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Most superannuitants might be content to put their feet up after a 3000km cycle ride through France, Spain and Portugal, but it has only left Kay Buck itching for more.
Kay, who returned to Snells Beach last month, says she embarked on the epic solo journey in part to see if, at 67 years old, she still had the mental and physical capacity to do it.
“It was obvious after the third day that it was doable. It’s like anything else in life; you just take one step after another,” she says.
Kay’s journey began by following the Camino Francés – a traditional route taken by pilgrims – which begins at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France, crosses the Pyrenees into Spain and continues to the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela, where legend has it that the bones of St James are buried.
From there, Kay cycled other pilgrim routes. She headed south into Portugal on the Camino Portugues as far as Porto, took the train down to Faro, then crossed back into Spain, heading for Seville. On reaching Seville, she biked up the middle of the country to again reach Santiago de Compostela. Then it was a right turn along the Camino del Norte – taking in Spain’s northern coast and retracing a pilgrimage undertaken by King Alfonso II in the ninth century.
Kay says about 40 per cent of people who undertake the pilgrimages do so for religious reasons but for her it was a more general spiritual journey.
“I enjoy the nature, I enjoy the camaraderie with the other pilgrims and I like the time on my own for reflection,” she says.
Kay says some of her favourite memories are being in the mountains. Although a 1200 metre uphill slog might have had her wondering why she wasn’t instead relaxing on a beach in Greece, the sense of achievement when she reached the top was like nothing else.
“You look over the landscape when you get to the top and you think how wonderful life is and how beautiful. Spain is such a beautiful country.
Kay’s most serious mishap occurred when she was distracted trying to insert her foot into a cleat in her cycle pedal. She veered off the road and down a bank of about two metres, badly grazing her leg. A friendly truck driver, who saw the incident, picked her up and took her to a nearby campground to recover. The accident held her up for about five days as she waited for her leg to heal.
Otherwise, Kay says things went smoothly and despite the hours on the road she did not have a single puncture.
She says people tell her she is very brave undertaking such an adventure as a woman on her own, but Kay disagrees.
“A Camino is a good place to start travelling on your own because as soon as you set off on your first morning you are going to see walkers in front of you and behind you, and in all the cafes along the way.
You will bump into these same people at night and make these wonderful friendships,” she says.
After her Spanish adventure, Kay plans to tackle the Silk Road by bicycle next year. The trip will kick off in Kyrgyzstan. She will then head west through countries such as Uzbekistan, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia. From Georgia, she will get a boat across the Black Sea to Bulgaria and keep heading west. Kay is unsure where she will end up.
“When you are on a pension, you can’t be out of the country for more than six months. I’ll just keep cycling until I run out of time,” she says.
