Like the terrain under them, Desrae and Trish encountered some highs and lows as they cycled along the Camino Portuguese trail. All in all, it was an unforgettable experience for the both of them, with one of the highlights being reaching their final destination in Santiago de Compostela.

 

Read on to hear about their travel tales exploring Portugal and Spain by bike.

 

Self-guiding the Camino by bike from Porto in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Spain was a challenging but amazing biking experience.

Cycling the Camino Portuguese has got to be a bucket list adventure for a bike rider. The variations in landscape and terrain certainly makes for an exciting cycle.

 

You take in breathtaking views of the rugged Portuguese coastline and fabulous surfing beaches and then crossing over to Spain by boat you begin riding the forests and trails of the original French/Spanish Camino.
 

 

Here are some highlights:

SCARIEST MOMENT: Riding a muddy, partially flooded, potholed trail in the rain through a very black, unlit forest after dark on our first day for many kilometres hoping our accommodation was at the end of it.

 

CHALLENGING MOMENTS: Pushing heavy bikes up over rocks and boulders on long 15% slopes. Pushing heavy bikes through fine sand, exhausting! Navigating through Portugal and no WiFi roaming for maps in Spain. UTracks’ guiding notes are great but not always considered given the different terrains on the trails. 

 

 

FUNNIEST MOMENT: Singing Teddy Bears Picnic while riding through beautiful lush green woods. Trying to engage and make smile the waiter who did a really good impersonation of Manuel from Fawlty Towers. 

 

Being locked out of Spain! (With only 1 ferry working, our ferryman decided to cancel our crossing without any notice. After waiting hours for the next trip, we finally got to the Spanish border to find the gates locked! (He'd left the keys on the other side). We waited while he went back to Portugal and got them!

 

 

FEEDBACK/ADVICE: You need to be a fairly experienced cyclist/mountain bike rider to tackle this ride. Why? Because at times you need to make sound, safe decisions regarding the route and this comes down to your cycling ability. The 30kg bikes can be difficult to manoeuvre. [Editor's note: UTracks now have a new fleet of lighter e-bikes available in 2025 onwards.]

 

At times it is not safe/or suitable terrain to continue on the Camino walking course by bike. Sometimes you need to digress to some country sealed roads for short riding stints given that the walking terrain becomes tricky and not suitable for heavy electric mountain bikes. 

 

 

OUTCOME: Always keep the sea on your left in view when cycling through Portugal and once crossed into Spain, keep looking for the Camino sign (yellow arrow and shell), to stay on track if you have needed to digress the course, then you can’t go wrong 😁🚴‍♀️

 

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Huge thanks to Desrae Cameron and Trish Byrom for contributing their UTracks Traveller Tale.

 

>> View the Camino Portuguese Coastal Cycle: Porto to Santiago

>> View all Camino Portuguese Cycling tours

>> View all Camino Cycling Tours

>> View all Camino Portuguese Tours

 

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