It was somewhat disheartening after the first few days of this bike journey. With massive amounts of effort put in with the cold and rain hampering my progress and the unconditioned muscles in my legs burning like mad, to look at the map and zoom out to see only a tiny fraction of the planned journey completed was pretty tough.
After that, for each day of the 2,800km and over 170 hours on the bike, I was focused only on the journey for that day and where I wanted to be that night. Thankfully, the sun also started shining more and my body got used to the rigours of covering 100km+ each day… Towards the end of my journey I looked again at the same map and zoomed out to see the little blue dot now at the end of my journey on the Atlantic coast of Spain. I could barely believe how the five weeks have shot by, full of such rich experiences in between, to have that dot blinking where it now was. I’m sure there must be a bigger life lesson in there somewhere…
After leaving the beautifully lush and vibrant Pyrenees and arriving into Pamplona in Spain, my entire tour cycling experience changed dramatically. Until then, a typical day consisted of six to eight hours alone on a bike with barely encountering another tour cyclist or hiker and arriving early at my destination for more time with friends or Couchsurfing hosts. From Pamplona, I joined the popular ‘Frances’ route of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail and I was blown away by the number of people doing this – over 300,000 people walk the pilgrimage each year and most of those in the warmer months between May and October meaning I encountered thousands upon thousands of walkers and a few other tour cyclists between Pamplona and Santiago de Compostella.
This changed my routine substantially, with most of my social time happening mainly during the day at the various pilgrim stops, cafes and bars. Combined with this, the prevailing westerly wind and off-road trails meant much more time was needed to cover the same distance each day so I would typically be on my bike from around seven or eight in the morning and finish up between six and seven in the evening where I would find one of the dozens of albergues (hostels for pilgrims) with a plan just to pitch my tent if they were full, which they seldom were.
Although completely different, it was equally as enjoyable as the first part of this trip.
We met Justin and his two daughters for the first time in interesting circumstances on a beach in the Andaman Islands. We were trying to work out whether we should intervene or get help for a couple of dogs that were awkwardly and painfully ‘locked’ together after going about their business. Justin strolled up and matter of factly explained the mechanics of post canine mating 101 to us city folks and how the female holds on for up to half an hour to prevent any of the other half a dozen dogs waiting eagerly from jumping in after her preferred mate is done. From auspicious beginnings, we spent the next day hanging out and snorkelling together.
Justin and his family run an organic beef and pork farm near Massat in the Pyrenees and is involved in every step of the value chain from rearing to packaging to selling in the local market below. This man works hard!
After a couple of nights with Justin and Emily and their Family, I came across this beautiful campground after a hilly day riding just as I was tiring…
In the East of the Pyrenees, there are mostly east to west valleys making for less hills. As I progressed further west the valleys turned north to south making for some big climbs. I opted to pass through the pass at Vielha onto the Spanish side for some smoother riding and experience the south facing side of the Pyrenees.
Another motivation was to get back back to a country that I loved and where I can speak the language well…
Earlier when I crossed the border into a bakery in France, it didn’t quite register with me until I opened my mouth to buy some bread that I lacked the words even for that. When I reverted to English, I received a look of disdain from the lady, that only a french person listening to English in their own country can give. I promptly downloaded some audio lessons to listen to while riding and got to a passable level of travellers french by the time I left, but I was still motivated to get to a place where I was able to have a fluent conversation with local people. Plus… I love Spain!
The lush and vibrantly coloured northern side…
…Transformed into a more arid and Jurassic feel after passing through the Vielha tunnel
My next night’s camping was a little less salubrious in an abandoned campground near Campo, after having no luck finding a bed in town.
The mountain scenery transformed to rolling hills and then to lush plains as I pushed on through Jaca towards Pamplona. It was beautiful countryside for riding.
It was an unusual experience being in Pamplona in ‘peace time’. The other two times I had been there were for Sam Firmin, or the running of the bulls, which is a massive week long party across the entire town. The last time I was in front of the town hall was for the opening ceremony or ‘Chupinazo’ which was a crazily dangerous sea of people that ended in a stampede where the person I was with got trampled. For me, it was far more dangerous being there than actually running with the bulls.
My Couchsurfing hosts Alfredo and Ines took me to experience some superb basque live music.
There was a constant stream of people on the Camino de Santiago path when I left Pamplona, giving my bell a constant workout for the first time all trip.
The first tour cyclist I met was Kay from New Zealand. She was touring solo around Europe for three months. She was inspirational and I’d love to be able to still going the way she is 25 years from now!
The countryside between Pamplona and Logrono was beautiful
It was refreshing to have so many places to stop off for a break and spend time chatting with other people. This was one of many donation based refreshment stops.
Logrono was a fantastic place to eat out with my Couchsurfing host Javier taking me around several tapas bar lined streets.
After 120km uphill and into a consistent 30kmph head wind, I was pretty tired when I was shown around Burgos by a friend of a friend, Arturo.
I had an unexpected and pleasant surprise when another old friend from my London days got in touch and happened to be in Burgos that weekend
The part of the Camino from Burgos to Leon is known as ‘the Meseta’ which is a large expansive plain and is a thoroughly unremarkable and repetitive landscape of crops and fields. In the 220km of the Meseta that the Camino passes through, this picture at Castrojeriz was the only one I took. For pilgrims, the Meseta takes up to around ten days to pass through mostly on roads and was a part of the journey that I was glad to be on my bike.
I only saw a couple of families doing the Camino and it didn’t surprise me too much that one of them were kiwis – It was inspiring to see Kara and Mike take their children Hunter and Tui + their 14 month old on such a different adventure!
I had an unanticipated rest day in Leon where a lunchtime ‘menu del dia’ extended through the afternoon.
The trail from Leon to Santiago was beautiful, with more and more hills, quaint villages and lush forests as I entered into Galicia
The last day into Santiago was the biggest of the trip with over nine hours on the saddle
With some time to spare before my flight, I stayed a night in Santiago before moving on to do a quick loop around the Western coast of Galicia and stayed in Muxia with Tracey (right) who we originally met in Udaipur in India. Tracey opens her home up to pilgrims who have completed the pilgrimage to reflect on their journey. It was Tracey who gave me some added inspiration to take the Camino route when we spent time together at the Krishna ranch.
I enjoyed a great day with Sharron touring around the local area by bike.
The countryside in Galicia is hilly. Almost always I was either biking up or biking down. another feature of the area were these beautiful ‘Horreos’ or grain stores dotted across the countryside.
These ones had the Cabo de Tourinan in the background which is the westernmost point in Spain.
This is at Finesterre which is kind of like an extension to the Camino, where some pilgrims continue to after reaching Santiago.
For most though, Santiago is the end point and after looping back there, it was the end for me as well. For most who complete the 30+ day pilgrimage, it is not a religious thing and nor is it done for the scenery, it is much more of an inward journey and a time for reflection.
For me, it was simply a route that I took. I could equally have gone through Eastern Europe to Istanbul or up into the Baltics, which were the other two options I was considering. I chose this way because it had mountains, sea, some friends along the way, and I had never been to the south of France or to Galicia in Spain. Reaching Santiago then, had no real meaning to me in itself as it was just a place that happened to be the end point of this particular leg of my journey.
As is the case with all travel, the ‘destination’ is the journey itself. It is in the stroke of each pedal and in every conversation with someone new. It is in the beautiful simplicity of each day and in the physical and mental challenges of pushing on through the tough ones. It is about the adventure of the unknown and it is about trying to find the beauty in everything around you – and having to look harder to find it in some places than in others.
Finally, through all of this and the time that you get to spend with just yourself, it is about maybe discovering something more there too…
The end of this part of the journey – at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostella
