Summary:

The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage route that is in fact many routes. We did the Via de la Plata, which was historically a trade route. We started in Sevilla, a city in southern Spain, and ended in Santiago, in the northwest corner. It took us 24 days total to travel 1007 km (627 miles). A ‘typical’ day was about 50 km (31 miles). The scenery was pretty and varied, and the Spanish people were friendly. There were plentiful services for cyclists, and drivers were very careful with us. We would not hesitate to recommend this route to other families or casual riders. It was quite different than our usual preference for camping in remote areas, as we didn’t even bring a tent! It was also a bit of a logistical challenge, but Spain has quite a bit of infrastructure built up around cyclists and hikers doing exactly this route.

We used a guidebook for this route to keep us on low-traffic roads and trails. It included on and off-road directions and elevation profiles. The recommended days were usually too long for our family, but that didn’t matter. We used the website gronze.com to find lodging. Typically we booked rooms/hotels 1-2 days in advance. We stayed in communal bunkroom hostels a few times in the early part of the trip when there were few hikers on the route. As the hikers started to be more common we switched to apartments/hotels/rural houses. Hikers always have preference in the bunkrooms, which is fair.

It took days of research to get the logistics for this plan sorted out. I summarize how we did it here so that you don’t have to!

Logistical considerations getting to our start-point:

• FLY: We flew into Madrid using United Card benefits to check the bikes, disassembled and in two airline-regulation-size suitcases each. We each carried on one or two panniers.
• Regional train: The Madrid airport is connected to the high-speed rail terminal by regional train. We had to transfer once and the trains had about three steps up/down to get to from/to the platform. It was a challenge to move all the bags but we did it.
• High-speed train: We took a 3-hour high speed train to Sevilla, which allowed us to carry our bikes and bags right on without issue. Honestly, the high-speed rail network was incredible.
• Uber to hostel: A ten-minute UberXL carried us to our backpacker hostel, where we spent a couple nights to allow time to assemble the bikes.
• Bike Bag Shipping: Here is the magic – Spain has a program (Pilgrim Pac) that allows folks to ship their bags to the end of this route, where they are stored safely until you arrive. We shipped the bike boxes from Sevilla to Santiago for about $40 each, including 30-day storage. The default is 15-days so you do need to add time

Logistical considerations getting back from our endpoint:

• Retrieving the bike boxes: As promised, our bags were waiting for us in downtown Santiago. We walked in, presented our ID and tracking numbers, and walked out with all our stuff.
• Disassembling the bikes: We carefully chose an AirBnb at the end of the trip that provided us space to get the bikes back in their boxes. We had hoped to stay in a hostel, but many in Santiago don’t allow children.
• High-Speed train to Madrid: Our high-speed train to Madrid was on time and efficient and accepted our bicycles, but it was stressful. Apparently the rules for bikes in boxes are contradictory for the train we chose and we needed special approval from a supervisor.
• Regional train to hotel for overnight stay.
• UberXL to airport: As before, the airline took our bike boxes without issue or charges.

Weather and Timing:

We had two days of rain and the rest was sunny and warm/hot.

You do not want to do this route in the summer. It gets dangerously hot. We started cycling mid-may and were done the first week of June. Even with our early departure (the girls skipped the last two weeks of school), we endured several hot days before entering the mountains. I would not do this trip in June-July-August.

Thoughts from our family on this route:

We stayed inside every night (no camping gear!) at a mix of private room hostels, shared bunk bed rooms in albergues (pilgrim bunkrooms), hotels, rural houses, and rented apartments. Calling ahead was important to ensure space for bicycles – especially if you’re on tandems. The guidebook often recommended staying in larger cities, but we found that we instead enjoyed the smaller towns. Our favorites were Zamora, which is highest on our list to come back to, and a village called Laza.

We struggled with the siesta – which in Spain lasts from 3 PM to 6 PM (about). If you arrive to town in the afternoon you may find that the only thing open are the bars. Nearly all businesses (grocery stores pharmacies, etc) close. Sundays were particularly challenging, when even the bars might be closed and nearly nothing opens in the evenings.

We loved the scenery, the quiet roads, and the historical towns. The girls noticed how the houses changed as we moved through different regions. Despite the comfort and lightweight setup that staying inside allowed, we all missed camping.

Thoughts about cycletouring with two elementary-aged kids

1. These kids are way tougher/more resilient than anyone on the outside could guess.  They almost never complained about cycling stuff. They do need real rest days every 3-4 riding days. When asked what they would say to someone who thought 6 years old was too young for a bicycle tour…  H replied ‘Who says that – I’ve been on more than 4 bike tours!’.

2. Entertaining them on the bikes can be a beautiful family experience or a patience-testing trial, depending on the terrain.  When the riding was flat and easy we had so much fun singing and talking. When the hills were steep and the grown-ups were working as hard as possible it was so difficult.  

3.  I’ll never get used to having a six-year old poke my butt with her little fingers while I’m trying to just ride.

4. Piloting a tandem with a small child on the back also requires constant upper body strength.  They wiggle!  They point!  We have to be constantly working to compensate and keep the bike upright.  I had several days with very sore shoulders and arms, despite doing a lot of upper body work before this trip.

5.  We ended up letting the kids have almost unlimited screen time in the evenings when it was an option.  We asked a lot of them all day, and they wanted to just truly veg in the evenings.  Every evening there was an obligatory family walk through town to see some sights, but besides that we let them read and play games.

6.  Being an adult on a family bicycle tour is HARD.  We have stuff for four people, and have to organize for four people, but only two people are really involved in the effort.  The kids aren’t jumping up and down to pack, or organize, or cook, or choose food.  They aren’t interested in doing their hair or brushing their teeth, or loading the bikes.  We do it all.  We pedal it all.  The girls *do* help pedal, but their effort doesn’t quite equal their weight.  It’s always easier to get up a big hill if the girls are off the bikes.  

7. IT’S ALL WORTH IT. We are so grateful we had the health, the money, the time, and the audacity to do this trip.

Our last two days of riding involved foggy and raining mornings. This was fitting considering how green it is in Galicia. We were very excited to make it to our destination, right on schedule.

Day 23: Cea to near A Bandeira (50km). Daisy and I started the day by leaving the hotel in search of the famous “Pan de Cea” (the local bread). After walking past the bakery (which of course just looked like someone’s house) we found it on the second try. The bread is a large loaf with a lot of fluffy in the middle and we can confirm it tastes good.

Visibility was very poor this morning, perhaps only 50-100 m. We dug deep in the bags to find the flashing red bike lights that we had carried the whole trip and were now using for the first time. The morning climbing left us wet from the rain. We were happy to stop at a bar to warm up. It seemed every passing pilgrim had the same idea. Unfortunately the lady wasn’t offering substantial food. Daisy identified a pizza restaurant in Lalín which raised our spirits and gave us a destination to push for. After warming up, and eating more Cea bread (with butter!) outside, we got back on our bikes and carried on.

Back on the road, we were excited to see a summit sign! You never know when the hill you’re climbing will be graced with one of these coveted and celebratory signs. When we came upon a second sign we were quite surprised, since it didn’t seem like we had gone uphill much at all for that one! And no, I know what you’re thinking dear reader, it wasn’t just because we were getting so strong.

There was high traffic on the N-525 after Lalín due to a closure on the main highway. We were not enthused, but did turn it into an opportunity to ride off-road for awhile. The route was absolutely gorgeous. Eventually we made our way to our destination for the night, a rural house where we rented two rooms. No one else was staying there, so we had the run of the 7-bedroom house all to ourselves, including the sitting areas and backyard pool. The kids insisted on swimming, even though it was cool, cloudy, and the water was not heated. That said, it didn’t take long for hot showers to warm everyone back up.

Day 24: A Bandeira to Santiago de Compostela (38 km). Since the house was super-fancy, our morning started with a catered breakfast of croissants, tostada, drinks, and spreads. The caretaker was very excited to check out our bike setup and happily took a family photo for us. Given our experience yesterday, we planned out a low-traffic route that was 8 km longer, but that would be less stressful. The morning ride was pleasant but uneventful until we stopped to get groceries. There was a bar next door called “Éxtasis” which initiated a discussion that caused us to almost miss that there was a grocery store!

Almost immediately after we got back on the bikes we needed to stop again to put on rain gear. The rain continued for hours. When A complained her feet were cold (or rather, that she was loosing feeling in them!) we stopped at a cafeteria to warm up. The kids got dry socks on, and a plastic bag before putting their feet back into their wet shoes. The mood was improved, and continued to improve, as we got closer and closer to our destination. We let Google Maps direct us on side roads today (but had vetted all of them!) and had no mishaps. Near the end we encountered some brutally steep hills, but soon enough rolled into the bustling city. We got situated in our rented apartment and celebrated our arrival! Daisy and I walked to the post office to pick up our waiting bike boxes and send-ahead luggage before it closed for the rest of the weekend.

Day 25: Rest day in Santiago de Compostela (0 km). Today we walked to the main plaza with the cathedral for an obligatory photo shoot. The plaza was crowded and busy with tons of pilgrims and tourists. We found the Pilgrim Office and registered our journey. A and H got certificates printed out, which noted that we had travelled 1007 km! That official number coincidentally was the number of kilometers our route took us, too. After getting a few small souvenirs we went back to the apartment. We needed to complete our chores: to get both tandems packed up and to be ready for our train ride back to Madrid the next day.

In the words of Daisy’s Spanish host father Javier, we are now in “Galicia profunda” – deep Galicia. The Romans never conquered this area due to the challenging terrain – but we made through!

Day 21: Laza to Xunqueira de Ambia (35km). After leaving town this morning we stopped under a tree to check the map for our first turn. That was when Daisy got pooped on by a bird! I maintain that it is a symbol of good luck and fortune. I’m not sure if everyone (or anyone) agrees.

The road quickly turned from flat-in-the-valley to climbing-up-a-mountain. The clouds were low and thick, but it wasn’t raining. Many yellow flowered bushes covered the hillside during the climb. Near the top the small town of Albergueria has a famous pilgrim’s bar where sea shells cover the walls and hang from the ceiling. We stopped for hot drinks to warm up. Several other cyclists came though – but they were moving a lot quicker since they had electric assist bicycles!

Next we went “downhill” with a series of many hills. The kids weren’t feeling great, with tummy pain, so we set our sights close and stopped in Xunqueira de Ambia. Daisy called the owner of Pension Casa Tomas, who was named Tomas of course, and who gave us the code to get into the hostal. We got a room with four beds and relaxed and relaxed. Later we went out to the grocery store for dinner supplies which got cooked in the microwave. (The kitchen was nearly nonexistent.) The store owner was very excited about our trip with kids.

Day 22: Xunqueira de Ambia to Cea (55km). Everything in Galicia seems green, green, green. And oh so hilly! Today we started by going mostly downhill to the big city of Ourense. We opted to get some prepared foods (bread, empanadas) from a grocery store for lunch. The store was next to a small park with perhaps the biggest playground we’ve seen so far! That went over quite well with the kids while the adults did a few chores.

The book-suggested route took us on a low-traffic road for the climb out of Ourense and we saw several other day-rider cyclists. We had some confusion about how to rejoin the main route / highway and decided to ask Google Maps for help. (At the mention of Google Maps you should be starting to expect a semi-disaster…) We’ve learned this lesson multiple times over the years, but somehow we always need to learn it again: ALWAYS check the roads Google cycling directions sends you on to make sure they are to your desired quality. In this case I didn’t check, and adventure ensued. The first kilometer was on a beautiful, paved road. We easily missed our turn because it was an overgrown gravel “road” / track. We then had the joy of needing to ford a stream with the bikes, ha! When we rejoined the main road we stopped at the first restaurant and enjoyed a most delicious raspberry cheesecake and laughed again at how Daisy put on her sandals to push the bikes across and through the stream.

Daisy had booked us in what is essentially a small hotel in Cea for the night. Our evening walk was a blast through small alleyways and next to stone buildings and walls. The Galicians sure know how to work with stone!

In this entry we truly enter the mountains of northwest Spain. We ride two of our planned three big passes and enjoy the quieter mountain towns. We have to skip a rest day to account for the extra climbing, but wow are these mountains beautiful and the people who live here friendly.

Day 17: Entrepeñas to Puebla de Sanabria (16km). It was a special thing to spend a night in such a tiny, quiet town. When we woke up we walked to the small little children’s park at the bottom of the town, where we saw a snake eating a lizard and the girls enjoyed some silly fun. Opportunities like these are what makes cycletouring so incredible – we’d never have ended up in such a place on a more typical tourist trip.

Because of all the extra riding we did the previous day we had very few kilometers to cover this day. Good thing too – we were feeling tired and also a big rainstorm rolled in! As we were casually pedaling between towns we saw a huge cloud move across the sky. Then we heard some thunder and started pedaling faster. Then we saw lightning and we sprinted towards town! Just as the deluge began we ducked into the stairwell of a closed antiques shop – safe.

We stayed under cover until the storm passed. The store next to use appeared to be a cheese distributor doing a brisk business. People were constantly coming and going from the shop despite the storm. We tried to get some coffee to wait out the end of the storm, but one cafe/bar was too warm (like actually roasting inside) and the other one smelled like paint thinner so we got back on the bikes and carried on.

By 1pm we were in our destination town. Our room/apartment (splurge!) wasn’t ready yet, so we dropped off our stuff and went into town. Old town was a ten-minute walk from our place… a walk across a river and up 231 steps to a hillside castle! We had a lovely picnic with a view all up and down the river valley.

After walking just about all of old town our apartment was ready and we took the rest of the day lazing about. We had originally planned to take a rest day here, but when we looked at the elevation profile for the final 100km to Santiago we realized we needed an extra riding day. A very lazy short day would have to be enough rest.

Day 18: Puebla de Sanabria to Lubián (30km) Our first real pass! We weren’t sure how this day was going to play out so we planned for it to be very short, and we stopped in the one town between two passes. As it turned out, we were really good at riding uphill and we reached our destination by 1pm.

Leaving Puebla was a breeze, and we were quickly riding up a gentle river valley. The road turned steep and we got in our low gears and kept pedaling. Jason taught H about prime numbers and we spent at least an hour determining primes under 100. We stopped for a breather and a drink every kilometer. It was a 1500′ climb (yes I know I’m mixing units – but doing vertical distance in feet still makes more sense to me!). It took us about 1.5 hours.

When Jason and I were riding the Americas 11 years ago we always calculated how long a climb would take by how many vertical feet needed to be gained. We estimated about an hour per 1000′ feet. What this means is that we haven’t lost all our fitness and climbing skills in the last 11 years! We still got it!

We unfortunately didn’t get a summit sign, but we still zipped down the other side on bumpy pavement until we reached Lubián, a mountainside town that was clearly a major stopping point until the big highway opened up across the valley. It was very quiet when we got there, except for the random people arguing in the bars.

It was delightful to find the one grocery store in town that opens for exactly one hour in the evening – from 6 to 7. The whole family went down to gather supplies for dinner and the next day. Town was very quiet, but lovely with stone buildings and little creeks/fountains all over.

After weeks of riding through the drier parts of Spain it is so interesting to see water start to be abundant. We have really noticed how the buildings look differently in each region – from the white houses in the Extremadura to the warm tan sandstone near Salamanca, and now big grey stones here as we approach Galicia.

Day 19: Lubián to Laza (70km)

This day was TOO LONG, but we made it. There was SO MUCH CLIMBING. We left Lubián and immediately started pass number two. It was actually lovely, and we celebrated the summit sign at the top. I was happy the girls got the experience of moving through different ecosystems, then over a ridge and back down through them again. That sounds pretty minor – but I find it to be my favorite part of mountain riding. It’s just incredible to slowly move past the plants, up and above a treeline, then to the top.

We descended into the rolling Galician countryside. At lunchtime we stopped in the town of Gudiña, which honestly looked pretty grim with its grey houses in the overcast weather. Of course on a Sunday it was nearly impossible to find food, but we happened upon the owner of a small convenience store who opened it up just for us to buy supplies.

The most incredible riding was waiting for us as we left Gudiña. We climbed up to the top of a ridge… and stayed there for miles and miles. On both sides we could see the deep valleys and rolling hills. To the north there were mountains. To the south the views went on and on. We marveled at the fact that the tiny road we were riding was even paved.

We stopped for another lunch at a little restaurant in some tiny town. We needed a long rest so took a seat by another pilgrim and ordered ‘hamburgers’ off the menu. Hilariously the burgers arrived as just a patty with a pile of french fries. We laughed at ourselves and our imaginings of actual burgers, but ate up the food and got back on the road.

I’m not sure how, but we made it up and over more ridgelines for a long, long descent into the village of Laza. We all agreed that a rest day in Laza was obligatory, especially when we saw where we were staying. Our room had a gorgeous view over the countryside, the hotel had a small pool, and we were a short walk away from a fairy-tale perfect river. The host was just delighted to meet the girls and welcome us for a rest day.