Camino de Santiago by bike for beginners

ByTravesía Pirenaica
Camino de Santiago by bike
Camino de Santiago by bike

The Camino de Santiago by bicycle is an enriching experience that teaches you what your own limits are and gives us another perspective on life. The Camino de Santiago can only be explained and understood by those who have walked, enjoyed and suffered it.

What they never told you about the Camino de Santiago: 9 tips to do the Camino de Santiago by bike.

We had heard many things and imagined many other things that were going to happen to us when we prepared the Camino de Santiago. As you may have noticed, there is a lot of information on the internet about the Camino de Santiago, with a lot of good advice and well-intentioned support, indications of where to eat, where to sleep and so on, but there are also other things that, although at the end of the trip only remain anecdotes, we think it would not be bad to mention them so that they don't catch you by surprise.

1. The last 100 km are the important ones:

You can do all the kilometres you want, you can come from Norway, you can take 3 months to do it, but if you don't do the last 100 km to Santiago you won't be entitled to the famous Compostelana that certifies that you did the Camino, deep down the Camino is something more spiritual and personal and nobody else knows the effort and the courage you needed to do it, but believe us, it is not nice that after doing a long walk and arriving at the office in a mess and with more leaks than the Prestige, there is someone who tells you that you are not entitled to the Compostelana, it is not nice to say the least.

2. Tails for the cathedral?

Yes, you will have to queue to enter the cathedral, it is not that there are bands of pilgrims waiting to enter, but if you arrive on a public holiday you will have to get in the only queue to enter, there you will find hikers, entire buses of retired people, tourists and others. We are not against this, but if we believe that the pilgrim and even more so those who come walking with many miles on their legs, many of them already have difficulty standing, have to wait in the same queue, the latter should have preference over others or at least an alternative entrance, sometimes they seem to forget that the pilgrim is the centre of all this "circus".

3. Be careful with the indications in some villages.

We must not forget that the Way of St. James, apart from being a spiritual journey, in many cases, is becoming a business from which many villages make a living, part of the charm of the Way, but it is true that on certain occasions and in certain villages you will find signs in opposite directions, but don't worry, you are not lost and the effort does not make you see double, one of them will make you take a detour to pass by the door of the bar of the day and have a couple of cañitas to regain strength so that a couple of streets further on you can return to the original route.

4. Beware of the pilgrim's menu

We understand that there are villages that live on the road, without it they would not exist, but increasingly it is becoming a business in search of the euro pilgrim, today the profile of the pilgrim has gone from being a "thrown" to be middle class who spends between 20 and 30 euros per day, taking into account that the volume of pilgrims who make the road a year is very high, this translated into euros is a lot of money, come on, a big business, but really in many villages where there is only a bar or a shop, the prices are really high, like the famous pilgrim menus full of good food and good prices, most of them are, but there are places where it is the same menu for everyone but with a supplement of 1 or 2 euros for "being called" the pilgrim menu, this is dangerous, because in the same hostel, among pilgrims always warn us of the place that is cheap, the one that treats you well and the one that does not.

5. The Tourist-Pilgrim (The Pilgrim of Vida Alegre).

From time to time you will meet a specimen that abounds in the hostels, which to your misfortune are only one room; you usually meet them in the bar of the village eating their good menu full of fats and food that is difficult to digest, all washed down with wines and liquors of the land. And you will get to know him when you arrive at the hostel "the bug" with such a load is giving the biggest in the form of snoring and derivatives; you as after 2 hours you realize that you can not sleep a wink, so you start the pilgrimage with your mattress to the kitchen, hallway or room you find more empty, because of course this finally "The bug" is alone in the room or with his companion of misfortunes (which of course as he has learned that the enemy is at home, he will be just like him).

6. The road is not a race (although it sometimes seems like one).

You will see that for some people it is obsessive to get to the hostel first and thus get the best places and never run out of room in the hostel, but that's part of the fun of this adventure, stop to enjoy each stage, and if there is no room in a hostel, we will always find another, and if not, what could be nicer than sleeping watching the stars.

DON'T run, enjoy the road, and let's make enough of it in the day to day.

7. The locals are the best guide along the way.

If you have any doubts, ask the people of the towns and villages you pass through, they are very proud to be part of the Camino and they are the best people to tell you, remember it is their region, and they know it as well as you know where you live.

8. "A classic" The air shot.

You have your map, your directions and you see a fork in the road, and there is always someone who says "this is where I'm sure" and 3 or 4 kilometres later you realise that it was the other way and turn around, that's an aerial shot, there are many on the road and that's why the stages are always several kilometres longer than what the road book says; but at the end it is a fun part of the road, how many aerial shots have you taken?

9. You never stick to your initial planning.

We always have a route plan, today I will do so many kilometres, I will get here; but don't get overwhelmed, everything changes and you will have to make several changes to your itinerary, but in the end you will get to Santiago, just as you had planned. Don't get obsessed with pre-planning, let the Camino plan your route.

This is just an example of the things they never told us about the road and we discovered for ourselves, some we liked, others not so much, but one thing is clear, and in the end EVERYTHING, believe it, EVERYTHING will be worth it.