23 September, Day 2: Now we do start!

Distance: 70km

We shared breakfast with the two Canadian ladies, plus three ladies from the US, all walkers. The owner of the hostel - Jean Pierre - was there and we chatted a little with him, a very pleasant person.

SJPP: Ready to start

Before 9am, we were out with the bicycles and panniers ready. It was cool but the weather had changed, and the sky was clear. We had decided to go back up following the road, not the camino. For a while, we had the sound of the river Nive alongside, and sometimes the chime of the bells of the sheep on the pastures of the wide valleys.

View from Valcarlos

We climbed steadily and after an hour, we were surprised to see we had reached Valcarlos. We stopped by a fountain, took off one layer, washed our faces and applied sunblock. Along the climb, we enjoyed the different smells from the vegetation, the cattle, the humidity of the morning and we tried to ignore the cars and trucks that every once in a while passed us.

Micael by the fountain in Valcarlos

About 2km before reaching Alto de Ibarreta, I literally ran out of fuel, so we stopped on the side of the road to eat a Powerbar (thank you Pacesetters, I had saved it from one of my last races!) and some walnuts and raisins and then I felt better.

We continued to Ibarreta, where we coincided with the group of old sports cars (MGs, Triumph, Rolls Royce...) and got our picture taken.

At Alto de Ibañeta, in the background, French side

It was then downhill and we quickly reached Roncesvalles. Being this Spain, we had to hurry to the first shop we could find to buy some lunch before they closed for siesta. This we did and we bought ourselves some yogurt and fruits.

Now, we had several options: go back to the refuge in Urrobi, just a couple of km away, continue to the private hostel in Sorogain, some 5km away or continue to Zubiri. Since it was still early, we decided to do a visit to the tiny village of Mezquiritz - where a priest friend of my family comes from - and there we meet his nephew and niece and we chatted with them for a while.

At Mezquiritz

We continued towards Bizkarreta, looking for the hostel of Sorogain but it turns out that we passed it by a few km and we didn't feel like going back, so on we went to Zubiri. We had our lunch on the side of the camino, but decided to do Alto de Erro by the road and from there, we took the camino in a pretty steep downhill route with some sharp stones to Zubiri. On the way we passed a group of 8 French pilgrims and just as we arrived to Zubiri, 6 Canadian ladies.

Bridge over Arga river, Zubiri

We reached the public hostel, where the hospitalera told us that she only had a few places left and she had to give priority to the walking pilgrims over the bicycle ones (we had been warned of this policy, so it was no surprise); the local private hostel was already full, so she suggested we go on to Larrasoaña, some 5km more by road. This we did.

At Larrasoaña, the hospitalera was also apologetic but the place was also almost full and she had to wait until 7:30pm before she could give us a place. She gave us a small map with directions to yet another hostel a little further ahead, in Huarte. There was a phone number, so I called and the fellow said that the place was empty.

So, on we went. From Bizkarreta, there were lots of flying insects and as we passed, we managed to swallow a few (good source of protein) and I managed to get one in my eye.

We arrived at Huarte around 6pm, to find a very nice, clean and big hostel, right downtown and yes, pretty empty. Iñigo, the hospitalero, was very nice and helpful and showed us where to store safely the bikes, gave us a room for ourselves and showed us where we could do laundry, plus a nice big kitchen we could use. We showered, put our clothes in the washing machine and went looking for a super to buy dinner. I was feeling exhausted!

The town was having their annual fiesta, so many shops were closed, but the big shopping mall had a hypermarket open. On the way back, we stopped in the park by the river Arga and had a beer there. Back in the hostel, we made ourselves a nice dinner of salad and chicken, plus some fruit and a mug of hot chocolate; my, were we hungry after the long day!

Looking at the map, we then realized that we were barely 8 km from Pamplona!