Earlier start than on day 1; we are used to putting the bags on the bicycles. First a sandwich-breakfast in a local bar (the nice manager of our pension did not offer any breakfast; we were happy he didn´t).
The drive out of Pamplona starts with a big climb, a real big climb, an impossibly big climb, the sort of climb where you see people walking next to their bikes. For the first time we met with a lot of other pilgrims on the road, our late start on day 1 meant we were somehow alone on the road. Not on this 2nd day, we met/cycled past at least some 100 walking pilgrims during the day (conduct rules make that cyclists do only pass pilgrims where the road allows for it; means we were cycling at the same rythm as pilgrims walking in front of us from time to time; each time you pass another pilgrim you great each other with a ´Buen Camino´).
A big first climb, followed by an easier downhill rest of the day, we believed. Try again. The whole day was full of incredible up and down paths, some of them feasible, others impossible; all of them in an amazing environment, passing through fantastic old villages, really beautiful (one of the sites we saw was the church at Eunate where in the past they used to bury pilgrims who died on route (today we believe they send the bodies to the guy who runs the pension where we stayed yesterday in Pamplona).
The plan was to cycle to Los Arcos and to stay the night there in the refugio run by Flemish volunteers. We did not get that far. We are now staying in Estella, a nice provincial town (some 22 kilometres before Los Arcos). We booked into a local refugio, our first night surrounded by some 30 other pilgrims (we are the only cyclists). Tomorrow we have to leave the refugio by 8h30 (an early start is ahead of us). And tonight we have to be back at the refugio by 22h00 because then the lights go out... (we will have to come back another time to see the world famous Estella nightlife).
Day 2: 54 kilometres, 4,5 hours of cycling (or walking next to our bikes).
2 comments:
Knowing Jan since a long time I should have foreseen that these guys would stick to a '4-hours-working-day'. Try to keep up with the pedestrians fellows ! By the way... the day you left te ETA put an end to their cease-fire.
good luck and have fun
jo dn
super tare, super tare! Fiti tari si increzatori in ceea resursele si experineta acumulata.
Keep going!
Magda
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