We got off to a late start due to the fact that we did take breakfast (something most pilgrims don´t do - and most refugios don´t even offer it). Above that, we had to mount all our equipment/bags onto the bicycles. Took us more time than expected and we realised that even if we did pack light, we had difficulty in fitting everything into the ´pannier´bags supllied to us.
Before heading off, we first visited the official pilgrimage office in Roncesvalles where we obtained the pilgrims´credencial (the booklet in which we will get stamps from each stop on our trip). Finally we hit the road at around 11h00; the book told us we had an easy downhill till Pamplona ahead of us but after about 1 hour we realised that there is a big difference between theory and reality. We tried following the original pilgrims path but that prooved to hard in certain sections (at one stage some walking pilgrims we passed a few minutes before caught up with us as we were carrying our bikes down the rocky slope.
We finally arrived in Pamplona at around 17h30 and booked ourselves in a one star pension run by someone who looked like he had 5 corpes hidden in his freezer. The price he asked for the room made us turn a blind eye to this minor issue (anyway we could not comment much, he was another fine example of someone who speaks spanish as if it were his mother tongue).
Dinner included several beers (yes, Oliver, we are keeping count) and the usual selection of tapas.
Day 1: 48 kilometres, 3,5 hours of cycling (breaks not included).
Before heading off, we first visited the official pilgrimage office in Roncesvalles where we obtained the pilgrims´credencial (the booklet in which we will get stamps from each stop on our trip). Finally we hit the road at around 11h00; the book told us we had an easy downhill till Pamplona ahead of us but after about 1 hour we realised that there is a big difference between theory and reality. We tried following the original pilgrims path but that prooved to hard in certain sections (at one stage some walking pilgrims we passed a few minutes before caught up with us as we were carrying our bikes down the rocky slope.
We finally arrived in Pamplona at around 17h30 and booked ourselves in a one star pension run by someone who looked like he had 5 corpes hidden in his freezer. The price he asked for the room made us turn a blind eye to this minor issue (anyway we could not comment much, he was another fine example of someone who speaks spanish as if it were his mother tongue).
Dinner included several beers (yes, Oliver, we are keeping count) and the usual selection of tapas.
Day 1: 48 kilometres, 3,5 hours of cycling (breaks not included).
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