Camino D-30 Days

The fall of 2014 was my target for cycling the Camino. With boys packed off to university, Lisa and I would have fewer day to day responsibilities to distract us.  Lisa was planning to join me but one of life's curve balls meant that she would be unavailable.  Now that it is only me to organise I looked more objectively at my calendar and realised that late spring would be a good time for me to be away so I bought a ticket for one to Madrid via Amsterdam.  Leaving May 16th and returning Madrid to Vancouver via New York on June 9th. 

I organised the train transport to/from the start/end of the ride resulting is an itinerary that looks like this:

• May 16 - leave Vancouver
• May 17 - arrive in Madrid, check into Ibis airport hotel, assemble my bike, store bike case 
• May 18 - train from Madrid to Pamplona
• May 19 - cycle the Camino to Santiago with no fixed itinerary - just the way I like it!
• June 8 - overnight train to Madrid, check into Ibis hotel, pack up bike
• June 9 - leave Spain

Checklists of things to do before D-Day

• Get Euros and a second band card (for back up)
• Tell the credit card company I will be in Spain
• Tune up bike
• Get second battery for camera
• Get adaptor to connect camera to tablet to download photos
• Sort out work stuff
• Arrange to and from airport
• Reschedule dentist
• More, yet to be determined I am sure

Once again I will be taking my trusty folding Bike Friday (www.bikefriday.com) which will be its fourth European tour.  Unlike the Chemin in 2010 where Chuck and I used the Bike Friday travel case/trailer and camped, this year I will be travelling light with two panniers, a handlebar bag and sleeping under roofs.

The BF is basically ready anytime to break down into its travel case and go on an extended tour.  The only extra tools or biking bits I am bringing along  that I wouldn't for a local ride from home are some extra spokes and a second spare tube.

Bike Friday with Trailer

Bike Friday with Panniers

My plan is to pack as lightly as possible.  Because I will be spending time wandering about I am mindful of taking cycling clothes that work for off bike activities.  I love road riding and have the jerseys, cleated shoes, spandex shorts, etc. but this is not that kind of ride.  Helmet, cycling gloves, rain jacket and cycling vest are coming but leaving behind the full rain pants, shoes and helmet covers (time will tell if this weigh saving move was worth it).

By not camping I will be giving up some flexibility and incurring some costs but the trade off is not need to carry the tent, sleeping pad and cooking kit.  I will bring along a light sleeping bag (my marmot chewed North Face over bag) to use in the hostels.

Electronics wise I will bring along my Samsung 3 tablet for wifi'ing, backing up photos, reading, etc.  It is a low price and versatile piece of kit for travel.  Also coming along will be my Olympus all weather camera which I have been very pleased with its combination of convenience and quality.  Both tablet and camera are 100-240  volt so do not need a heavy power converter, just the round prong Euro adaptor.  I purchased a connector to download photos from camera to tablet.

The jury is still out on my cheapo European mobile phone which can be useful for calling ahead to make reservations but sadly I am not sure that my command of the Spanish language is up to this technology. However is almost weightless and it has the European type charger.

For reference material I will be taking the Camino Frances and the Cycling Pilgrim publications available from the UK Confraternity of Saint James.  These are inexpensive, light weight, concise and very accurate because these are updated every year.

The Way of St James - A Cyclists Guide, by  John Higginson, is a small cycling guidebook that is a little out of date and quirky but I like the overview nature of it and it is the book we used for Le Puy trip in 2010.

The only map I will be taking is the Michelin map booklet 160 Camino de Santiago.  It has broken the Camino down into 34 stages of 20-30 km with the map and profile/info on opposite pages and is small enough to clip to handlebars for quick reference.