Tag Archives: Bike

The Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike

In this post…

    1. Introduction
    2. Pre-Sales things you may like to know (how much, delivery, customer service, etc)
    3. Unboxing and setup of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Grave bike + Video
    4. Cycling review of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike + Fiido App + Video (54 min long)
    5. Conclusions.

Introduction

How many reviews had you read about in this blog? Or how many review videos have you watched in the EyeCycled YouTube channel?

Not many, right? Yes, and this is intentional…

I don’t typically do reviews… there are so many people out there doing reviews on everything, I have no desire to compete with anyone on this, but sometimes I feel excited about something and this gives me an opportunity to write about it, hence a “review”. So, keep this definition of “review” in mind if you decide to continue reading or to watch the videos I recorded. I am happy with just having written about them (writing has a therapeutical effect on me), but I truly hope this work will be of use to someone else.

If you decide to continue, this is the situation at the time of writing…

  • This is my 1st e-bike:
    Although I’ve done test-rides on other e-bikes before, I’ve never owned one myself, so I have no frame of reference to compare with other e-bikes. If you are looking for comparisons, there are quite a few YouTube channels and blogs doing them now… keep in mind many get the products sent to them for free from the manufacturer, so there is always a question on whether their review is neutral and unbiased. This is something you have to decide. I paid for my bike.
  • First time… I used my Insta360 X2 camera mounted on a bike’s handlebar
  • First time… I used my Comica BoomX-U wireless microphones connected to an external USB3 Microphone adapter on the camera
  • LOTs of “firsts“… What can go wrong, huh? 🙂

Back to Top

Pre-Sales things you may like to know

    • How much I paid: USD $1,399.00, down USD $200 according to them. Paid using PayPal’s “pay in 3” option and once converted to £ that made for 3x interest free instalments of  £386.23 and a total of £1,158.69.
    • Order process: Ordered from Fiido directly after exchanging several messages (emails) with their pre-sales team. Excellent pre-sales services. All emails answered within 2h of sending. All information given turned out to be accurate. The email address used was support@fiido.com
    • Delivery: Free of charge (i.e., incl. in price) and very good… ordered on a Wednesday and Saturday morning 9:30am it was delivered. Although Fiido is a Chinese company, they have warehouses in the UK and EU, so the bike was delivered without any added import duties.

At the time of writing I believe it was the cheapest e-bike of this type in the UK market. Did some “online research” before buying and every other equivalent option was at least 25% more (in the UK! I may have missed options available in other markets… the world is still a pretty big place)

Although this review is for the “Step-over” C21 model most of it is also applicable to the C22 “Step-through” model. This review will NOT focus on specs as they are available in the Fiido Website.

Fiido C21 Pro order confirmation from Fiido.
Fiido C21 Pro order confirmation from Fiido.

Back to Top

Unboxing and setup of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Grave bike.

Before I start let me tell you that…

  1. I have unboxed, assembled and setup dozens of bikes over the years, but I am by no means an expert.
  2. This is not a guide on “how best” to unbox and assemble this bike, but I hope it helps you do it better and faster than me.
  3. It goes without saying, if you use any information provided here, you’re using it at your own risk.

I think the video below is very self-explanatory, if you have the time to watch the 16 min of it (probably could have done it in less than 10). I will list, however, some highlights and things to watch for from what I learned while unboxing and putting this bike together.

Fully assembled Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike.
Fully assembled Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike.
  1. Don’t waste time! Open the box, cut the cable ties holding the front tire, remove the front tire and the accessories box, then remove the bike from the box. Put the box away, you won’t need it anymore, unless you decide to return the bike. I still have my box, although I have decided to keep the bike.

    Assembling the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike
    Assembling the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike
  2. RtFM (Read the Friendly Manual). The English in the manual is not the best, but it’s clear enough. The manual itself is well designed and quality printed (not the typical A4 page on printed paper with Chinese to English machine translation). The order stated in the manual is the best to assemble the bike, follow it!

    Manual Fiido C21 Bike
    Manual of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike
  3. Don’t forget to remove the disc brake pad spacer (the little plastic thing that is inserted in place of the rotor for transportation) before you attempt to put the front wheel in place.

    Fiido C21 Disc Brake Spacer
    Fiido C21 Disc Brake Spacer
  4. I struggled with the assembly of the control panel (meter). This is something I never had to do before as this is my 1st e-bike and it’s not very well described in the manual, in my humble option. It is not immediately clear what cable is connected where and once I figured it out, I struggled a bit with the connection of the cable coming from the handlebar control buttons. The manual and the cables themselves are not very clear in which direction to connect and where, and I was afraid of forcing them and breaking something. In their web site there is a much shorter video that makes this clear.
    Underneath the Control Panel of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike.
    Underneath the Control Panel of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike.
    Front light assembly of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike

    Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike control panel and handlebar buttons.
    Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike control panel and handlebar buttons.
  5. The fenders or mudguards, as known in the UK, are a bit fiddly to install. The is no explanation in the manual for how to install them, so I presume it is something they assume everyone knows how to do. I, personally, could have used some directions to get it done faster. 
    Rear fender or mudguard on the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike
    Rear fender or mudguard on the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike

    Rear Wheel with mudguard on the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike
    Rear Wheel with mudguard on the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel Bike

Back to Top

Cycling review of the Fiido C21 Pro e-Gravel bike + Fiido App

Well, the video turned out to be 53 min long (and that is after I cut out significant portions where I wasn’t talking)… I know, I know… who has time these days, but in the video I don’t just talk about the bike, I show you places here in Bracknell, Berkshire (UK), I talk about the camera setup (the Insta360 mounted on the handlebar), the weather and all 😉 .

I did ask in the video for permission to make mistakes and awkward moments 🙂 .

This is the route I’ve taken here in Bracknell to reach the 30 km mark.

I am not going to write more about the cycling here. I’ll let the video do the talking, but I will provide some opinions in the conclusions part of this post below.

Before I move onto the conclusions part, I mentioned in the video that I would be providing more info on the Fiido Smartphone App that you can download and install from the Google Play store (there might be an iPhone equivalent, but since I don’t use Apple, I can’t tell).

The App is relatively simple and a bit “low end” in my humble opinion. In my experience the Bluetooth connection must be handled by the App itself as when I connected to the bike through the traditional Android pairing mode the App could not connect to the bike.

Fiido App Login Screen
Fiido App Login Screen

The login procedure is also perhaps a bit more complicated than needs to be (I have not used the Facebook option though), but that might be because you can start the bike by proximity if you are using their wearable watch called Fiido Mate (at an additional cost of USD $ 100). The phone App does not allow for proximity start.

The login screen apparently comes up every time you have not used the app for a while and remembering the credentials have proved to be a challenge for me. I’ve already had to reset the password 3x as the App does not remember the credentials and the phone (Google) doesn’t appear to store them.

Fiido App Landing Page. A "Facebook style" feed page with posts from other Fiido App users.
Fiido App Landing Page. A “Facebook style” feed page with posts from other Fiido App users.

When you get the list of countries to select the country code from, the United Kingdom is listed as “United Kiongdom“, a very visible typo that no one in their development team appeared to have picked up (sorry, I am a detail oriented person). In practice, you can only use it to display information from the bike, not to change any settings in the bike. The default “Home” screen shows you highlights from a feed of other Fiido App users in a “Facebook Style” feed page where you can see updates and pictures posted by other Fiido App users. This is likely linked to the community feed under the “Discover” option, but I am not sure what gets highlighted under the home page.

There are 3 other pages or screens you can switch to at the bottom of the phone screen: Device, Discover and “MY”.

Fiido C21 Pro, Bluetooth icon on control panel.
Fiido C21 Pro, Bluetooth icon on control panel.
Fiido App Device Page listing all bikes you've connected the App to.
Fiido App Device Page listing all bikes you’ve connected the App to.

The Device screen shows you a list of Fiido bikes you connected to (if you have more than one, I presume). The picture on the left shows the screen before you connect to the bike. Once the bike is connected a little Bluetooth icon is displayed on the control panel of the bike (picture on the right) and when you select the bike (or device) you want then you get the picture below on the left.

Fiido App showing the connected and selected bike.
Fiido App showing the connected and selected bike.
Fiido App Meter Setting Screen
Fiido App Meter Setting Screen

That page allows you to change some settings, but these are App settings, not bike settings. Most of the information it displays at default are also displayed in the bike’s own panel, but there are additional items you can show by selecting the “Meter Setting” option. If you click on that

you get a very “heavy” screen in which the UI overlaps the Android buttons at the bottom (another development oversight, perhaps) and its just a bit messy to understand and use. You drag the desired screen setting (on the bottom) to one of the square areas on the top.

Fiido App Bike Meter Screen
Fiido App Bike Meter Screen
Fiido App Setting screen
Fiido App Setting screen

To see the “Setting” screen (picture on the right) you must be connected to the bike and it will show you info about the bike. As far as I know only some of the information is user configurable, like the name of the bike (device) and the type of measure (km / miles).

When you click on the Cyclist / Bike button just below the settings in the device page (you must be connected to the bike) the information you configured to show under “Meter Settings” will be displayed in the App (picture on the left above).

Fiido App, Discover Screen, Ranking list
Fiido App, Discover
Screen, Ranking list
Fiido App, Discover Screen, Community Feed
Fiido App, Discover Screen, Community Feed

The “Discover” tab offers a “ranking list” (picture to the right) of Fiido App users and the distance they cycled in a Day, Week, Month and all. There are people that cycled nearly 4,000 km in a month showing in that tab 🙂 In addition to this ranking list, there is a community option to the right where a more extensive “Facebook Style” feed page is displayed (picture to the left).

Fiido App, "MY" screen
Fiido App, “MY” screen

Last, but not least, the “MY” tab at the bottom appears to show your own posts to the feed and some personal information you choose to display, which you can setup through the hexagon shape icon on the top left. Just to test it I added a post to the feed with the picture of the assembled bike after the unboxing. Appears to work OK, but remember, your data is likely going to Chinese servers 😉

Personally, I think the Fiido App is a “nice to have” addition to the bike. I usually have details such as distance, elevation, etc, available on my Garmin device and my phone is displaying routes (either using Google Maps or Komoot) and I am unlikely to be contributing to the feed, but I may check it out every now and then. We cyclists are social beings after all and usually proud of our physical achievements (the Strava generation), but it is just another social media feed to worry about. The software definitely needs a bit of polishing as its UI is a bit all over the place sometimes, but it works.

Back to Top

Conclusions

OK, I do have a sense that this post and related videos are way off the mark when it comes to how extensive they probably should be, so it would be good to keep at least this portion short. The table below is not in order of importance.

ProsCons
PriceSmaller battery compared to other options in the market.
Hydraulic Disc BrakesGreater range (related to the battery size above)
Responsive torque sensorNon-Removable battery. I see this as a "con" because that means you can't simply remove the battery for charging, you need to place the bike closer to a power outlet. That also means if the bike is outside and its raining, you can't recharge it (well, I wouldn't).
Excellent pre-sales customer serviceMore gears, perhaps a 2x9 system
Easy to use control panel and display. Very visible even under bright sunlight.No gear indicator panel in the gear shifter.
Included Accessories such as a kick-stand, front and rear LED lights and fenders / mudguardsOnly one mount for a water bottle (which might be taken by a range extender battery in the future)
Silent operation (can barely hear the motor)No rack mount holes in the fork.
Not heavy for an e-bike, approx. 18.5 kg fully assembled and with all accessories.Instructions manual could use a review, such as more clear instructions for the control panel and fenders / mudguards (minor)
Bluetooth connectivity with Smartphone App and integrated community features.Smartphone App has a few issues (minor)
Ability to "Promixity Start" the bike using the Fiido Mate smart watch (not tested)
Rear rack mount holes in the frame.
Future availibility for a range extender battery on the water bottle mount (untested)
Good build quality
Step-over or Step-through (easier for women) models available.
Comfortable saddle
Reasonably fast charging, although I have not tested it with the battery completely flat. From 40% to 100% took less than 2h.

At the time of writting and as far as I am aware, the bike can be purchased only through the Fiido site.

As I said in the beginning, this is my 1st e-bike, so I have no frame of reference to compare, but I would give this bike a 4 out of 5 star rating (perhaps a 4.5 if I can get the gears properly setup).

The more I use this bike the more I discover about it (setting’s tweaks, battery time, etc). Instead of changing the post and delaying its publication, every time I find something worthy of mentioning I am going to add a comment here and in the EyeCycled Facebook page, so stay tuned if interested.

As mentioned in the Introduction part of this post, there are a few reviews about this bike on the web already. Tony’s review on ebikechoices.com was the one that convinced me to give this bike a go. You may want you can read his expert review as well, at this link.

Back to Top

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form. Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Instagram feed also. Thank you all for your time and “Bom Caminho!”.


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly. Become a Patron

Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 3 Average: 5]

Portuguese Way: Introduction (Camino de Santiago)

This post is "natively" only available in English.

Between the 25th of August and the 4th of September 2019 I cycled nearly 660 Km on the Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago, from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Map of Paulo's Camino Portuguese
Map of Paulo’s Camino Portuguese

I recorded a short vlog about this trip a week before I left. In this video I explained my motivation to do this pilgrimage, so I will not repeat myself and go straight to the point with this introduction.

Upon my return, I’ve asked a few friends that have, and have not, done pilgrimages before, what would they find useful in this introduction and they asked me 7 questions in return.

I have answered all 7 questions in the video below, together with a photo show of the 210 pictures I liked most out of the thousands I took during the journey. I’ve added them to a photo gallery on the bottom of this post, in case you want to see them in a higher resolution.

If you don’t like to read, I essentially talk through these questions in the video, but in the text below I added a little more detail.

The 7 questions I got were: (Click to jump to the answer)

  1. How long did the pilgrimage take? (Time)
  2. How much did you spend? (Expenses, Cost)
  3. Was finding the way easy? (Navigation)
  4. What were the worst experiences you had on the Camino?
  5. What were the best experiences you had on the Camino?
  6. How Safe is the Camino?
  7. Where did you sleep? (accommodation)

Click here to jump to the picture gallery.


    1. How long did the pilgrimage take?
      For me it took 11 days! Started from the Sé Cathedral in Lisbon on Sunday, the 25th of August, around 12 noon and arrived in Santiago on Wednesday, the 4th of September, around 4:00pm.
      Back to Top
    2. How much did you spend?
      I spent €685.42 in the entire journey. That includes all expenses from the moment I arrived at London Heathrow Airport, on my way to Lisbon, to the moment I left Santiago de Compostela. It also includes the fees I had to pay to the airlines (TAP and Iberia) for transporting my bike. As you may not live in London, or in the UK, your journey to Portugal and from Spain may be quite different than mine, so if you only count the pilgrimage days, the total expense was €451.14 and as it took me 11 days to reach Santiago, the average per day was €41.01.
      I’ve created a Google Sheets page containing all my expenses, as well as the telemetry from my Garmin Devices, such as distances travelled, altimetry, average heart rate and so an.

      I believe it is entirely possible to do the Camino spending much less than I did, but perhaps you’ll have to limit yourself to eating only 2 meals a day, cook your own food and just walk and sleep. If you plan to do the Camino with as little as possible, I would recommend that you reserve a minimum of €30 a day for your journey.
      If you are looking to stay at “Donativos” (hostels where you pay just as much as you can) or accommodation under €12 a night you will find it somewhat challenging, especially in Portugal, as the number of beds in such places is small and fills up quite quickly. The cheapest albergue I stayed in these 11 days charged €6 a night. It was in Briallos (ES) and it was a publicly owned “Xunta de Galicia” albergue. Keep in mind there is a price rise expected for all “Xunta” albergues in 2020 (I think they’ll go up to €9 a night). I am not aware of any accommodation under €12 a night in Portugal. The “Casa do Sardão” hostel, was one of the most typical and attractive albergues I stayed in Portugal and it charges pilgrims €12 for a bed (well worth it though).

      Back to Top
    3. Navigation: Was finding the way easy?
      The answer to this question is not a yes or no. In Lisbon there are very few signs pointing the way. I found only 3 and 2 were very faint. Signage improves after Coimbra, but you’ll still find stages where signage is excellent and others where signage is poor. After Porto, signage tends to be very good, however, if you are cycling you have to keep in mind the original Camino is meant for walking, not cycling, so there are signs pointing to ways you cannot (or should not) ride on your bike.
      I am also almost certain there were arrows pointing to disused paths of the way as the Camino appears to have changed over the years. I frequently stopped to ask for directions and some locals said a few times, pointing with their fingers, “it used to go that way, but now it goes this way”. Remember that, generally, walkers go against traffic and cyclists move with traffic. That means if you are cycling, most signs will be on the opposite side to you and they are typically small and not always easy to see. Taking into consideration you have to be aware of the traffic around you, finding a little sign, sometimes 20 – 30 m away, takes a lot of attention and good eyesight. It becomes a game of “find the yellow arrow”. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Considering the number of times I got lost and had to rely on Google Maps or the Map loaded on my Garmin Edge 820, my route was actually pretty close to the “official” route of the Camino, if there is such a thing.
      My recommendation is that you search for the GPX file of the Portuguese Way (I found this one wich became my reference route), download it, open it with Google Earth (or other such software) and study the way. That helped me find the way out of Lisbon with relative ease. I will also post copies of my own route in the blog, but they will contain the mistakes I’ve made. There is a gap of about 10 Km in my GPX route, as having the navigation feature always on in the Garmin caused the device to consume a lot more battery and that caught me by surprise as I was about 10 Km from Azinhaga on the 2nd day of the Camino and the Garmin Edge suddenly “died” (my Garmin Forerunner watch had already died earlier that day). In my usual bike touring rides the battery of the Garmin Edge 820 I use lasts for at least a couple of days, but without the use of the navigation feature.

      Back to Top
    4. What were the worst experiences you had on the Camino?
      There were moments of frustration, no doubt, but I honestly cannot complain. I have not suffered any injury, nor had a mechanical fault that prevented me from continuing, nor was a victim of any “bad intentions” like theft, aggression, etc. I think if any of these things had happened, I would have a good reason to highlight them here.
      With that in mind, some of the lighter frustrations came from…

      – The airlines that damaged my bike in transportation and charged me extra to transport them on top of what I had already paid for luggage;
      – My own mistakes;
      – The amount of urban traffic in some places and
      – The poor signage in others. 

      I also found it difficult to find pilgrim accommodation in some places after 4:00pm and had to resort to staying in more expensive places, but that would only have been a real problem if I could not afford them. Since I gave myself a comfortable budget to do this pilgrimage, this was not an issue for me. I was, however, committed to try to do the Camino as much as possible in a “pilgrim’s honoured” way.
      Some frustration also came from the challenging type of terrain I had to face with a heavy bike and the fact I was somewhat unprepared for that level of difficulty. Again, this is no one’s fault, but my own. The Camino, following the yellow arrows, is very challenging for cyclists. It’s absolutely not meant for touring bikes, so I would recommend you evaluate this well before you leave. If you plan to follow the yellow arrows on a bike, a sturdy mountain bike is highly desirable. Also, from Lisbon to about Coimbra, the Camino is very urban in most parts. Done on busy roads and going through industrial areas. Not exactly the notion of nature’s paradise one would expect.
      This was also one cycling trip in which I got very frustrated with my tech, much of it due to my own fault as well. These include video recording hiccups, which meant I have no footage for a portion of the Camino or when both my Garmin devices ran out of battery as I explained before (“Strava cyclists” will understand the frustration).
      Back to Top

    5. What were the best experiences you had on the Camino?
      Honestly, just doing it! It’s not the destination, it’s the journey. I loved the views of the many places I’ve been through and the people I met with whom I had a chance to have a conversation with, in the hostels I stayed and even if just cycling very slowly alongside them for a few minutes. If any of them is reading this, I am so grateful for the opportunity to get to know you, hear your stories, your reasons for doing the Camino and other experiences you had as pilgrims.
      Some of the best experiences also came from the most challenging ones. The times I looked up a hill and thought I would not be able to climb it up, but then I did. Obviously hills are supposed to be hard to climb, but the reward when you get up there is not just the feeling of accomplishment, but the visual delights of the views. Other worthwhile experiences include things like the sounds and smells of the forests I cycled through or the coastal paths I cycled by.
      And then, there was also the simple culinary delights of a 3 course pilgrims menu, typically for less than €10 in some places, which often included excellent local wines. In Carreço, Portugal, the pilgrim’s menu at Sergio’s included a starter, a main course, desert and a full bottle of white all for €8.50. A pilgrimage is certainly not a dream holiday for many, but then a pilgrimage is often only a holiday in the sense that those who, like me, live busy professional lives, can only do them during their holidays, hence the reason young people on a gap year and retired people seem to be dominant on the Camino.
      People go on pilgrimage for a multitude of reasons, but certainly not to lay down and relax. It is quite demanding physically, even if you are fit and in a good state of health. The paths are more often than not full of sand, gravel, stones, mud and boulders which becomes especially difficult if you are climbing up or even going down steep hills.

      Back to Top
    6. How Safe is the Camino?
      All I can tell you is that I had no issues whatsoever in my Camino. There were moments I left my bike completely unattended with almost everything on it (with the exception of my documents, money and the more expensive electronic equipment). In some of these moments I locked the bike, like when I entered the Sé Cathedral in Lisbon and then at the Paroquia Dos Martires church as I was looking to buy a pilgrim’s credential which I had forgotten back home. In these moments the bike was outside on a very busy central location for at least 30 min and nothing was missing when I came back.
      I also felt safe cycling on the roads, despite the heavy traffic in places. There were a few exceptions in which I thought some drivers drove a bit too close for comfort, but in the vast majority of times the Portuguese and Spanish drivers respected a safe distance. I cannot stress enough though that some roads are really busy and you should always be careful, regardless if walking or cycling the Camino. Walkers will have to walk on roads and hard shoulders in several occasions too.
      Despite all of this, I can’t think of one moment in which I felt like I was in serious risk.

      Back to Top
    7. Where did you sleep? (Accommodation)
      The network of pilgrims’ hostels, or Albergues as they are known, is not as extensive in the Portuguese Way as it is on the French Way (from Saint Jean Pied de Port), yet that doesn’t mean it is not sufficient.
      I used 2 resources to find accommodation:

      1) Gronze.com: Probably one of the best online resources for all Caminos to Santiago. One catch is that the site is only available in Spanish, but you can use Google Translate to automatically (machine) translate the site. The site gives you all stages for all Caminos and a list of accommodations for each stage, which include not only pilgrims’ hostels, but hotels and other types of accommodation as well (camping areas, etc).

      2) A Google Sheet list of (currently) 536 places along the Portuguese Way of the Camino (all variants: Lisbon-Porto, Coastal, Central and Spiritual), created by a user named “Anonymous Goose”.This is a great resource, maintained by volunteers and frequently updated based on information received by pilgrims. The list gives you the phone numbers for all the places, in addition to estimated cost, number of beds, type of accommodation, website (when available) and physical address as well as recommendations. The list is extensive, but I printed it and used it together with the printed Gronze stages (only carried in my handlebar bag the sheets for the stages I was planning to do for that day).

      As far as my own experience goes, the places I stayed are all listed in the Google Sheets page I mentioned in question #2. I can only say that they were all clean, comfortable and functional, some even luxurious for pilgrimage standards. I am not going to say more than that as what you expect for your Camino might be very different from mine, but if you choose to stay in the same places I did, I can recommend all of them to you. Few important things to mention for cyclists, although this wasn’t an issue for me, not all places I stayed had a space to store the bike. I think I was lucky that in the places where that could have been a problem, I was the only cyclist that night, so it was always possible to find a little corner to leave the bike. For example in Coimbra I left the bike at the reception by the exit door of the hotel I stayed. If there were more bikes that night, that would have been a problem as the space was quite tight.Back to Top

So these are the 7 questions I received, but if I missed something you want to know, or if you have other questions or want more detail about my experiences on the Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago (while you wait for the Blog posts to be written and the videos to be published), just get in touch by leaving a comment here or message me through the contact form in the Blog.

Bom Caminho!  Buen Camino!

Picture Gallery.

Click on any picture for full detail

Back to Top 


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly. Become a Patron

Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 1 Average: 5]

Camino de Santiago: Here I come again (Portuguese Way)

Hello everyone!

For a while I’ve been wanting to record a video and write a post about my upcoming cycling pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, this time the Portuguese way to Santiago.

I’ve done the so called French Way between Saint Jean Pied de Port and Santiago de Compostela (and further to Fisterra) in 2015. As there are several “ways” to Santiago, there is still plenty to be explored and, as I have not done any touring in 2018, it was about time to get on the road (or track) with a bike again… for longer than the usual day trip.

I am not going to extend the writing here in this post too much, as I think I’ve said everything I wanted to say (and more) in the video below. it would be redundant, I think, to also write it all again here.

In the video I mentioned I was going to leave links to some online resources on the Portuguese Way, but I decided that, following the “index pages” I created for my previous 3 pilgrimages, I will also create an “index page” for the Portuguese way this week and put the links and online resources there. This post will be the first of hopefully many in that page.

I am travelling to Lisbon on Saturday, the 24th of August, and starting the journey by bike on Sunday the 25th. According to the web sites I looked, the distance varies depending on the path you take (even in this way of the Camino there are several options to choose). The most traditional way is apparently 620 Km long (385 miles), but I am still undecided if, from the city of Porto, I will follow the inland / central way or the coastal way (inclined to try the coastal way). In any case with my legendary navigation skills I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up doing closer to 700 Km on the bike to get to Santiago.

I am hoping the journey by bike will take 10 days and then have 2 days to rest, visit the wonderful city of Santiago again and pack my bike for the flight back to London.

It is very unlikely I will be posting here in the Blog during this journey. I am thinking of not even taking a computer with me, and I really hate having to type a lot in the small virtual keyboard of a phone. I will make every effort to post pictures in Facebook (or Instagram, if I learn how to use it properly by then) and perhaps even the odd video during the journey, so please follow the journey there if you want to know how I am doing.

It’s nearly mid-night here, and its already way past the bed time of this “child”, so I’ll end this post here.

Ultreia!


Edit: If you like the settings / environment where I recorded the video, I have writen several blog posts about the Swinley Forest already. Links below:

  1. Blue and Green Trails (also available in Portuguese AND German)
  2. Red Trail (English ONLY)

Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly. Become a Patron

Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 2 Average: 5]

Faith's Way (Caminho da Fé), Day 4: From Casa Branca to Vargem Grande do Sul (D. Cidinha)

In this post…

    1. Introduction
    2. Measures and expenses for this day (Garmin Telemetry)
    3. Stage 07: From  Casa Branca to Itobi + Video
    4. Stage 08 (+ 1/2 of 9): From Itobi to Vargem Grande do Sul (Dona Cidinha’s Hostel) + Video
    5. Pictures taken on this day.

Introduction

If this is the first post you read on this series, I recommend you take a look at the introduction post published on the 28th of February 2018. That post explains what the Faith’s Way is, my reasons for doing it and provides information that might be useful to you, if you decide you want to do it too.

In this post I will cover the 4th day of this 12 day / 600 Km journey between the town of Casa Branca and the rural hostel of Dona Cidinha (Dona translates to Mrs. in Portuguese, hence Mrs. Cidinha) via the town of Vargem Grande do Sul, all in the federal state of São Paulo.

As explained in the introduction post, based on the experience I had when creating videos for the Camino de Santiago in 2015, when I started this series my intention was to divide the distance between the major towns or urban centres as separate stages, otherwise the videos would become too long to watch. It turns out, however, that many pilgrims prefer to overnight away from urban areas in one of the many rural hostels along the caminho.

So, if I was to follow this rule, stage 7 would be between Casa Branca and Itobi, stage 8 between Itobi and Vargem Grande do Sul and stage 9 between Vargem Grande do Sul and the village of São Roque da Fartura, however as I stopped in Dona Cidinha’s hostel that night, half of stage 9 is covered here and the other half will be covered in the next post.

You can download the official map of the Caminho from the website of the Friends of the Caminho Association. From there you can also download a list of credentialed accommodations for your journey. Most places in that list are simple family owned pilgrims’ hostels. Some in very rural locations (farms) others in more urban areas. Some establishments are hotels. Family owned Pilgrims’ hostels along the way have usually a set value that includes the meals as well, typically dinner and breakfast, but all hotels listed there will also offer a reduced pilgrim’s rate provided you present them your pilgrim’s credentials.

Back to Top

Measures and expenses for this day (Garmin Telemetry)

    • Distance traveled from Casa Branca to Dona Cidinha’s Rural Hostel : 59.73 Km
    • Total duration of this journey: 7h 6min
    • Total moving time: 4h 39m
    • Overnight location at the end of the journey:
      • Dona Cidinha’s Rural Hostel (they do not speak English), +55 19 9 81700069
    • Total expenses on this day: R$ 99.00
      • Food: R$ 29.00 (Burger in Itobi)
      • Accommodation: R$ 70.00 (Includes Dinner and Breakfast)
  • Total Elevation Gain on this track: 880m
  • Average Speed: 8.0 Km/h
  • Average Moving Speed: 12.2 Km/h
  • Max Speed achieved: 61.6 Km/h
  • Average Heart Rate: 124 bpm
  • Max. Heart Rate: 160 bpm
  • Calories burned: 2,556 CAL
  • Click here to see the Garmin Connect page for this activity
CF04, Garmin Stats
Elevation, Speed and Heart Rate between Casa Branca and Dona Cidinha’s Rural Hostel on the day 4 of my Pilgrimage.

Back to Top

Stage 07: From  Casa Branca to Itobi + Video.

Pilgrims who want to experience the “true” pilgrimage experience (if there is such a thing) have to accept that pilgrims’ hostel are often a difficult place to sleep. Some people have trouble sharing a room with just one person more, imagine several. As described in the previous post, The pilgrim’s hostel  of the Catholic Church of our lady of the exile in Casa Branca has 2 large bedrooms. The one I stayed in has a little common area with a sofa, a TV and a dinning table and the room itself with 3 beds and a bathroom / toilet, which is a bit of a luxury. I don’t mind sharing, but there is nothing like having a room just for oneself. No worries about noises from people snoring (one’s one or others) and those that have to go the the toilet in the middle of the night. As I was fortunate to be the only one in the room that night, I slept very well. Bed was comfy and the temperature was perfect.

The next morning breakfast was served in the hall and was very simple. Consisted of bread, butter, different types of jam and some fruit. Coffee and milk were also available. This was the moment I stamped my pilgrim’s credentials and also signed the guest book (they leave the stamp and the book on the breakfast table). I did not meet the pilgrim ladies from the day before, but I met Andrea, who was setting up the breakfast table.

After breakfast I packed the bike and left, making the mistake of taking the room key with me. I had put the key in the back pocket of my shirt to return it to Andrea in the breakfast room, but in the hurry to leave (as it was already a bit late by that time), I forgot to do it.

I rode to the town centre of Casa Branca and visited the cathedral. The cathedral is quite impressive for the size of the town. I spend quite some time there taking pictures and appreciating the paintings in the walls and ceiling. It was at that moment I realised I still had the room key with me, so I phoned Andrea at the hostel who told me to leave it at the cathedral and someone would pick it up later. It was a relief not having to cycle back the distance from the cathedral to the hostel.

The GPS data tracked by my Garmin shows that I rode 15.61 Km between Casa Branca and Itobi, which is consistent with the distance shown in the official map of the Caminho. I did this in 1h 59m by bike, but this includes the stop at the cathedral.

I’m not going to describe the journey to Itobi as you can watch it on the video above, but as highlights I can mentioned the small forest fire that the town’s public service was putting off on the outskirts of Casa Branca and the fact that when I arrived in Itobi, I followed the yellow arrows that led me away from town. Although the same thing happened in Cravinhos on the 1st day of the pilgrimage I was still under the impression that the arrows would always take you first to the town centre or to the nearest pilgrim accommodation, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I rode about 3.5 Km and then turned back to the town centre, a 7 Km waste of time and effort, but that is part of a pilgrimage. At least I had the opportunity to have a really nice burger in Itobi after stamping my pilgrim’s credentials at the Ypê Hotel, the only credentialed pilgrims’ accommodation in the accommodation list of the friends of the caminho association.

Back to Top

Stage 08 (+ 1/2 of 9): From Itobi to Vargem Grande do Sul (Dona Cidinha’s Hostel) + Video

OK, as explained in the above introduction, the next stage should cover only the distance between the towns of Itobi and Vargem Grande do Sul, however, as I arrived at the Prince Hotel (Hotel Principe) in Vargem Grande do Sul, it was still early in the day for me, so I decided to cycle the further 15 Km to Mrs Cidinha’s hostel, which I had heard good things about before leaving to do the caminho. This is the reason why this video is a little longer than usual and why stage 9 will be broken in two. So let’s call this the stage 8 plus 1/2 of stage 9, shall we? The next half of stage 9 between the rural hostel of Dona Cidinha and the village of São Roque da Fartura, will be covered in the next post.

If you are just covering the distance between Itobi and Vargem Grande do Sul (stage 8), the Prince Hotel is one of the credentialed places for pilgrim accommodation in town. The hotel is practically inside the grounds of a petrol station, so it might be a little difficult to find. They will also stamp your pilgrim credentials and offer you a pilgrim rate if you decide to stay there.

The GPS data tracked by my Garmin shows that I rode 18 Km between Itobi and Vargem Grande do Sul, which for some reason is 3 Km more than indicated in the official map of the Caminho. After Vargem Grande do Sul I also rode a further 15.37 Km to the rural hostel I slept that night. It took me 1h 31m to cover this distance and a further 2h 36m to cover the distance between Vargem Grande do Sul and Mrs Cidinha’s rural hostel.

The journey between Itobi and Vargem Grande do Sul was largely uneventful, with exception to the fact that as I arrived in Vargem Grande the battery of my GoPRO ran out, hence the reason why there is a tiny portion of urban cycling missing from the footage, but nothing that matters. For walking pilgrims, please beware that about 13 Km of this route is along side the Father Gino Righetti road, which is paved and has moderate traffic. I did follow the yellow arrows, but unless I missed one, the distance tracked by my Garmin was 18 Km, which for some reason is 3 Km more than the distance shown in the official map of the caminho.

After stamping my pilgrim’s credential at the hotel, I rode into the town centre and did a quick stop for a picture at the town’s main church and continued the journey. As in any activity, distraction comes at a price. I somehow missed a pair of yellow signs painted at the lamp post indicating a right turn at the next crossing and that has also costed me an extra 2 Km of cycling. Thankfully I realised I was wrong early enough. After I watched the footage I came to the conclusion that the signs where indeed a little hard to see, so I have pointed them up at the video to avoid any other pilgrims making the same mistake.

In the outskirts of town there is a crossing over a dangerous highway. The arrows appear to invite the pilgrim to jump over the concrete barrier in the middle of the road, but please do NOT do that. Turn left towards the round-about at the bottom of the road (just about 250 m away) and use the round-about to cross to the other side. As I write this post a few years after being there, I am reliably informed that the route has changed slightly and that the yellow arrows now guide the pilgrims directly to the round about, but decided to leave this warning just in case.

The journey to Dona Cidinha’s hostel was the toughest part of the day. The small sand and dust filled dirt roads (at times), had hills that forced me to push my bike several times. That should explain the reason why I covered the 18 Km between Itobi and Vargem Grande do Sul in 1h 31m, but the 15.37 Km from Vargem Grande do Sul to Dona Cidinha’s rural hostel in 2h 36m.

I arrived at the rural hostel as the sun was setting on the horizon, which was a really nice way to end the day. The hostel is in a hill and the views from there are great. Dona Cidinha and Mr Francisco were already expecting me as I had phoned ahead. Again I was fortunate (?) to be the only pilgrim in the hostel that night, so I had the entire house for me (the hostel is a in separate building from the house of the hosts). Mr Francisco brought the home made dinner for me that night and it was delicious. They are a very nice and gentle couple and I truly recommend that you stayed with them if you don’t mind the fact the the hostel is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and that there is no WiFi there (4G signal was OK though). The hostel is large and in its 4 bedrooms and living room it can accommodate about 20 pilgrims at once. They have a large bathroom / toilet inside the house and a small toilet in the outside barbecue place, where there are also several tables and chairs. The bedroom I stayed had a double and a single bed. The other rooms have a mix of bunk beds and single beds. The living room has a sofa and a TV and also contains a single bed and a bunk bed. The hostel has also a large and fully equipped kitchen with a long table, a fridge, a freezer and a microwave oven.

The guest book contains a few notes in Spanish and English indicating that, despite its remoteness, people from several nationalities visited there. The walls of the hostel are covered with pictures and post cards sent by previous visitors and you can really spend hours looking at all of them if you want.

Back to Top

Pictures taken on this day.

Click on any picture for full detail

The following pictures are photos taken from the Guest Book pages of the pilgrims’ hostel at the Catholic Church of our lady of the exile in Casa Branca, São Paulo, Brazil.

Back to Top

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form. Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Tweeter feed also. Thank you all for your time and “Bom Caminho!”.


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly. Become a Patron

Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 1 Average: 5]

07/29. Via Francigena, Châlons-en-Champagne to Brienne-le-Château [GPX File]

This GPS file represents the route I took between these two locations during my Via Francigena pilgrimage by bike from Canterbury, in the UK, to Rome, in Italy.

The route contains mistakes and tracks I may not recommend you to take, so it is important to read the respective posts for more context.

Use of this resource at your own risk.

 

Look for details here:

Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 0 Average: 0]

Faith's Way (Caminho da Fé), Day 03: From Santa Rosa de Viterbo to Casa Branca

In this post…

    1. Introduction
    2. Measures and expenses for this day (Garmin Telemetry)
    3. Stage 05: From  Santa Rosa de Viterbo to Tambaú + Video
    4. Stage 06: From Tambaú to Casa Branca + Video
    5. Pictures taken on this day.

Introduction

If this is the first post you read on this series, I recommend you take a look at the introduction post published on the 28th of February 2018. That post explains what the Faith’s Way is, my reasons for doing it and provides information that might be useful to you, if you decide you want to do it too.

In this post I will cover the 3rd day of this 12 day / 600 Km journey between the town of Santa Rosa de Viterbo and the town of Casa Branca via the town of Tambaú, all in the federal state of São Paulo.

As explained in the introduction post, I broke the entire journey into 21 stages, as per the official map of the Caminho. There will be 1 video for each stage of the journey, so the blog post for this day contains two videos. One covering the journey between Santa Rosa de Viterbo and Tambaú and the other covering the journey between Tambaú and Casa Branca.

You can download the official map of the Caminho from the website of the Friends of the Caminho Association. From there you can also download a list of credentialed accommodations for your journey. Most places in that list are simple family owned pilgrims’ hostels. Some in very rural locations (farms) others in more urban areas. Some establishments are hotels. Family owned Pilgrims’ hostels along the way have usually a set value that includes the meals as well, typically dinner and breakfast, but all hotels listed there will also offer a reduced pilgrim’s rate provided you present them your pilgrim’s credentials.

Back to Top

Measures and expenses for this day (Garmin Telemetry)

  • Distance traveled from Santa Rosa de Viterbo to Casa Branca: 60.19 Km
  • Total duration of this journey: 6 h 15 min
  • Total moving time: 4h 14m
  • Overnight location at the end of the journey:
  • Total expenses on this day: R$ 70.00
    • Food: R$ 20.00 (dinner – delivery)
    • Accommodation: R$ 50.00 (Breakfast incl)
    • PS. Normally the care takers of the hostel offer dinner and breakfast together with the accommodation for R$ 70.00, but the day I was there was normal a normal day for them. Read the post below to understand why.
  • Total Elevation Gain on this track: 620m
  • Average Speed: 9.6 Km/h
  • Max Speed achieved: 57.8 Km/h
  • Average Heart Rate: 128 bpm
  • Max. Heart Rate: 163 bpm
  • Calories burned: 2,347 CAL
  • Click here to see the Garmin Connect page for this activity
Garmin Telemetry, Santa Rosa de Viterbo - Casa Branca
Elevation, Speed and Heart Rate between Santa Rosa de Viterbo and Casa Branca

Back to Top

Stage 05: From  Santa Rosa de Viterbo to Tambaú + Video.

The night at the Malim Hotel was good. There was no TV in my room, but these days, who needs a TV when you have WiFi? Breakfast was good and plentiful too and I took my time enjoying it. Even spent almost 30 minutes that morning talking to the receptionist of the hotel, trying to understand if the town had any relation to the town of Viterbo in Italy, which is also along another pilgrimage route known as Via Francigena, that I completed in 2016 (it does, btw, but that was explained in the previous post).

The official map of the Caminho indicated that the distance between Santa Rosa de Viterbo and Tambaú was of 36 Km which is one of the longest stretches of the Caminho. To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to the same long stretches of fine sand and dust from the day before, but I decided to leave the hotel and follow the yellow arrows to see how the way was and decide later if I was going to stick on the original path or try to find an alternative route, if one was available.

Regional SP-332 Highway between Santa Rosa de Viterbo and Tambaú
Regional SP-332 Highway between Santa Rosa de Viterbo and Tambaú

So, I rode on the Caminho path for about 5.0 Km, following the yellow arrows on the dirt road. The terrain, however, was as sandy and difficult as those in the day before, and I was a tired and bored with the poor performance of the previous 2 days, so I decided to look for an alternative in Google Maps. I knew, from talking to the hotel staff in the morning, there was a paved road to Tambaú that followed in parallel to the Caminho path. At the little village of Nhumirim, 5 Km from Santa Rosa de Viterbo, instead of turning left at the yellow arrow indicating the Caminho path (see in the video), I followed on for another 2 Km to take the SP-332, a regional highway, to Tambaú. Therefore I obviously cannot show you the original caminho path from Nhumirim to Tambaú and I’ll leave it up to you to decide what to do if you find yourself in that position, but I can tell you that I do not regret having done the remaining 23 Km on the highway. I felt safe on that road due to the wide hard-shoulders and the fact that most of the drivers respected the 1.5 m distance. That route also did cut 6 Km of the distance between Santa Rosa de Viterbo and Tambaú and allowed me to cover these 23 remaining Km in 1h and 20 min, an average of 17 Km/h which was almost double the average of the day before. If you are on a bike I would recommend this route to you, but if you are walking, even though I don’t how the way is, it would be probably safer to stick to the Caminho path.

Tambaú Town Hall. It used to be Tambaú's old railway station.
Tambaú Town Hall. It used to be Tambaú’s old railway station.

Another downside of not following the original path is that you don’t have the yellow arrows to guide you anymore, so you will have to find your own method of navigation. I decided to ride the the town hall of Tambaú as typically this is one of the places you can get information about the path and also stamp your credential, but that was not the case. As I got to the town hall the staff told me that Caminho pilgrims are usually served at the town’s tourism information office / dept which was, however, not far from that location. Tambaú is not a village, but it is not a big town either, so everything is relatively close.

Tambaú's Tourism Department is where you can get your pilgrim's credential stamped.
Tambaú’s Tourism Department is where you can get your pilgrim’s credential stamped.

After having my pilgrim’s credential stamped at the tourism information office and, as I had gotten to Tambaú much quicker than I expected (had I followed the original Caminho path), I could afford a longer rest time there. The office has a cold water fountain available for the pilgrim’s at the lower level and I had a little snack I had brought with me. Even had time to do a quick chat with my children back in the UK. I had the feeling that Tambaú would have been a nice place to spend the night, but it was too early for me, so after 30 min or so, I resumed the journey following the yellow arrows towards Casa Branca, the next destination in the path. For those willing to stay in Tambaú the Eliana Hotel is right in front of the Tourism Information Office and is a credentialed hotel with special rates for pilgrims (requires the pilgrims’ credentials).

Back to Top

Stage 06: From Tambaú to Casa Branca + Video

The 30 min rest I had in Tambaú helped a lot in terms of motivation for the next stage of the path. I left with the decision that I would return to the original caminho path and follow the yellow arrows all the way to Casa Branca, regardless of how bad it was. I also don’t regret that decision, but I could, again, have saved 3.87 Km of the journey and, perhaps, prevented one of the 3 tumbles I had during the pilgrimage, had I taken the paved road between Tambaú and Casa Branca. One of my goals was to be able to show the Caminho da Fé to others as it is. I did, however, highlight that point in the video where you can take the decision of staying on the shorter paved road or taking the longer dirt tracks to Casa Branca,

P1090306
Interior of the church in Tambaú

As I was making my way out of Tambaú I rode by the town’s main church, the so called Sanctuary of our Lady Aparecida (not to be confused with the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Aparecida do Norte) a church built by father Donizetti Tavares de Lima who was noted for his extensive work in the region and famed for his reported miracles and other wonders.

As I mentioned above, it was in this part of the journey which I took the 2nd of the 3 tumbles I had throughout my journey to Aparecida. Some of the dirt roads and tracks of the original caminho are farm tracks with a lot of fine sand and the sand banks are sometimes difficult to spot in the distance. All it takes is a moment of distraction for you to kiss the ground. In my case I was going down a little hill, picked up some speed and when the front wheel hit a sand bank it skidded to the right. Thankfully there were no injures or damage on this little accident. I also highlighted this incident in the video.

P1090319
Pilgrims on foot, about 10 Km before Casa Branca

About 10 Km before Casa Branca I met 3 female pilgrims on foot who started their journey in Tambaú earlier that day. They wanted to walk all the way to Aparecida, but were considering of doing it over several different moments i.e. walking a portion of the pilgrimage, going home, then coming back a few days later to the point they stopped, walking another portion and repeating this until they got to Aparecida. This is also a valid pilgrimage option for those who don’t have the time to do it all in one go. I met one of these 3 ladies as I arrived at the pilgrims’ hostel later that evening as she wasn’t feeling well and took the rural bus to town. Her 2 friends decided to walk the rest of the caminho to Casa Branca and only arrived late that night.

Right after arriving in Casa Branca the gimbal’s batteries died, so a small portion of the video at the end was recorded with the camera mounted on the handlebar, hence the increased shakiness of the image.

P1090326
Catholic Church of our lady of the exile in Casa Branca

As I arrived at the Catholic Church of our lady of the exile in Casa Branca, where the pilgrim’s hostel is,  I was told to go talk to Mr José or Mrs Maria, his wife. They are the care takers of the pilgrims’ hostel and for a flat rate of R$ 70.00 they usually offer dinner and breakfast to the pilgrims, in addition to the accommodation. This night in particular, Mr José told me that his wife would not be able to cook dinner as their son had been kidnapped by criminals that day, who stole his motorcycle and spanked beat him causing him to be admitted into the local hospital. Mrs Maria was understandably very nervous and stressed about that all situation. Their son later appeared and despite the beating he was OK. Because of the lack of dinner Mr José charged us with only R$ 50.00 for the accommodation and breakfast the next day.

P1090334
Night view of the Catholic Church of our lady of the exile in Casa Branca

After getting settled and having a shower, Mr José show me to the laundry area and I placed all my dirty clothes in the simple washing machine available there. Soap was also provided as well as indoor hanging lines.

The 3 pilgrim ladies and I ordered food to be delivered from a supplier recommended by Mr José, which cost exactly the R$ 20.00 we would have to paid him for dinner. Food arrived quickly, was plentiful, warm and delicious. A big plastic cup of delicious freshly squeezed orange juice came with it, as per my order. Although the room I was in had 3 beds I was the only pilgrim to sleep in it that night, The other 3 pilgrim ladies shared another room and I believe we were the only pilgrims in the hostel that night. My room had a private bathroom/toilet (suite) as well as a small separate living area with a table and a TV and although reception was not excellent it allowed me to watch the evening news while I was having dinner.

The weather that night was excellent. Not very warm, but not cold either, perfect for a little walk around the church grounds and for some night pictures.

Back to Top

Pictures taken on this day.

Click on any picture for full detail

Back to Top

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form. Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Tweeter feed also. Thank you all for your time and “Bom Caminho!”.


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly. Become a Patron





Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 2 Average: 5]

Royal Wedding Ride to Windsor Castle

This article is not available in Portuguese and German animated GIF

In two days (19th May) the UK is going to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince Henry of Wales (or Harry, as he is more popularly known); Princess Diana’s second Son. He is marrying actress Rachel Meghan Markle at the St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle where the Queen and Prince Philip live for most of the year. I will not get into any details about their wedding as the media has been and will be covering the event extensively and in every minute detail. On the days prior to and on the wedding day, I expect the town of Windsor will be completely taken by government officials, security personal, diplomats, rich people, not so rich, but curious people and tourists, so for me in particular Windsor is a “no go” destination in the period.

Thankfully, the 7th of May was a bank holiday in the UK and it was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining, the skies were clear and the temperature was ideal for a bike ride. So, as I mentioned the royal wedding at the end of the video, I decided to call this ride the “Royal Wedding Ride to Windsor Castle” and I took the opportunity to start it from Bracknell’s, new town centre, called “The Lexicon“, so I could show it to you all as well (the old town centre was demolished a few years ago to give way to the construction of The Lexicon, an investment estimated at approx. £750 million).

Windsor is a regular cycling destination for me. If you look through the blog you’ll see I have recorded several rides to Windsor over the last 3 years. Actually, let me do this job for you…

On the 19th of July 2015 I published a post containing a 9 min 37 sec time-lapse video starting from Bracknell’s train station, but using a different route which takes me by the entrance of the Legoland Park in Windsor and then through some private roads of a farm which I suspect belongs to the crown.

On the 20th of September 2015 I published a post containing a 1h long video in “normal mode” of my ride from my home in Bracknell to Windsor Castle. On this post I also published a 10 min video of my walking around the centre of Windsor starting from Windsor Castle where the video above stopped.

On the 18th October 2015 I again posted another post of a mid-autumn bike ride to Windsor containing the video of the ride from Bracknell to Windsor and the way back from Windsor to Bracknell . The first video is only 2 min and 31 sec long as it was a 5 second interval time-lapse recording. I did use the same route and rode from home to the old Bracknell Town Centre, but on my way back to Bracknell, I used the same Legoland Park route as on the post of the 19th of July one.

On the 8th of February 2016 I published a post containing 2 videos: An 8 min and 37 sec time-lapse video from Bracknell’s South Hill Park, using pretty much the same route as the one I used in this post, and also a video of the way back to Bracknell , using the same Legoland Park route as on the way back of the above post.

These post show only the rides to Windsor that I recorded. The distance between my home to Windsor is, for me, the perfect training length and I have often also used Windsor as a destination to do “full load” test rides in advance of long touring trips such as the one I did to Rome in 2016.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form. Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Tweeter feed also.

Thank you for your time!


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly. Become a Patron


Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 5 Average: 5]

Faith's Way (Caminho da Fé), Day 02: From Cravinhos to Santa Rosa de Viterbo

In this post…

    1. Introduction
    2. Measures and expenses for this day (Garmin Telemetry)
    3. Stage 03: From  Cravinhos to São Simão + Video
    4. Stage 04: From São Simão to Santa Rosa de Viterbo + Video
    5. Pictures taken on this day.

Introduction

If this is the first post you read on this series, I recommend you take a look at the introduction post published on the 28th of February 2018. That post explains what the Faith’s Way is, my reasons for doing it and provides information that might be useful to you, if you decide you want to do it too.

In this post I will cover the 2nd day of this 12 day, 600 Km, journey between the town of Cravinhos and the town of Santa Rosa de Viterbo, both in the federal state of São Paulo.

As explained in the introduction post, I broke the entire journey into 21 stages, as per the official map of the Caminho. There will be 1 video for each stage of the journey, so the blog post for this day contains two videos. One covering the journey between Cravinhos and São Simão and the other between São Simão and Santa Rosa de Viterbo.

You can download the official map of the Caminho from the website of the Friends of the Caminho Association. From there you can also download a list of credentialed accommodations for your journey. Most places in that list are simple family owned pilgrims’ hostels. Some in very rural locations (farms) others in more urban areas. Some establishments are hotels. Family owned Pilgrims’ hostels along the way have usually a set value that includes the meals as well, typically dinner and breakfast, but all hotels listed there will also offer a reduced pilgrim’s rate provided you present them your pilgrim’s credentials.

Back to Top

Measures and expenses for this day (Garmin Telemetry)

  • Distance traveled from Cravinhos to Santa Rosa de Viterbo: 59.02 Km
  • Total duration of this journey: 6h 40m
  • Total moving time: 4h 57m
  • Overnight location at the end of the journey:
  • Total expenses on this day: R$ 92.50
    • Food: R$ 17.50 (dinner at a local restaurant)
    • Accommodation: R$ 75.00 (Breakfast incl)
  • Total Elevation Gain on this track: 658m
  • Average Speed: 8.9 Km/h
  • Max Speed achieved: 45.2 Km/h
  • Average Heart Rate: 132 bpm
  • Max. Heart Rate: 158 bpm
  • Calories burned: 2,815 CAL
  • Click here to see the Garmin Connect page for this activity
Elevation, Speed and Heart Rate between Cravinhos and Santa Rosa de Viterbo
Elevation, Speed and Heart Rate between Cravinhos and Santa Rosa de Viterbo (Click to open full screen).

Back to Top

Stage 03: From  Cravinhos to São Simão + Video.

A good night of sleep was all it took to recover from the exposure to sun, the dust and sand and the mistakes of the previous day. The breakfast table at the hotel had plenty of the most important things to sustain me for the entire day (among others ham, cheese, scrambled eggs, variety of jam and bread, fruit and cereal).

I had washed the clothes of the day before in the bathroom and they were all dry. The hotel has a backyard where I was able to also wash the bike with a hose and add some oil to the chain. Pilgrims in a hurry to get to their destination, perhaps would have to wake up very early in the morning to accomplish all these tasks before leaving, but fortunately that was not my case. I woke up around 8:00 am and only left the hotel at around 10:30am.

After leaving the hotel the challenge was to get back on track and I did not see any yellow arrows pointing the direction from the hotel. The plan was to ride back to town and continue from the point I had made my mistake the day before, but well before the town centre I rode by the other hotel in the official list of accommodations, the Girassol Hotel, right before the petrol station I stopped to ask for directions.

I never cease to be impressed by how easy it is to make friends in Brazil. At the petrol station I met fellow pilgrim João Candosim who pointed me to the yellow arrow some 100m after the petrol station and later became a Facebook friend.

If you watch the video of the prior stage and the one for this stage, you’ll see that from a certain point the images should become familiar as I followed the same route all the way to the “Frango Assado” petrol station at the edge of the Anhangüera Motorway (SP-330).

A note of advice, especially for pilgrims on bicycles, is to be aware of the stray dogs as you leave town. They all came running to me barking a lot, but I believe none of them had the intention of attacking me. They were just letting me know that this was their territory. I dismounted the bike and looked at them without fear and they soon calmed down.

I did a quick pit-stop to get some cold water at the same petrol station I asked for direction the day before and met a couple of “bicigrinos” (bicycle pilgrims) like me who were also planning to ride to Aparecida from that point. They had left from Ribeirão Preto that morning and were riding on the motorway (which in Brazil is allowed) despite being on full suspension mountain bikes, which would be ideal for the dirt tracks of the Caminho. There is no right or wrong. Each person’s pilgrimage is their own.

After the petrol station I continued on the dirt track and few kilometres later I got the a place with a small statue of our lady. Was a nice and well preserved place, ideal for some rest, water and a little prayer. I also replaced the gimbal batteries and to my bad luck forgot the spare batteries there. They were later found by fellow pilgrims, but sending them back to me was not economically viable.

I was replacing the gimbal batteries after each 90 min of use, which was enough time for the batteries to charge inside my handlebar bag were I was carrying a big 25,000 mAh power bank. Having lost the spare batteries meant that for the rest of the journey I would have to stop using the gimbal, while the only remaining batteries were charging (charge times varied from between 45 min to 1h). I continued recording the journey with the GoPro without the gimbal while the batteries were charging, but this meant a huge increase in the shakiness of the images, which you’ll probably notice in the video.

A good portion of this dirt track was along the motorway and there were some interesting views along the way, including the view of burned fields which are unfortunately common this time of the year due to high temperatures, lack of rain and other less natural reasons.

Up to the point where I crossed under the motorway there were significant less sand and dust than the day before (firmer ground), but after that point the tracks become very sandy and dusty again, to the point that, if you are on a bike, you’ll probably have to dismount and push quite often. In this stage you’ll have to ride or walk on a state highway (SP-253) for a few kilometres before continuing on a dirt track along the paved road. I felt safe on that road as it has a nicely flat and wide hard shoulder to ride on and most drivers were opening a distance between me and their cars as they crossed.

Just before arriving in São Simão you’ll have to cross railway tracks and I waited so long taking pictures that by the time I was ready to cross them I had to with for the incoming cargo train to pass, which took several minutes as it was a very long train.

The town of São Simão is small and the yellow arrows were close to each other, practically eliminating the possibility of getting lost. Before arriving at the São Simão Hotel, the one option for accommodation on the official guide and the place where you can get your pilgrim’s credential stamped, I stopped to talk to a couple of gents that were washing some cars and asked if I could throw some water on the bike to get rid of the dust. They asked me where I was coming from and where I was going to. They had heard of the Caminho da Fé, but neither one of them knew that the yellow arrows were in their town were there to guide the pilgrims to Aparecida do Norte. Now they know 🙂

The São Simão Hotel was a welcoming place. Got my pilgrim’s credentials stamped and filled my water bottles with cold water. They also offered me some fruit, but I declined.

Back to Top

Stage 04: From São Simão to Santa Rosa de Viterbo + Video

As I left the São Simão Hotel I did a small detour to visit the grandmother of a fellow pilgrim who I got to know through the Facebook group of the Friends of the Caminho Association. Once I explained who I was and why I was there, Mrs Vera Burin and her daughter Angelica welcomed me, a stranger, almost as if I was a member of the family. This is one of the most amazing aspect of the Brazilian culture. The ability to trust and welcome strangers. A bit like how the Irish view them, “a stranger is just a friend that you’ve never met before“. The difference between Brazil and Ireland, however, are the obvious dangers due to the high level of criminality, mainly in big cities. Yet, people still trust and help each other. I like to leave my sincere “thank you” not only to Mrs Ver and her daughter Angelica, but also to her grandson, André who told me about them and asked me to go say “Hi”. Unfortunately I was a bit of in a hurry at the time and had to decline their invitation for coffee, but it was wonderful to have met them.

As a pilgrim, however, I’ve been the receiver of other people’s generosity in other occasions too and every time this has happened it strengthen my belief that most people in the world are good and that the good in the world by far outweigh the bad. Perhaps it is because there is so much good that we have difficulty in eliminating the bad in our societies.

As the batteries of the gimbal were still charging in the handlebar bag I decided to place the camera in the waterproof casing and mount it on the handlebar. That increased the level of shakiness a lot, so in later recordings, when the use of the gimbal was not possible I started to mount the camera on the helmet as I believed the shaking would not bad as bad on my head as it was on the handlebar. The difference was not significant though. I also tried to use the gimbal more on rougher surfaces, so when I was riding on paved roads I’ve often stopped using the gimbal and put the batteries to charge instead.

Leaving the town of São Simão you will walk or ride for about 3 Km on the SP-253 highway. The hard shoulder on this road wasn’t as wide as before São Simão, but the drivers appeared to be respecting a healthy distance between them and my bike. Care is however advised.

After about 3 Km on the SP-253 you turn left crossing over the road to get back to dirt roads again and a considerable amount of sand and dust. By that time the gimbal batteries were fully charged and I was able to mount the camera on the chest mount again.

P1090289At some points the dirt road becomes quite narrow and some of these roads had a much higher level of traffic than the previous dirt roads I had to ride on. As cars and trucks passed me they lifted a lot of fine dust which made breathing harder than usual due to my asthma. A lot of coughing at some points on this road (some highlighted on the video). Also pushing the bike was necessary in quite a few portions of this track as the sand was simply too deep to even attempt to ride (no traction at all). In spite of this, there were also some beautiful portions of this track among pine trees and forest which offered some shade and helped protect from the sun a little.

As you approach Santa Rosa de Viterbo you’ll re-join the SP-253 again, which makes it worth noting that for those who don’t want to follow the “official” Caminho way, the journey will be a lot shorter and quicker if you stick to the road. It may be also more dangerous to cycle or walk on the road though, so that will be a decision you’ll often will have to make if you want to comfort of paved roads against the challenges of cycling off-road. As you arrive in the outskirts of Santa Rosa de Viterbo you’ll be happy to know that there is a 1.5 km segregated bike lane alongside the road right into the town which makes cycling a lot safer.

The Malim Hotel is the only place listed in the official accommodation guide. The guide indicates there are two options of accommodation in the hotel: A R$ 60.00 option and a R$ 85.00 option, but I believe the guide was a bit out-of-date, perhaps due to inflation or price rises. It is always a good option to call ahead and ask what the going rate is if you want to avoid any surprises. I paid R$ 75.00 for a small room with a private bathroom, but no air-con or TV. Fancier rooms will cost you about R$ 90.00.

Finding the hotel is easy. You just have to stick to the main street and the hotel will be on the left hand side.

The hotel has a bike rack on the back which is protected, but you need to be able to lock the bike in place as staff will not be looking out for your bike. It felt like a safe place to me, but I locked the bike and removed anything of value from it anyway. On the back there is also a hose and a place for you to wash your bike, if you need to.

After a good shower and some rest I left the hotel on foot and walked for about 10 min to a restaurant called Issagawa Neto & Cia that was recommended by the hotel’s reception. There weren’t many open places to eat at that time and the town is quite small. You’ll have to option of set 3 course meals for as little as R$ 17.50 with a soft drink and the food is tasty and plentiful. You will leave with your bellies full.

Went back to the hotel, browsed the web a little and checked email. The Hotel has free WiFi and the signal was good in the room I was in.

Although there were a few mosquitos in the room I was able to sleep very well. Always good if you can take a can of odourless repellent with you. In some places mosquitos may be an issue especially in hot nights and rural areas. That’s how my second day ended.

Back to Top

Pictures taken on this day.

Click on any picture for full detail

Back to Top

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form. Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Tweeter feed also. Thank you all for your time and “Bom Caminho!”.


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly. Become a Patron

Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 3 Average: 5]

Faith's Way (Caminho da Fé), Day 01: From Sertãozinho to Cravinhos

In this post…

    1. Introduction
    2. Measures and expenses for this day (Garmin Telemetry)
    3. From  Sertãozinho to Dumont + Video
    4. From Dumont to Cravinhos + Video
    5. Pictures taken on this day.

Introduction

If this is the first post you read on this series, I recommend you take a look at the introduction post published on the 28th of February 2018. That post explains what the Faith’s Way is, my reasons for doing it and provides information that might be useful to you, if you decide you want to do it too.

In this post I will cover the 1st day of this 12 day, 600 Km, journey between the town of Sertãozinho, were I started my pilgrimage, and the town of Cravinhos, both in the federal state of São Paulo.

As explained in the introduction post, I broke the entire journey into 21 stages, as per the official map of the Caminho. There will be 1 video for each stage of the journey, so the blog post for this day contains two videos. Once covering the journey between Sertãozinho and Dumont and another between Dumont and Cravinhos.

You can download the official map of the Caminho from the website of the Friends of the Caminho Association. From there you can also download a list of credentialed accommodations for your journey. Most places in that list are simple family owned pilgrims’ hostels. Some in very rural locations (farms) others in more urban areas. Some establishments are hotels. Family owned Pilgrims’ hostels along the way have usually a set value that includes the meals as well, typically dinner and breakfast, but all hotels listed there will also offer a reduced pilgrim’s rate provided you present them your pilgrim’s credentials.

Back to Top

Measures and expenses for this day (Garmin Telemetry)

  • Distance traveled from Sertãozinho to Cravinhos71.54 Km
    • Please read item number 4 in this post, as this includes navigation errors on my part.
  • Total duration of this journey: 8h 25m
  • Overnight location at the end of the journey:
  • Total expenses on this day: R$ 120.90
    • Food: R$ 58.90 (pizza delivered to hotel, managed to eat only 1/2)
    • Accommodation: R$ 62.00 (Breakfast incl)
  • Total Elevation Gain on this track: 1,178m
  • Average Speed: 8.5 Km/h
  • Max Speed achieved: 46.5 Km/h
  • Average Heart Rate: 146 bpm
  • Max. Heart Rate: 180 bpm
  • Calories burned: 4,286 CAL
  • Click here to see the Garmin Connect page for this activity
First day on the Faith's Way
First day on the Faith’s Way

Back to Top

From  Sertãozinho to Dumont + Video.


Being interviewed by Glogo TV Network at the hotel's parking lot.As planned the night before I woke up early and went downstairs to have breakfast with the TV crew of Globo TV. They took a lot of shoots of the crew having breakfast and helped me with some pictures. Before leaving we shoot the interview outside at the hotel’s car park, which, for several reasons, such as external noise and mistakes, required many takes. For example, during the interview I mentioned that the recordings were going to be done in Time-lapse format with a GoPRO 4, and the mere mentioned of the brand invalidated the take (advertising).

From everything that was recorded during the interview in that morning, only a tiny portion was actually aired. In my 3 seconds of fame in national television I appear saying the Caminho was mostly done on dirt tracks, hence the reason it was going to be difficult. At first this sounds kind of obvious, but what was missing there was the fact that we were speaking about my previous pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela and Rome (Via Francigena) and how most of them were on paved roads, so, since the Faith’s Way is mostly on dirt tracks, I considered this pilgrimage would be a lot harder than the previous ones, even though the distance was shorter. That’s OK though. Glad to have had the exposure I did.


P1090200After the interview the drone operator followed me in their car and did some aerial shoots of me as well as instructed me to do certain things, which otherwise wouldn’t be in my nature to do, such as to raise my arms at the statue of our lady by the town’s gate. Due to these activities I actually left Sertãozinho quite late, at around 10:30am. About 1 Km after the small statue of our lady were the last aerial shot was taken by the drone operator (you’ll see it in the video), I crossed underneath the motorway and took a small road out of town which soon turned into a dirt road.

A guy on a motorbike rode parallel to me for a few meters and the biker asked me questions such as were I was going and if I was alone. I was honestly very reluctant to talk to him as many robbers use this method to steal. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and my ride to the small town of Dumont was uneventful, despite the very thin sand and dust on the roads as it hadn’t rained for over 2 months there.

Almost the entire path is done among sugar cane plantations, so the views aren’t that great, but there are places worth a few pictures along this way.

Back to Top

From Dumont to Cravinhos + Video

Coffee Plantation on the left and the small town of Dumont in the background
Coffee Plantation on the left and the small town of Dumont in the background

As I arrived in Dumont I stopped for some pictures and to determine were to stamp my pilgrim’s credential. I figured out that the pilgrims’ hostel in the list of accommodations was actually outside of town and moved on.

This hostel is maintained by the Veronezi family in their property outside of town. As I arrived at the Veronezi farm, I turned left and went to the meat shop (Casa Veronezi) were the lose stones at the car park caused me to fall off my bike for the 1st time. It was a really stupid fall due to the fact the front wheel skidded on the lose stones on the ground and my right foot got stuck in the pedal straps. Unfortunately I ended up tearing my Castelli leg warmer in the process, a little piece of cycling wear I was very fond of 🙁

Met with Alvaro at the meat house who directed me to the hostel were I met his mother Ms Helena Veronezi. Alvaro runs the meat house while Mrs Helena takes care of the pilgrims and runs the hostel. Very nice people. Ms Helena stamped my credentials and offered me water and fruit. As I left the Veronezi’s I was told there would be a locked gate by their fish pond, but that I should just ask their daughter to open the gate for me at the bar near the lake, so I did.

Zé Goleiro Bar
Zé Goleiro Bar

Continuing on dirt tracks among the sugar cane plantations I got to Zé Goleiro bar (José, the Goalkeeper’s bar), an establishment that has been there in the middle of nowhere since 1937 which is now run by Zé Goleiro´s son as Zé Goleiro died in 2009. Very interesting place with a lot of stuff hanging from the ceiling.

The map of the Caminho indicates the distance between Dumont and Cravinhos is of 37 Km, but the map doesn’t indicate the point in Cravinhos where those 37 Km end. The two establishments listed in the accommodation guide for Cravinhos are somewhat on the outskirts of the town, especially the one I decided to spend the night in, the Cravinhos Park Hotel, which out of the two appeared to be the better one and did accept credits cards also (although not highlighted in the guide).

As I got to Cravinhos, I made the mistake of assuming the yellow arrows would lead me to these establishments. Unless I’ve missed an arrow somewhere, they didn’t seem to. I honestly only saw yellow arrows pointing in the direction I went.

Red line is the path I took. Blue line is the path I should have taken.
Red line is the path I took. Blue line is the path I should have taken.

Unfortunately, as stubborn as I am, I continued blindly following the arrows out of town, only stopping at a petrol station some 7 to 8 Km out of town to ask for directions. To be honest, there wasn’t anyone available to ask for directions outside of town anyway, but I should have turned back earlier.

Once the staff at the petrol station told me how far back I would have to ride to get to the hotel I was faced with the decision of going back or moving forward. I decided to go back because it was already getting dark and according to the map the nearest town was 31 Km away, perhaps a little nearer since I had already done about 7 Km out of town, so I decided to go back. This led me to ride an additional 18.69 Km, in other words, I rode 55.69 Km in total between Dumont and Cravinhos that day. So take notice of that, if you plan to start your pilgrimage from Sertãozinho as I did.

I have arrived at the hotel in the dark of night, which wasn’t cool, but it all belongs to the adventure. In a pilgrimage you should always expect the unexpected.

Back to Top

Pictures taken on this day.

Click on any picture for full detail

Back to Top

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form. Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Tweeter feed also.

Thank you all for your time and “Bom Caminho!”.


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.

Become a Patron

Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 4 Average: 5]

06/29. Via Francigena, Reims to Châlons-en-Champagne [GPX File]

This GPS file represents the route I took between these two locations during my Via Francigena pilgrimage by bike from Canterbury, in the UK, to Rome, in Italy.

The route contains mistakes and tracks I may not recommend you to take, so it is important to read the respective posts for more context.

Use of this resource at your own risk.

 

Look for details here: https://wp.me/p60ak1-1jb

Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 0 Average: 0]