Camino, Spain May 2008

.... a ten day cycle trip, Spanish Camino with Gabriola cycle (gck.ca)

May 23 (Fri) Was raining quite hard (not the Spain I was expecting),... so 6 or so of us took the ¨free¨ bus to a big commercial shopping centre, where there was a big Decathlon store (sports store a bit like MEC, but much flashier). Since the rain seemed relentless there was a big interest in rain-wear, but I was more interested in the general stuff, so bought a super bright neon yellow breathable jacket and some compression top and pants at what are very good prices. Barb (who, with Les owns a bike shop in White Rock BC) said prices were half the Canadian level. Also bought a bell (to warn the pilgrims of my approach), and some interesting sports cereal bars at 6 for 1.5 euros, incredible.

Met the 20+ other cyclists at 5:30 PM Friday,(...most seem like strangers to each other) at the rendez-vous. My roommate. John Albright, is a champion cyclist (pursuit rider) from the 70´s, ... various medals (team and individual) in pursuit in track pursuit in Canadian Nationals. Ana did a good low key overview introduction. We´ll be cycling out tomorrow. Most of the group have rented mountain bikes so they are off to pick up their rentals. I am the only one with a road bike (other than Ana), so it will be interesting to see if I can cope with the camino (pilgrim's path) or may have to take the closest regular roads

May 24 (Sat)

First cycling day to Castrojerez and amazingly it wasn't raining (except for a couple minutes) and it was say 50% sunny. It was only 42 Km on the camino, but because of the previous rain it was very muddy in sections, and so after 10 Km I switched to the road, longer, 51km.... I was the first one in. When you are walking through 4 inches of oozing mud, I don't care what kind of bike you´ve got, its not very good. Where its not muddy, the rough gravel surface is OK for my roadbike, maybe not great but good enough.

Today I was happy mainly because the weather changed a bit ... fair bit of sun, but not very warm, say 15 at the max.... not the Spain I imagined. I was expecting it to be more sunny and warmer than France, ...not so. Maybe in the south of Spain it is, but not in the North.

May 25 (Sun) second riding day, to Carrios de Condes only a 48K ride, where we stayed at a monastery converted to hotel, ... rather posh. Kind of a short cycling day to my liking, but the sun came out and I fell asleep on a plaza bench at the destination, ...Ashley got a kick out of waking me up by jabbing me in the ribs. The town was celebrating corpus christi, with a half kilometer of flowers decorating the road,... much like in San Miguel in Mexico. A basic Perigrino dinner (pork, etc) for 9 euros

May 26 (Mon) no breakfast, other than a peanut butter sandwhich from the truck. A 76 Km road ride to Mansilla, and zero sun and a bit of rain (where I stood in the shelter of a barn's eaves)... so I appreciated my new tights that I bought at Decathelon, Burgos.

May 27 (Tues) a 72km tride to Astorga, the weather cleared up, turned sunny but still cool. Stopped in Leon after 18Km (pop 500,000) for half hour, had breakfast, and went into the cathedral, just popped my head in for 90 seconds. Was the first to arrive in Astorga and shared a BBQ chicken in the restaurant beside the hotel, while they prepared the rooms. The sunny weather helps my disposition, .... big time. Srong armed Barb Rainville Calgary into buying her flight to Bilboa on the Internet, and she saved almost 100 euros, ... but in the end I think she thought I was trying to pull a fast one.... was very timid about the Internet, was always looking for an excuse to get away, the bathroom, dinner arrangements, any excuse to avoid the Internet. Ashley and Dave appreciated it though

One thing about Camino, is a large part of the satisfaction maybe comes from the religious experience (not for me), or for me maybe the historical significance, because the riding itself is a bit plain, a bit like through the Canadian prairies (.... not that I've ever done that), impressive but kind of the same, although it might change when we cross into Gallacia. So far the distances have been easy (70K and flat) and a lot of the customer base seems to think that's a lot. The Camino on the first day had oosy mud due to rain , about 2 inches for long stretches, so Ive switched pretty much to the road, although they tell me the Camino gravel+stone is drier now

May 28 (Wed) a 700M climb to go over the Montes Leon range, at 1505m to get to Molinsecca. For some of the group its a bit of a challenge, but I´m kind of used to it. Cold, maybe 8C (even lower) at the top and drizzly. In theory the scenery is dazzling but at this temp and wet,.... it's really not pleasant. Stayed at a huge private home converted to Bed and Breakfast, where the common room was once a barn for horses with a huge fireplace high roof, and rough stone floor. The breakfast was laid out buffet style (the only included meal in the whole trip) for self preparation. I cooked my own eggs, a first, ... were good.

May 29 (Thurs) a short 30+ Km ride to Villafranca, 50% on Camino , and the sun did appear ever so briefly. Saw some Canadian flags on backpackers. We see about 100-300 per day walking, and you never see USA flags, but Canadian and Australian flags are seen occasionally. Europeans don't seem to show flags much, and Americans are probably ashamed/scared.

May 30 (Fri) a 65Km VillaFranca to Samos, the place where there was a monastery and a kind of old fashioned hotel, day when we crossed into Galacia, and climbed to 1335m, cold and drizzly ... had lunch with Ashley Ana Camila, excellent lemon mousse .... sun came out a bit, just a bit.

May 31 (Sat) a 62 KM ride to Portmarin, kind of a nice place on a lake. Tried Les´ laptop, without success. Tried Ana's ASUS laptop and it worked fine for a while, ... was the first night when I didn't have dinner, having had a pizza at 3pm. There seems to be an exhaustible interest in 'happy hour', but I find them rather tedious, .... maybe that´s a function of not drinking, ... lots of women talking about shopping or silly stuff, ... Peter seemed to bring a more elevated 'tone' to Happy Hour.

June 1 (Sun) a 65 K ride to Aruza, a "nothing" place the Suiza hotel....my route was a bit farther than the Camino because I took the highway 540 over to the 547 which added 6 km. Had lunch , garbanzo bean soup, with John in the hotel and there was sun for the happy hour and we sat outside. Barb from Calgary left a day early for her daughters graduation in Victoria. No dinner again, not really hungry, .... and read the travel book on South Africa. Used my Skippy peanut butter to good advantage in the morning, as a supplement to breakfast, which are otherwise pretty skimpy (toasted bread and coffee).

June 2 (Mon) a short 40 K ride to Santiago, and although I started and finished on the Camino I found the short section that I did on the Camino really quite hard, and switched to the road. Met some Montrealers in the tourist office, pleasant conversation in French. Packed my bike with ease, and because Ana reminded me about taking off the derailleur, .... made the box closing much easier. Had lunch with Sue Alan Laurie Theresa. Walked to the bus station just be sure my Internet ticket and passport were all that were needed, seemed fine. Ana had a long story about some conflict with her air ticket, so is ending up taking the bus (with Camila) from Burgos to Paris, 14 hours, partly I think to avoid the excess weight charges. Gave Ashley an envelope with a $100 tip, .. because she did a great job for 3 trips, and told her she made it "fun for me" .. she did.

June 3 (Tues) took the bus to Bilbao (to avoid excess luggage charges by air. through away my air ticket), turned sunny, actually enjoyed the 12 hour trip, lots of scenery, choice of Hotel "Bilboa Jardines" (over Internet) 57E, ... was great, very central.

June 4 (Wed) Lufthansa to Frankfort, no trouble checking in bike, Air Canada to Toronto, ... AC did a great job, served delicious lamb. When home: weight: 181 pounds, exactly the same as when I left Apr 25.

1690 km total km for the three trips

"Rating" the recent trips, scale of 10
Provence I... Apr 27-May 7 .....8.5 ..... lots of sunny warm days
Provence II ... May 9- 23.......... 7.0
Spain Camino May 23..June 4....3.5 .... Note A

Note A not a bad trip, could have been an 8 , but low rating mostly due to the crappy weather, mornings 12C rising maybe to 18C, 90% cloudy, occasional rain ... and it has a lot to with expectations, I expected Spain to be sunny and 30C, ... and it wasn't).