The final details

The final details, discussed in another meeting on Richard's roof terrace... Well, nearly the final details :-) The packing list, the first night's accommodation, the average distance per day... We are so eager to start and still 11 days to wait! Luckily there is another weekend coming during which we can exercise and build up our condition. The beers in the picture are not ours. They belong to the person who took this picture. Obviously.

Physical training

Of course you cannot do such a trip without proper preparation. Training trips through the mountains and through the woods, many hundreds of kilometers we did this year already... Bucharest is not really a bicycle friendly city. We normally put our bikes in the back of a car and it takes us 1-2 hours to get to the best cycling environment imagineable. We have been in places where no bicycle has been seen before. Romania really is a beautiful country with an incredible landscape. With trial and error (there are no good maps available) we have now put together a nice series of mountainbike routes. We are curious to see if the Camino is very different from what we are used to.

The trip

We will cycle from right to left on this map. In total some 850 kilometers (depending on how many wrong turns we take, some people already told us it is only 790 kilometers but they do not realise how bad we are at following a track).
We will start with a nice down-hill trip from Roncesvalles to Pamplona, though many mountains will be on our way before we reach Santiago de Compostela!
The middle part leads us for some 200 km through the flat 'Meseta' (table land) between Burgos and Leon. Little shade, lots of sun.
We have been training very much, so we believe we are ready for the trip!

Preparation

We used to go cycling in the mountains of Romania every other week. Then Richard came up with the idea of doing the Camino about one year ago. Since then we have spent more time off our bicycles talking about it than time on our bicycles trying to work on our physical condition. We discussed packing lists, we hired bicycles in Portugal and reserved our first night in Roncesvalles in Hotel Posada. We can hardly wait to start!

Letter to friends - Buen Camino

Dear all,

The final 2 days before we leave: on Sunday morning we will be at Bucharest's Otopeni Airport carrying as little luggage as possible. Our flight to Madrid will be followed by a 450 km car drive to Roncesvalles. We are curious to see if our rental bikes will be waiting for us. And if they look sufficiently mobile. As of Monday morning we will be researching how hard the saddle is. On that first day, 11th June, we will cycle to Pamplona. After that we'll take it one day at a time with the goal of cycling around 65 km per day. Around 23rd-24th June we should arrive in Santiago de Compostella. Tired but happy for having lived this new experience.

As you know we will try to post a short update and some pictures on a regular basis on our blog www.janrichardsam.blogspot.com

You can already check it now. Enjoy a good read. Feel free to send us a mail at janrichardsam@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog.

As you know, we are combining our trip with fund-raising for a charity in Romania. So far we've raised 8,574 Euros for the Village Saint Jean (more details on the blog). We'd like say a big thank you to the over 100 people who have already made a commitment for a donation. Of course there's still time for others to join in. Just send a mail to janrichardsam@gmail.com indicating the amount you would like to donate. After we return from Spain we will send you the bank details of the Village Saint Jean so you can make the transfer.

We end this message in the style of the next 15 days, using the greeting given to each pilgrim on his or her way to Santiago:

Buen Camino!

Jan/Richard/Sam