Touring - Cycling the Santiago de Compostella

I was wondering if anyone has cycled the Compostella pilgrims route (from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostella in Gallicia). I know it should be walked, but I'm also aware it can be cycled. The aubergues en-route give priority to hikers so is finding accommadation difficult - there's two of us, we'll have a tent too. We'll be doing it from 1 to 25 July. Do the cyclists stick to the pilgrims route or is there an alternative route for them ? Is there a lot of climbing ?

Anything else ? Reccommendations on other places to see off-route ? What's your overall impression ?

Thanks........

I was wondering if anyone has cycled the Compostella pilgrims route (from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostella in Gallicia). I know it should be walked, but I'm also aware it can be cycled. The aubergues en-route give priority to hikers so is finding accommadation difficult - there's two of us, we'll have a tent too. We'll be doing it from 1 to 25 July. Do the cyclists stick to the pilgrims route or is there an alternative route for them ? Is there a lot of climbing ?

Anything else ? Reccommendations on other places to see off-route ? What's your overall impression ?

Thanks........

I just finished the Camino and just received my last stamp about an
hour ago. Most of the Camino can be cycled and much of it follows
nicely paved roads with a nice wide shoulder. Some of the Camino is
impassable to ride and there will even be signs pointing you to an
alternative route. All the cyclists I seen, including me, used
mountain bikes. I was too heavy for parts of the of it and the
trail was very wet in places making it difficult to ride. Also the
walkers can get in the way at times so the road is the better way to
go.
Climbing is almost a continuos process and you will hate mountains.
No Bici!! are words you will hear and they will make you loose faith
in Christianity. I camped out three days in a row because of the No
Bici policy.
This year is a holy year and it is already twice as busy as last
year.

Have a great ride and now I have to ride back to England!
Regards,
Gordon P

Bettina Selby did it by bike, scallop shell on the front of her handle bar bag - she records the trip in her book "Pilgrims Road - a Journey to Santiago de Compostela". Published in UK by Little Brown and Co in 1994, paperback by Abacus in 1995.

Cheers,

Bill

I haven't done it, but there is a lot of information at Trento (http://www-math.science.unitn.it/Bike/Countries/Spain/#Camino).

/Csson

I bicycled part of it backwards a couple of years ago. I biked from Salamanca north and then headed east along the route. The Spanish put out a book about biking the route - I looked at it in a library. Don't remember the title. If you stick to the roads, you can certainly use a road bike like I did. However, I do know there are parts that will take you on dirt paths, if you chose to stick to the actual trail. CHeck out my factual info on it at my site... www.homestead.com/travelinhobo