camino frances - preparations

countdown is running => click (and you will see how much longer it will last)

intro

the desire of my father-in-law has been there for a long time. we have already been able to fulfill other long-cherished wishes together.

you start small and then it gets bigger. we started small with a three-day tour with car delivery service in the French Jura. then there was a six-day tour along the Danube and other tours (as you can see from the blog).

but this one will be the longest and probably the one with the longest planning and anticipation!

preparations for the journey

outbound and return flights are booked. we were already able to book the bike with easyjet and with iberia it says you can 'easily' take it according to the conditions and it does not have to/can not be registered. the hotline doesn't help either and a confirmation email is still pending. after all, you don't want to do a bike tour without a bike...

tour planning

there are many gpx tracks and many that don't make much sense. because who wants to ride the road at a fast pace without enjoying the beauties? the best one so far is the one from biroto.eu. it is only available for download in its full length, but it can be shortened. i also received another one from the very good (printed!) bike tour guide from bikeline. a good blog/website is also fahrrad-tour.de

now i'm still looking for an old-fashioned folding map for the route. there are many in booklet form, but they lack an overview. and i don't need a second map in booklet form...

sections of the route

i was torn between 'we will see how far we get' and 'every day has to be planned'.

i have now found a compromise for myself, but that can change again.

we will start in pamplona, as the trip to st.-jean-pied-de-port does not fit within the 14-day timeframe; unfortunately!

there is now a rough route plan (2018) for a total of 730-800 km:

- sat, apr. 28th outbound journey pamplona

- sun, apr. 29th pamplona-logrono 95km

- mon, apr. 30th logrono-santo domingo 57km

- tue, may 1st santo-domingo burgos

- wed, may 2nd burgos - xyz (max. 90km)

- thu, may 3rd joker day (depending on how far xyz was)

- fri, may 4th xyz - leon (max. 90km)

- sat, may 5th leon - astorga/el ganso (55-70km)

- sun, may 6th astorga/el ganso - ponferrada (50-65km)

- mon, may 7th ponferrada - el cebrero (55km)

- tue, may 8th el cebrero - puerto marin (70km)

- wed, may 9th puerto marin - melide (50km)

- thu, may 10th melide - santiago de compostela (50km)

- fri, may 11th visit cap finisterre

- sat, may 12th return journey

small print, why?

my German teacher (may he rest in peace) in upper school said he didn't know why the German language is the only one that wants the noun to be capitalized. and yes, on the smartphone where the blog is normally written, it is more efficient and (mostly) safer from typos at the (usually) late hour of the night. and no, it's not because of my inability. the German grades were always the best (Switzerland: 5.5/Germany: 1.5) no matter which level. so.