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Seis Caminos de Santiago Seis Caminosde Santiago
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At ten at night in the dormitory, or in the sun on the meseta.

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  3. The Camino by bike

The Camino by bike

It is not the same Camino, only faster: it is a different one. The distances change, the hostels change, and so do the sections you can actually ride.

  • The Compostela requires two hundred kilometres, not one hundred. That is the Pilgrim's Office rule and it does not average out: if you walk half of it, what counts is the part you rode.
  • In almost every hostel, walkers get in first. In high season many take no cyclists before eight in the evening, and some never do. Filter by "bike storage" and phone ahead.
  • What is twenty-five kilometres on foot is sixty or eighty on a bike. One day of riding is three or four official stages, so plan your route by overnight stops, not by stages.
  • Some sections cannot be ridden with a loaded bike: the Napoleon route over the Pyrenees, the trail descent from O Cebreiro, parts of the Vía de la Plata. All of them have a signposted road alternative.
  • Inner tubes, chain tool, spare link and a multi-tool. There is no bike shop between villages, and in August the one that exists is shut.
  • Backpack transfer services do not carry bicycles. If you break down, your way out is the train or the bus, and not all of them take a bike without dismantling it.