I missed spinning class today again. It’s becoming a bad habit and bad habits need to be broken, so I decided I am going to try harder to cycle at least 2x (perhaps 3x) a week, no matter the weather.
Well, let’s make an exception for when is raining shall we?
So, it was about 6pm here and the sun had long gone. It was a really dark night today. Should I, perhaps, have chosen a more moon lit night to record the ride? I can always record it again.
Before you start watching the video, I have a few confessions to make:
I lied! I am a member of a secret Ninja society (in my dreams at least).
I am not, however, and never have been a thief, unless stealling female hearts count (in my dreams at least).
I was a bit overdressed and when I got back home was dripping sweat. The weather has been very mild this week, but I prefer sweating a little than to feel cold… and once you’re out, you never really know what you´re going to get in this country.
The sound quality of my speech at the start of the video was pretty bad, so I voiced over it in editing.
This was essentially the same 21 Km route (with a few minor changes), I did with my children last weekend.
With that said, let´s go ride!
If you like the post or the video, feel free to, errr… “Like” and Share it on social media or click on the stars below to let me know how I am doing.
Thank you!
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How many of you, reading this post, have kids? If you do, perhaps this post will resonate with you.
One of the most difficult things for me, when my kids are staying with me, is to get them outdoors. By that I mean, to get them to do an outdoor activity like going out for a bike ride. If it is not going out for shopping or for a nice meal, all they want to do is to stay home and interact with their “screens” (Tables, Smartphones, PlayStation, TV, etc.).
It had been a while since I had a bike ride with them and today was such a nice day that I had to “put the foot down” (whoever watched “Inside out” with their kids will remember this). Well, in my case, “put my foot down” was followed by a bribe… the promise of a nice meal in one of our local pubs, the Peacock Farm, which they love (food is really great).
I guess cyclist parents want their kids to like their sport of choice, as much as football or rugby parents want their kids to like theirs. The competition with the screen is tough though, but there is nothing that a bribe won‘t get you these days with them. We thought them, perhaps, too well to negotiate in their favour.
Nevertheless it was a great day out… sunny and colourful. Hope you enjoy the video.
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The wonderful British Autumn season… Leaves are turning yellow, red and falling.
Last time I recorded a ride to Windsor was in the beginning of Autumn and the recording was over 1h long and probably no one watched it until the end, so I thought it was about time to record it again, but this time on a time-lapse photography fashion which compresses the entire ride in just a few minutes.
I have also separated the rides to Windsor and from Windsor in two different videos.
From Bracknell to Windsor.
From Windsor to Bracknell
Took a slightly different route on my return, a bit faster and more urban (more roads).
Hope you enjoy it and if you do, please like and share or at least click on the stars below to let me know how I am doing.
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Welcome to the DAY 7 post of my Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage by bike which happened on the 31st of May 2015. I did his stage of 81 Km or 50.33 miles from the tiny village of Calzadilla de la Cueza to León in 6h and 24m, of which 5h 16m were of moving time.
I left the hostel that morning just after 8:00am as usual. The first 18 Km on the familiar N-120 were reasonably uneventful. Passed by small villages and towns such as Ledigos, Terradillos de los Templarios, San Nicolas del Real Camino at a reasonably good pace. Just before Sahagún, however, I’ve made a mistake which I am still puzzled how I could have made.
On the N-120, about 2 Km from Sahagún. Immediately after crossing the river Valderaduey.
As I was approaching Sahagún on the N-120, just after crossing the river Valderaduey, I saw one of the typical yellow arrows that guide the walking pilgrims and decided to leave the road and take the pilgrim’s route.
Stone bridge leading to the Ermita de la Virgen del Puente. Can you see the clear yellow signs pointing to the chapel?
Few meters later I came to a small bridge over a creek and there was again a clear yellow sign pointing towards a small chapel passed the bridge, the “Ermita de la Virgen del Puente“. I don’t really understand what led me to ignore the sign and just continue straight ahead. That mistake cost me 35 min and an additional 7.28 Km to what could have been about 2 Km had I continued on the N-120.
A mistake with a nice view. Beautiful poppie fields along the way.
Proves that if you just let your thoughts wander too much while on a pilgrimage and don’t pay attention where you are going you will pay for it physically later. There is no mistake, however, that cannot be corrected, so once I realized I was heading the wrong way I took the LE-6707 and rode back to Sahagún. As I crossed under the N-120, there was no point of entry back onto the main road, so I had to ride into the outskirts of Sahagún to get back to the N-120. This was by far not the biggest mistake I´ve made (more on that in later posts), but it got me very pissed anyway. So, if you download the GPX file with the intention of using it to guide you in your pilgrimage, please make a mental note that as you reach the river Valderaduey you should just continue on the N-120 and you will be fine. If you are walking I recommend you follow the yellow signs to avoid the roads.
Via Trajana. Pilgrim’s resting place amongst the trees to the right.
About 5 Km after I re-joined the N-120, I left it towards Calzada del Coto, crossing through this little village to take a dirt road identified in Google Maps as Via Trajana. There are no ideal road alternatives from that point onwards as the N-120 takes a turn south (and Leon is north) and it is forbidden to cycle or walk in motorways (the A-231 motorway runs parallel to the via Trajana a few Kilometres south). About 9 Km later at around 11am I reached the village of Calzadilla de los Hermanillos and stopped for late breakfast or early lunch, whatever you prefer to call it.
After Calzadilla de los Hermanillos in the direction to Reliegos.
After Calzadilla de los Hermanillos I rode for another 4 Km on tarmac (not very good though) to the point where the road crosses the LE-6620 and then 14 Km on a dirt road all the way to a village called Reliegos.
Dirt road littered with stones.
Those 14 Km were somewhat challenging for me because the sun was hitting me hard and the stones on the path were shaking the bike all the time and making me change tracks from right to left and vice-versa very often. It was in one of these moments that I stopped for a few seconds thinking how much that situation reflected my life (our lives?). We are always looking for the easy way, a way with less stones. I decided then to capture these thoughts in a voice recording, originally with the intention to write about them, but I´ve taken the decision to expose myself a little and share the recording with you. Hope you won´t consider me a fool for doing so. There were several moments in this pilgrimage I felt emotional and this was just one of them.
Wild Poppies on the streets of Reliegos.
After Reliegos, the remaining 24 Km to León were all on good tarmac on the LE-6615 and all pretty flat, but I was feeling tired from all the shaking of the previous 14 Km. It took me just over 2 h to reach León. In León I stayed at the Albergue del Monasterio de las Benedictinas (Carbajalas) which was 5€ a night and was very basic. The hostel is maintained by volunteers and you need the pilgrim credentials to stay. It´s essential one large room with slots of 6 bunk beds on the left separated by thin plastic walls.
Pilgrims’s resting place near Mansilla de las Mulas
The hostel is relatively large with 132 beds (66 bunk beds) and the number of bathrooms didn’t seem to be enough. In terms of hygiene it was also not the best in my opinion, but it was OK. If you expect to find a power outlet to charge your electronic devices (phone, etc) good luck. I didn´t find any near to my bed and the place somehow did not inspire in me the confidence to simply leave my gadgets unattended. There is Wi-Fi outside by the reception area, but no Wi-Fi in the room. There is also no lockers or safe places to leave your stuff, but I didn’t have any problems (nothing was missing).
Arrival in León
I had dinner in the restaurant in the “hospedaria” which opens at 7pm. The pilgrim’s menu was 9€ and the food was OK (not exceptional though).
Pilgrims’ Menu
Before dinner I walked around the city centre for about 2h. León is a great place. I felt well there. Very interesting gothic architecture and lots of flowers. I walked around the cathedral, but I did not enter it, as I thought I was not dressed in a respectful manner for that type of venue given the mass was just about to start, but from the outside it looks very impressive in all aspects. I’ll add some pictures of my short walk around town on the bottom of the post. The next video is of the cathedral bells calling the faithful for the mass.
Well, that´s it for day 7. Please feel free to leave comments, questions or at least indicate if you like it or not by clicking on the stars on the bottom of the post. Sometimes I have the feeling I am wasting my time here, but I do enjoy the opportunity to travel back in time, in my mind, and relive all those wonderful moments in the Camino.
As my way to celebrate the Rugby world Cup happening in Twickenham this month, I got together with a friend and rode from the Twickenham Rugby Stadium to Richmond via some of London´s best landscapes.
For those that never been to London before, this side of London is not usually part of a 1 or 2 days visit, as most tourists will prefer to stay within Zones 1 and 2 where the most recognizable landmarks are (you know… Tower Bridge, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Piccadilly, Trafalgar, etc, etc). Yet if you want to know how London works and the natural beauty the city has to offer these places are are a good option.
London is, I think, Western Europe´s biggest city. With a population of almost 7 million inhabitants (which for Europe is quite unusual when compared to Paris with just 2 million and Berlin with 3.5 million), London has managed to maintain an excellent balance between the grey of concrete and the green of nature. There are many parks and green areas in London and on this ride we cycled through 2 of them: Bushy Park and Richmond Park. We also cycled through the Crane park which is a small park part alongside the river Crane that got it´s name due to the bird and if you are patient you can still find several Crane nests alongside the river.
I think it´s fair to say that Bushy Park is not very well known to outsiders, yet it´s beauty is fantastic. There are water ways, fountains, tress, lots of green and plenty of deer roaming around.
Richmond park on the other hand is internationally known and is one of London´s biggest (perhaps the biggest) city inner park. A huge green area in the middle of the city much loved and used by its inhabitants, especially cyclists that come from all parts of the city and even outside London, like me, to appreciate the wonders that a bike ride provides. The only problem with Richmond park are the weekend drivers (sometimes a single person) that come to appreciate nature sitting inside their air-conditioned, fossil fuel powered mechanical monsters… no wonder Aliens might think of us as a highly inconsistent species 🙂
Sweet Delights.
As we arrived in Richmond town centre we gave ourselves a treat of sorts in the form of a huge cappuccino and some tasty cakes (mine was a Black Forest), so this ride is divided in 2 sections:
Welcome to the 6th post about my Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage by bike which happened on the 30th of May 2015. I did his stage of 70.29 Km or 44 miles from Hornillos Del Camino to the tiny village of Calzadilla de la Cueza in 6h and 29m, of which 4h 41m were of moving time.
I need to clarify a few things before I move on to report the day.
The distance travelled is likely to be between 5 – 10 Km greater than the 70 Km measured by my Garmin Edge Cycling computer. This is because some 4 Km after Castrojeriz I stopped at the top of a mountain to appreciate the view and take some pictures and turned the Garmin off forgetting to turn it back on as I left. I only noticed the mistake as I arrived in Fromista some 15 Km later (zoom the map above and look for a straight line).
I rode alone this day as Fernando decided to leave early and travelled more than I did that day.
After these two points, there is nothing else to add, thank you for your visit…
Just joking 🙂
I´ve added to the start of the video a short clip I took just before leaving the Hostel in Hornillos. Not a cloud in the sky, really beautiful and warm day.
I think 60% of the day´s route were “off-road” this day, and by that I mean dirt roads and some tracks. It means the speed is less, but the beauty of the landscape compensates in full.
I any attempt to describe the path in words will be a poor replacement to the pictures, so watch the video and ask me anything you want to know that is not in here.
El Puntido
The first stop after Hornillos was in the little village of Hontanas. I stopped at an establishment that is a café / restaurant / hostel that I had already seen pictures of before starting the pilgrimage: The El Puntido. Had just an egg sandwich and a coffee. Hontanas is small but has a certain charm and like many os the Spanish villages along the Camino is heavily dependent on the economy promoted by the pilgrims. There are likely more Pilgrims crossing it every day, than there are residents.
Breakfast done, I moved on in the direction of Castrojeriz, but this before Castrojeriz I crossed another milestone in the Camino, the ruins of the Monastery of Saint Anthony (according to Google) or San Anton according to the link (take your peek).
Ruins of the Monastery of Saint Anthony
As with many of such architectural landmarks along the Camino it had served as a Hospital for Pilgrims and was the palace of King Pedro I in the past until the Ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal which left it to ruins.
Castrojeriz on the background
Castrojeriz is a place I wished I could have spent some time. I think a short walk up the hill where the Ruins of Castrojeriz Castle are would be a very interesting thing to do. The view of the small place by the church also offers nice views to the valley below.
Mountain (or hill?) after Castrojeriz (far off in the background). This was 1/2 way up.
After Castrojeriz you are in for a 3 Km climb at an ascent level of 12%. I had to push my bike most of the way up. I think it would be doable to ride it up, even on a loaded bike, if it wasn´t for the fact the dirt road that takes you up there is full of fine gravel, stones and sand, which provided little traction on the wheels. It takes a while to get up there.
Top of the Mountain (or hill?) after Castrojeriz, 1050 m.
At 1050m this is the highest point along this route. If you are following my posts, you´ll know there were crossings higher than this in days before, but this is is particularly challenging because of the road conditions.
Yeah… I´ve made it!
It is by far, however, not the worst climbing conditions I had to face on the Camino, but this is a topic for future posts (probably day 12 post, when I will write about the crossing of the devilish “El Cebreiro”). I stopped there to film the surroundings, take some pictures and rest a little. The descent on the way down is even steeper, but easier because it is all cement paved. Make sure your bike brakes are good.
San Nicolas de Puente Fitero, pilgrims’ hospital (is in fact a hostel)
Few kilometres later I passed by the San Nicolás de Puente Fitero pilgrim´s hospital and had to stop for a moment to take a picture and think of my son, also Nicolas. Few meters later I crossed the 11th century built Itero del Castillo bridge over the river Pisuerga and found myself in the province of Palencia. I then rode to Itero de la Vega e turned left towards Boadilla del Camino.
Canal of Castile
Short after Boadilla you will ride about 2 to 3 kilometres alongside the Canal of Castile (Canal de Castilla) until you reach the locks in Fromista. Beautiful place to walk / ride a bike.
Frómista
The sun was high and the day was hot, so I stopped in Frómista for about 1h to rest and eat something (a pizza, which was not very appetizing actually).
From Frómista I took the P-980 road to Carrion de los Condes passing through several small villages along the way.
Carrion de los Condes
Carrion de los Condes is one of these small towns along the Camino that probably deserves a longer stay as well, but I decided to move on and only stopped to take a few pictures and ask for directions.
Stork’s Nest in Carrion de los Condes
After some 4 – 5 Km on a small asphalted road, the PP-2411, I rode another 12 Kms on a dirt road all the way to Calzadilla de la Cueza.
I had the intention of riding all the way to Ledigos this day as this was the place Fernando told me he would stop for the night, but when I arrived in Calzadilla I saw a Hostel advertised for 5€ that had a swimming pool. What more could you want, right? I was also no feeling very well (probably too much sun and too little sunscreen) so I decided to stay there. The problem, however, was that there were 2 hostels side by side. The municipal hostel (without a pool) and the hostel Camino Real, the one with the pool. They both charge 5€ a night, but I end up staying in the municipal hostel, which despite not having a swimming pool was very good also.
Municipal Hostel in Calzadilla de la Cueza
Good shower, with warm water and gave me the opportunity to wash some clothes by hand and the bike, which was extremely dirty from all the dirt roads I took this day.
I had dinner in the “Camino Real” restaurant down the street and met Cristina and Pete from Holland and we decided to share a table and have dinner together. As we started to talk we were joined by Michael from Devon in the UK, an experienced pilgrim, who has walked the Camino many times before and said he planned to do it every year, since he was retired and had the time to do it. The year before he did it in 29 days and this year he was giving himself 39 days.
I know that feeling…
I wish I had the means to contact some of the people I met, but strangely I have never written down their phones or email address. Hope they are doing well.
Well, that’s it for the 6th day. If you are following my Camino posts you have my promise that I will write all 14 post I plan to, but it may take some time.
Decided to try something new… This is my first, and possibly last, attempt to create something people have called a “Bike VLog“. I´ve been watching a few over the past weeks. They are generally edited “best moments” of someone riding a bicycle to work or for pleasure.
My choice was to record my ride to Windsor yesterday, something I do quite often. I thought of recording this ride especially for the people who don´t live in the UK, as Windsor Castle is a major tourist destination here.
The problem is that it took me more than 1 hour to get there (I usually to do it in 40 to 45 min) and I don´t have the time (nor the will) to spend hours editing it. If you ever wanted to know how it is to ride in England, this long video might offer some insights.
In all Bike VLogs I´ve seen the riders usually narrate the ride and talk about their day and their lives. They share a bit of their lives with the audience and it is kind of interesting. So this is what I tried to do… keep talking. That is not a problem for me (I am a big talker), but as I ride alone most of the time, this was quite unusual. Not sure how interesting it will be for you to listen to my “bla bla bla” for 1h, but I am not here to judge myself. I am sure there will be plenty of people out there doing this for me already. Please be kind, I am taking myself out of my comfort zone here.
OK, let´s get on with this then… I recorded the ride from the South Hill Park, a landmark of Bracknell to Windsor Castle, a landmark of Windsor. I also recorded a little 10 min walk I did around the Windsor Town Centre for those that might be interested of knowing a bit about this tourist destination and then a recorded my way back to Bracknell, which was even longer as I amazingly managed to get lost a few times. Not used to do all this talking while riding and I got distracted and missed a few turns.
From South Hill Park in Bracknell to Windsor Castle
This was the route I took… I was not in a hurry and there are faster routes to Windsor.
Ten minutes walk pushing my bike around the pedestrian zone of Windsor.
From the Chocolate Theater Café in Windsor to Bracknell Town Centre (Princess Square shopping centre)
This was the way back from Windsor to Bracknell, via Legoland. Got distracted with all the talking and missed a few turns which took me to some places in town I wasn´t very familiar with, but I was happy for the mistakes as it gave me the opportunity to explore a bit.
Hi again and welcome to the 5th day post, the 5th day of my Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage by bike which happened on the 29th of May 2015. We´ve done this stage of 97.26 Km (60.5 miles) from Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Hornillos Del Caminoin 7h and 36m, of which 5h 38m were of moving time.
This post is likely going to be shorter than previous ones, not because there is less to say, but because I´ve been struggling in getting these done and also because we rode a lot more this day, so stopped less for pictures and so on. Please message me with any questions in case there is something you´d like to know which is not here.
I left the hostel around 8am as usual, but Fernando opted for an early start and left about 1h before I did, so we rode the first 70 Km to Burgos separately and met in Burgos for lunch later.
Post Card I posted from Villafranca Montes de Oca to my “2nd Mum”.
The “Camino” is about a time to reflect as much as it is about anything else and reflection and meditation is best done alone. On the subject of inner thoughts, one of the things I noticed during the Pilgrimage was that even for people walking in pairs, they tend to be very immersed in their own thoughts and often walked in complete silence. Of course there is laughter and sharing, but for many the pilgrimage has a spiritual meaning and provides them with the time they need to reflect about their lives so far. I honestly believe this is something every one of us should schedule in our calendars from time to time.
Time to reflect about one’s life, but not seated in the living room couch feeling sorry for oneself. Walking or riding a bicycle has a strange, but wonderful effect on thinking. Something about the fact you are not only mentally, but also physically active makes the reflection a truly enjoyable and positive experience, even if there are tears involved (or for the manly men, those bugs that hit their eyes). It somehow allows people to see themselves from a different perspective as the mind is thinking, but not overly caught in an inward attention since the body is also busy avoiding the obstacles of the track/road and taking care of those things we take for granted, such as breathing, heart rate, muscle fatigue, etc. Have a walk around the block today and think about this. Take the initiative! It doesn´t need to be an 800 Km pilgrimage, but perhaps a weekend trekking a mountain or something like that. It is very therapeutic.
Now, back to day 5… and I believe this is not going to be as short as I thought 🙂
Red delight. Wild Poppies on the right.
I left Santo Domingo on the familiar N-120 road and with the exception of 4.5 Km on a dirt road used by the walking pilgrims (which follows parallel to the N-120 though) I stayed on it all the way to Burgos. About 3.5 Km after Santo Domingo, one of the lanes of the N-120 takes a strange and rather confusing turn to the right and if you continue straight on it, like I did, you end up getting on the wrong side of the road or you take the parallel dirt road, used by the walkers, like I did. If you are not keen on doing the walkers´ path, I´d advise you to stick to the road and save about 1 Km of your journey. Even if you do take the dirt road you will be able to re-join the N-120 at a little village called Grañon, 4.5 Km later, so no big deal.
Water Fountain at the entrance to Burgos
As for the rest of the way to Burgos, I´ll ask you to watch the video and let the pictures “talk”.
I really enjoyed this ride. The road is nice and smooth, surrounded by green fields of wheat and other plantations. It was a cool, but not cold, day… so perfect conditions. The road is mainly flat, but when you get to the locality of Villafranca Montes de Oca you have a long, but manageable (6% ascent), climb of almost 4 Km in front of you. It is the highest point in the ride at 1,155m and I managed to climb it without having to push the bike. There was a bit of fog on the top that day. After the climb, the road is pretty much flat again all the way to Burgos.
Pedestrian zone in Burgos
Burgos is the next big city in the Camino, the capital of the Province of Burgos and once the capital of the Crown of Castile. I arrived in Burgos shortly before 1pm and Fernando was already waiting for me there. We went to the tourist information centre to stamp our Pilgrim´s credentials and had lunch at one of the various restaurants on the footsteps of the cathedral. I wish I could have spent more time in Burgos as it looked like a really interesting city. I did not enter the cathedral, but from the outside it looks majestic.
Burgos impressive Cathedral
Apart from the Cathedral, Burgos has also a very interesting gothic architecture such as the gateway arch of Santa Maria, the old entrance gate to the town.
Gateway arch of Santa María
After Burgos we rode another 27 Km to Hornillos del Camino were we stopped for the night. We decided to stay on the N-120, but if you want to save about 10 Km of your journey, after you pass the town of Tardajos, turn left into the minor road that leads to the village of Rabé de las Calzadas and then take the walker´s path to Hornillos del Camino. I can´t talk about the conditions of this route for cyclists, as I have not done it, but looking at Google maps it doesn´t appear too bad (looks like it is a dirt road). I think it would save you lots of time. We got there about 1/4 to 5 in the afternoon.
Hornillos Meeting Point Hostel
In Hornillos we stayed at a newly refurbished Hostel called Meeting Point. When we arrived there were already lots of people in the garden enjoying the late afternoon´s sun, playing guitar and singing. The hostel was 8€ a night and we also used the washing machine to wash some of our clothes (4€ incl. Soap) which dried quickly as there was sun light for quite a few hours after 5. The hostel was great, however, the problem we faced in Hornillos was the number of pilgrims staying there was greater than what the village appeared to be able to handle. We could find only 1 restaurant in the village and the waiting queues were huge. We end up buying a sandwich at what appeared to be the only other commercial place open that night, and eating in the hostel´s kitchen, which gave us the opportunity to share some wine and hear some more fascinating stories from some of the other pilgrims staying there (Aussies, Korean´s, Dutch, Germans, just to name a few). It was great!
Well, that´s it… so much for a short post, right? 🙂
People that know me, know I can rarely keep it short… So much to tell. I hope it was worth reading, though. I shall soon have the “day 6” post ready, likely as short as this one… 🙂
For a while I wanted to record and post about one of Bracknell´s greatest attractions for cycling, the Mountain Biking trails in the Swinley Forest. I took a young friend to the trails yesterday, but I made too many stops and I wanted to get a continuous footage of the ride / trails.
The Green and the Blue Trail begins and ends here.
Just as my luck would be as I arrived in the Swinley Forest it started to rain. If you read / watched the post and video about my Bath Two Tunnels ride under rain you must think, this guy loves to ride bicycles when is raining… No, I don´t! But I live in the UK and you can´t escape it here. It´s a beautiful country, but rains a lot. I don´t think I need to write what already exists available in the web, so I did some copy and paste from some of these resources. All credit goes to the authors and the links are available. From the Bracknell Forest Council Page: “Swinley Forest is an area of the Windsor Estate between Bracknell and Bagshot to the west of the A322. Owned and managed by The Crown Estate, it comprises 1000 hectares of mainly Scots Pine woodland. Three cycle trails in line with the International Mountain Bike Association industry standards are available for you to enjoy in Swinley Forest. The green, blue and (*) red cycle routes all begin from The Look Out Discovery Centre and provide a range of challenges for families cycling for fun to highly skilled riders. Further information about the cycle trails is provided by The Crown Estate on the Royal Landscape website. Please visit The Look Out Discovery Centre’s outdoor activities page for information about how to get there, about car parking charges and bike hire available from Swinley Bike Hub. (*) A small part of the red trail is currently diverted owing to the presence of ground nesting birds.”
I found out through Google that there is a Mountain Biking group called Swinley Riders. They are a lot of information available in their WEB site: http://www.swinleyriders.co.uk/. Will try to get in touch with them.
Swinley Bike Hub. Bicycle rental.
If you are visiting and don´t have a bike, you can rent an excellent one at the Swinley Bike Hut. Rental Prices, according to their web site is £15 for 2 hours (includes helmets) and £5 for additional hours. 2 Hours is sufficient if you only want to do the green and blue trail. Please check their web site for any pricing changes.
If you want a map of the trails, there is one in PDF format here.
OK, enough info, right? I did the green and the Blue trails today. When I have time, and hopefully the weather improves, I will try to update this post to include the Red trail too. The data below is from my Garmin Edge 810 and does not coincide with the data given in some of the resources above.
Green Trail:
Very Easy – For total beginners, families and small children.
Yeah, I know, this post was well overdue, sorry. This is about the 4th day of our Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage by bike which happened on the 28th of May 2015. We´ve done this stage of 64.24 Km (40 miles) from Viana to Santo Domingo de la Calzada in 8h and 19m, of which 4h 54m were of moving time.
Entrance to the Albergue (hostel)
We left the hostel just before 8am on this beautiful sunny day. As with previous days we were not certain where we would stop. We were trying to keep an average of 60 Km per day or, failing that, stop cycling by around 5pm, which would enable us to get to a hostel early enough to find plenty of beds available, shower and get ready for an early dinner.
Stork´s Nest in the outskirts of Logroño.
We were near Logroño, the next big city in the Camino. The initial 5 Km were on the NA-111 with another 3 Km on a very nice and wide tarmac covered, cycle path (the “red road” you see in the video).
Logroño´s Cathedral
As we arrived in Logroño we crossed the river Ebro to get to the town centre and stopped briefly at a hostel we passed by to ask for directions and stamp our pilgrim´s credentials. We then started to look for a place to have breakfast and found this nice and friendly café bar under the arches of Calle Portales called Calenda.
Breakfast at Calenda
While we were waiting for breakfast to be served, we managed to contact Paula via Facebook messenger, who, unlike us, rode all the way to Logroño the day before. She was, actually staying not far from where we were. It was a pleasure to have her company for breakfast.
After a nice and fulfilling breakfast the 3 of us walked a little, pushing our bikes, to the tourist information centre to stamp our pilgrim´s credentials (again, yes). There was a small market in the square in front of the tourist information with music and lots of young people.
Marcelino´s Hermitage
Back on the bikes again we crossed Logroño riding together as a group for another 8 or 9 Km until we reached Marcelino´s “Ermita del peregrino Pasante” (hermitage of the passing pilgrim). What a nice bloke he is. I´d recommend you buy some mementos or souvenirs to help him out.
Marcelino and me
The ride to his hermitage was really nice, on a wide shared cycle / pedestrian path. There were a lot of pedestrians and runners on the path though, so caution is advised.
Next stop was the small town of Navarrete on a mix of minor road and dirty roads/tracks with a few places in which we had to push our bikes. In Navarrete we had some water and a bite to eat.
From Navarrete we continued on the NA-120 for another 5 to 6 Km where we left the road and continued on a dirty road that followed besides the A-12 motorway for 2 to 3 Km and then turned right onto another dirty road in the direction to Ventosa. After Ventosa we took some dirt tracks that proved quite difficult in places. This dirt track actually led us back to the same dirt road that ran besides the A-12, so we later realised we had made a big detour for nothing.
We intentionally followed mostly the same way the pilgrims on foot do this day, but in retrospect, had we stayed on the N-120 we would have probably saved some time, even though we might have had ridden a few Kilometres more.
Hostel in Najera
The next town was Najera, where we stopped at a local hostel to stamp our pilgrim´s credentials and rest for a few minutes. Najera has an interesting rock formation, almost like a wall on one side of the town which led to some climbs on a dirt road in good condition.
Rocky wall in Najera
For the first time we started seeing sign posts with the distance still remaining to Santiago. I took a picture at one of them (580 Km remaining). This region has a lot of olive plantations. That is the small bush you can see in the video.
580 Km to Santiago
After Azofra is essentially just dirt roads but there is a long and difficult climb full of pebbles as we approached Cirueña in which we had to push the bikes up for quite a distance. With the strong sun on top of our heads that wasn´t very easy. Cirueña is small but has a big and rather luxurious (it seemed) golf camp, in which the
Near Cirueña
restaurant welcomes pilgrims with special prices, apparently (we didn´t stop, but lunch was advertised at 6€ and breakfast 3€). We stopped briefly at a restaurant in town for some rest and water.
We left Cirueña on the LR-204 which had some nice and colourful wheat fields on both sides of the road.
The LR-204 took us straight into Santo Domingo de la Calzada where we stopped for the night. Almost at the same time as we arrived in Santo Domingo so did Paula. If we had agreed on a meeting time and place it would have probably not worked so well.
Bike Pilgrims are nothing new.
Paula, Fernando and I stayed at the same Albergue, the “Abadía Cisterciense” managed by sisters of the monastery of Nuestra Señora de la Anunciación. The albergue is very basic and the rooms felt a bit tight, with rooms that you have to pass through to get to other rooms sometimes. It’s a building built around 1609, 330 years old, so no wonder the design is a bit odd. The rooms I saw had no bunk beds. It was 5€ a night.
Paula, Elenice and Fernando
After we settled down, the 3 of us left the hostel in the early evening to find a place to eat and it was in the restaurant that we met Elenice, also from Brazil. After dinner we all had a walk around town together. Elenice was walking the Camino, so after that day we never saw her again, but we all kept in touch through Facebook ever since and I am aware that after returning home Paula and Elenice accidentally bumped into each other in São Paulo, a small city of only 25 million inhabitants… small world this one we live in, isn´t it?
View of Santo Domingo´s Cathedral
If you visit Santo Domingo, make sure you go into the cathedral as they keep a live Hen and a Rooster by the altar in a small chicken coop, which may seem odd until you learn about the legend of the Hen that sang after being roasted.
