We had initially planned to cycle along the coast and through the picos towards A Coroña, but ‘plans change’, and seemingly they do as this was probably our 4th plan anyway, we rerouted towards the Camino de Santiago.
Now, there were a few reasons for this, most notably Chlo’s knee. Although, it is definitely getting better after a few rest days and swapping out the beloved spd sandals for well loved trainers for a while. The Camino de Santiago will bring us further inland and away from the picos but instead we get consistent, rideable, off-road gravel tracks, big skies and wide open spaces.
But first, we needed to get to the path. This meant either riding over a mountain… ouch, or hopping on a 1.5hr train. We chose the latter. It wasn’t our first train of the trip, but it was the first where we needed to disassemble the bikes and pack them into the bike bags that Cal and his Mum had painstakingly and lovingly made. This was extremely successful, if a little heavy to carry, and the train journey felt as quick as a flash.
From Miranda de Ebro we cycled our furthest day yet, 90km with 1200m of climbing. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too painful and we noticed how much easier the steady, meandering climbs were here compared the the vertical, rocky climbs we had been experiencing in the Basque Country. (Although, there were still a few climbs where Chlo had to push, but much more actual riding was done which was a great success!) From there we had a couple of nights in a campsite on the outskirts of Burgos, where we enjoyed pizza and a wander through the historic streets, before heading off on our way.
So far we have only ridden about 100k of the CdS but we have welcomed the new pace and space. As we zoom pass the pilgrims trudging along, batting flies away from their faces, we think about how great it is to see people out and being active after such an odd couple of years. There are many walkers, each with a giant backpack, walking sticks and generally a smile on their face, they like that they’re outside too.
We plan to stay on this path until Lugo (we think) where we will find trails and pathways to get us up to A Coroña, our first proper destination of the adventure. But until then, we are both looking forward to longer, pain free days, cute villages, blue skies and interesting people with great stories to tell.
With love from the Camino De Santiago,
C + Me