Charity cyclist, Cameron Sproul, says that one of the nicest things that happened on his 3,000 mile journey was that a man he met left him a bag of messages by his bike to keep his strength up.
The 19 year-old Heriot-Watt student has just completed a solo cycle from Edinburgh to Santiago de Compostella in Spain.
He left Balerno some 46 days ago and only on Tuesday he arrived in Santiago with his bike intact (although sadly his phone got run over by a bus in Ireland and has had to be replaced). The bike has a fully enclosed Shimano electric gear system which means that the gear changer is protected, but the benefit is that the bike is “pretty robust”, so maintenance is really low, and the trip has gone off without a hitch. Cameron has not even had to repair a puncture en route.
He said: “From Cork, I took the ferry to Roscoff then started to cycle down through France along the Euro Velo 1 bike route before crossing into Spain, where I will followed a “pilgrims route” – El Camino de Santiago (“The way of Saint James”). This took me to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela where Saint James is buried, which attracts pilgrims from all over the world.
“Some key challenges on my journey so far include the cold temperatures for this time of year in Ireland plus heavy rains and wind. This was followed by more rain in France before it got very very hot around Bordeaux where it hit over 38 degrees during the day and around 28 degress at night.
“Thankfully it has cooled down a bit now in Spain and is a nice 25 degrees, plus the altitude in the Pyrenees kept things a bit cooler. My biggest challenge was in Ireland when my phone fell off my bike and went under a bus. I was able to rescue my SIM card but had to buy a new phone. Then in Spain during a period of very heavy rainful my bike skidded on a corner but thankfully no serious damage done to myself or the bike.
“In crossing from France to Spain, I climbed the Col du Pourtalet which featured as one of the climbs in the 2018 stages of the Tour de France and has a ski resort at the top. That day, I climbed over 2,000 metres which is 600 metres higher than Ben Nevis. That was a very tiring day.”
The former Boy Scout has used all types of transport on his journey, including a ferry to Northern Ireland, his bike on the Wild Atlantic Way into Ireland from Sligo to Dingle, and on to the city of Cork. He then took another ferry from Cork to Roscoff where he cycled down the French Atlantic coast traversing the Pyrenees into Spain. He crossed northern Spain by bike to finish at Santiago on Tuesday.
In all Cameron has covered more than 3,000 miles and has climbed around 37,000 metres of elevation which is equivalent to climbing Mt Everest four times. As if that wasn’t enough he took a day off cycling when he reached the Pyrenees and went hiking for the day instead.
Before this journey the longest time he had ever gone bike-packing was just three days. He decided to set himself the challenge after walking the Camino last year with a friend, and he came up with the idea of cycling all the way from Balerno. He found the solo journey a bit challenging at first, particularly in Ireland where there were not too many people around. But things improved in France where he joined the Velo 1 route and met other cyclists, including Rory from Inverness who he now regards as a friend, and who cycled with him for a couple of days.
His father Mark has been keeping an eye on his progress through the Strava app. Although Mark initially worried that his son was not well enough prepared it has all turned out okay in the end. Cameron now has a few days where he can relax in Spain.
He decided the route he would take by avoiding England where he thought the roads would be a lot busier, opting instead for the scenic Irish west coast. The route through France is a fairly established cycle route, and he also cycled to the most westerly point in Galicia on the way.
Cameron said: “I have found people’s friendliness and kindness a key theme of my trip. I met a fellow Scot Rory from Inverness en route who gave me much encouragement, and also a group of French guys who have cycled 700kms travelling from the east to the west of France.”
The economics student worked in Halfords last summer, and over weekends during his first year at university, so this trip is completely self-funded and anything he raises will be donated to Social Bite.
He explained that for accommodation, he has stayed in “a mixture of wild camping, campsites and using Albergues or Hostels for the Camino part of the trip in Spain. Overall I’ve spent about 60% of the time wild camping with the remainder split between Albergues and campsites. Thanks to my camping gear, my bike weighs 35 kg (5.5 stone) when loaded with my luggage.”
When he was in the Scouts Cameron took part in a sleepover for Social Bite and so it was easy to decide who he would raise funds for. He is hoping to raise £1 for every mile cycled, and as at today’s date he has raised more than £1,000.
Cameron is now resting for a week and is due to fly home to Edinburgh on 24 June along with his trusty bike. He will be met by his father and an extended family group at Edinburgh Airport where they will hang out a big banner for him wo welcome him back – just in time to watch Scotland v Brazil on the TV from Miami.
Support Cameron here on JustGiving
