided by Les Amis du Chemin de St. Jacques (St. Jean Pied de Port) and/or the annually updated guide form the Confraternity of St. James (London). There’s a list of friends and confraternities in the appendices, along with lots of other contact details.
Even though the route is very well established and popular, things are competitive with new hostels and other facilities keeping prices low. Bike-friendliness is, Mike says, pretty much the norm – and there’s no shortage of bike shops, by the look of it. Popularity also means you may well come across pop-up cafes along the way. Waymarking on the pedestrian route is legendarily thorough, but don’t expect anything like it on the road. Of course, the maps and route description are thorough, so there’s little chance of unintentional exploration.
So, pilgrim or recreational cyclist, the Camino is, with this guide, your oyster.
Reviewed by Steve Dyster
sevendaycyclist.com/cycling-the-camino-de-santiago
'camino de santiago' is now unassailably at the top of my wishlist.
i'm not what you might call a great traveller; the extent of my a to b-ness usually concerns a ferry trip, followed by a bus journey. every now and again the latter is followed by time spent on a train, but that's more the exception than the rule. at the end of next month, i'll head farther north to ride my bike along with scores of others, but i'm trying hard not to make a habit of it. despite my contention that the act of travelling is every bit as much a part of the adventure, getting to and from the start of a proposed cycling trip has always struck me as a tad more faff than i'd prefer to accept.
thus, the occasional opporchancity to cycle in locations more salubrious than my home island (assuming such a place exists), is often left to fend for itself, alone and uncared for. but there is, of course, as there probably has to be, the possibility of an exception to this self-imposed idiosyncracy.
the name.
who amongst us could resist thundering mightily along skyline boulevard, or clambering slowly up the gorge la nesque? i don't mind too much if you'd like to substitute your own attractively named location. in the light of this possibly superficial confession, you can imagine my intrigue having been piqued on receipt of the latest cycling publication from the inestimable cicerone press. via the word processor and explorations of mike wells, author of guides to london-paris, the rhine, danube and the rhone valley, amongst others, comes a guide to cycling the 'camino de santiago'. i will not mislead you; until i checked the introduction, i had no earthly idea just where that is in the world.
as it transpires, this is an exploration across the top of the iberian peninsula, from santiago, near spain's atlantic coast, to the fabulously named st jean-pied-de-port, just across the french pyrenean border. i have often commended cicerone publications as the ideal reading for armchair explorers, but currently, unless something else arrives very soon with an even more exotic title, this sits atop the chairside pile.
legend has it that st james, one of the twelve apostles, travelled to spain in the first century ad to preach the gospel and the tenets of christianity. after his death in 44ad, his body was reputedly returned to spain by boat, taken ashore at padron in galicia and buried inland on a remote hillside. discovered almost 800 years later by a galician shepherd, a local bishop identified the bones as those of st james. the church built over his remains, was, after many interim iterations, subsequently rebuilt as a cathedral and surrounded by the mediaeval city of santiago de compostela (st. james of the field of stars). historical magnificence such as this, almost places the act of cycling as a mere backdrop to the scenery.
i did say, 'almost'.
the book's introduction offers an excellent precis of the area's history before progressing to an overview of the prescribed routes. as you may expect, the intrinsic historicity of the region, provides a veritable cornucopia of architecture and art to be seen at various points along the way. a cursory glance through the copious colour illustrations will prove the veracity of which mr wells writes. the book even features an appendix dedicated to spanish architectural styles.
but, we are nothing if not dedicated cyclists, usually of the road persuasion when it comes to cicerone guides. however, this particular publication could justifiably be classified under the heading, 'buy-one-get-one-free'. for contained within its almost 260 pages, are both 770 kilometres of offroad riding, paralleled with a complementary 798 kilometres of road riding. the author suggests that perhaps those less experienced in the world of knobbly rubber, might like to mix and match as their skillset dictates.
rather obviously, almost 800 kilometres is not the sort of spanish distance that even the most intrepid amongst us rattles off in a single day. thus, the author has thoughtfully divided the distance of both routes into 18 manageable sections, peaking at 55km in a single bound. after witnessing almost 300 kilometres of racing from milan to sanremo at the weekend, 55km might seem a less than punishing workout for a self-respecting member of the pelotonese. however, i might remind you at this point, of the substantial dollops of visual and historical attractions to be seen along the way, to say little of the pyrenees rearing up in the last few stages.
if i ever pluck up the courage to tread farther afield than debbie's café in bruichladdich, 'camino de santiago' is now unassailably at the top of my wishlist.
washingmachinepost
tuesday 26 march 2019
