Cycling the VDLP

Cycling a Camino isn’t necessarily easier than walking The Way! I left Sevilla on my 1000 km trek to Santiago on a wet, drizzly morning hoping to follow my plan of 3 stages a day. Right out of the gate, I knew this was going to be a tough challenge. Wanting to primarily ride the Camino path itself, I ran into deep mud even on the first day. Brought the bike to a screeching stop until some of the mud in the gears could be cleared away! It turned out to be an unseasonably cold and wet April for the first week of my trip north. Between, rain, cold temperatures, some snow, and steep uphill grades on some trails, I was on the bike trip adventure of a lifetime. Weather hardships aside, what a great route! Natural beauty combined with lots of Roman and Medieval history made each riding day unique and special. In hindsight, scheduling myself to ride just two stages a day would have been a more reasonable plan. As I have found elsewhere, the bicycle is a great tool for starting up conversations with people from pilgrims to locals. In Sevilla, you can check out Hostel Triana for accommodations and bike rentals.