walking or cycling

[Charles Hansen]

Pieter -

I understand what you're saying, but allow me to disagree.

Since we will not have mountain bikes, we will only be on the "Camino Real"
in a few sections.  However, I don't plan to miss much.  I do realize that
we will not enjoy many of the more intimate scenes available only to hikers,
such as lovely woodland walking, the smaller stone bridges, tiny village
churches, ruins, etc.  We are researching our route very carefully and plan
to take advantage of many sideroads, spending minimal time on the more major
roads, even if they have cycle lanes on the edges.

On the other hand, I expect to see a number of things that walking pilgrims
won't.  The most major of these is the ancient walled city of Lugo, which
references indicate was a frequent pilgrim detour in olden days.  I will
also be able to visit sights somewhat off the route that walkers may not
want to invest the required time and energy for.  I will have the freedon to
determine what sidetrips I may want to make on any given day based on the
weather and my energy, while I gather most walkers set their destination in
the morning and are rarely swayed from the chosen route/distance.

I very much enjoy exploring cities and towns of all sizes.  We will have
free days in Burgos, Leon and Santiago for exploring and I also plan to do
some riding around our destination town each evening.  I suspect that few
walkers have the energy for additional exploration at the end of their day.
I often feel that I can see more of a city in one day on a bicycle than
people who have lived there for years.

Although I am also a hiker, I do prefer cycling.  I find that sometimes when
I am walking/hiking I start to feel as though I am trudging along and not
really enjoying the process of what I am doing.  Although there are
certainly times when I get tired on the bike, I find that the exhilaration
of a downhill quickly dispels the effort of the preceeding climb.  My days
spent touring are a continuous progression of both physical and
psychological ups and downs.

At some point in my life I may well want to walk the Camino, but for now I
am happy to trade the pleasure, speed and flexibility against some missed
sights.  I'm planning to bring enough film to shoot two rolls of slides
every day and fully expect to come across more than enough interesting
sights daily to fulfill that expectation.

Cheers, Charles

P.S. - I had a most enjoyable three week tour in your country and Belgium a
decade ago.



----- Original Message -----
From: "pieterpannevis" <p.pannevisaCHELLO.NL>
To: <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 4:19 AM
Subject: walking or cycling


> Dear all,
>  As a fervent cyclist myself I can imagine the idea of cycling the camino!
> However please don't!
>
> You miss a lot. As quoted earlier some tracks can only be done by mountain
> bikes.
> So it's not really an option (as mountain bikes do not take much luggage
> either, but yet more important thing is that if you would cycle "normally"
> you will be ordealed to the tarmac too often and missing out sports foot
> pilgrims enjoy.)
> I can prove this by my own experience as one year I drove a car along the
> Camino Frances and even as I did know there were lovely sights quit close
to
> the road.they were not seen, nor experienced and not felt.
>
> To that there is the hierarchy in pilgrims that foot pilgrims come first
in
> a "good" alberques and then cyclist. In a busy year it might be rather
> difficult as a cyclist to find accommodation in alberques.
>
> So ..Walk on!
> And take care
>
>
>
> as always:
> Ultreya and good health to you !
> 'May the Road rise with you"
>
> Pieter, Don trigo and O'Mickey
> duifhuis 58
> 3862 jj nijkerk
> the netherlands
> fel/fax: +31(0)33- 24 60 912
> email: mailto:pieterpannevisagmx.net <mailto:pieterpannevisagmx.net>
> website: http://www.pieterpannevis.nl/ <http://www.pieterpannevis.nl/>
>
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