Camino de Santiago - The adventure of a life time!

By Scott Sparrow

My son graduated from high school in 2021 and before he started his fist year of college at Brigham Young University (BYU), we set out on an epic adventure. ​While no great adventure is without challenges, ours almost never got off the ground.

Cycling along the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage trail in Spain by Scott Sparrow

We bought plane tickets for the day after he graduated, June 1st, and showed up at the airport in Texas, packs on our backs, bound for Spain. Only to find Spain closed to visitors from the United States due to COVID 19 concerns. So, we climbed back in the car, heads down, dejected.

My first call was not to my wife or to my employer, but to Cycling Rentals. “Please tell me you haven’t shipped the bikes yet,” I pleaded.” My fear was confirmed. “We shipped them this morning. Is there a problem?” I explained that our trip would be postponed because of the pandemic.

​Over the next month we rearranged work schedules, albergue reservations, train tickets, and cycling rentals. Then finally, one month to the day after our first attempt, my son flew from Utah and I from Texas. We met in the airport, this time actually making our first connection in route to Spain.

Planes, trains, and cars later, we arrived in Saint Jean, France, where our bikes awaited us. We road for the next 7 days, covering close to 500 kilometers along the famed Camino de Santiago. We then dropped off the bikes and hiked the remaining distance into Santiago.

​In total, we trekked 779 km over 14 days. It was exhilarating, it was gorgeous, it was exhausting, It was the adventure of a life time!

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