25 September, Day 4: Pamplona - Lorca

Distance: 49.5 (including detour to Decathlon)


The hostel has the policy that there should be silence until 7am, but by 6, people started getting up and preparing to leave. By seven, Oscar came to ask if we had any pliers in our tool kit, since he had put the key to his suitcase lock, inside the suitcase... We didn't but fortunately, the hospitalero did and they managed to open it.

Leaving the hostel, Pamplona

We were not in a hurry, but still had to have breakfast and be out of the hostel by 8:30, like everybody else. Two "bicigrinos" and one "suitcase pilgrim". Our plan was to go to Decathlon, an outdoor and sports shop, where we had found a bicycle with and acceptable price that looked suitable to do the trip.

And so, we started a pilgrimage to Decathlon, some 3.5km from the hostel, followed by Oscar, pulling his suitcase.

The suitcase pilgrim

We arrived to the shop and still had to wait until 10am, when it opened; then Oscar and Micael went in, while I stayed out with our loaded bicycles and the suitcase. Once he bought the bicycle, they came to get the seat, pedals and rack, that Oscar had brought with him, and they went back inside to fit them to the new bicycle. Finally, around noon, the bike was ready to be loaded with panniers and we were ready to go (the suitcase found a resting place in the rubbish bin).

Fitting the bike

We left Pamplona by the university campus and from there we could see the hills, full of windmills, that we were heading for.

Near Mañeru

We were following the camino and soon came the first uphill bit, quite steep and uneven and at some point I had to stop and push... But, oh my!, one thing is to push your bike alone and a very different one to push it when its loaded (about 10 kg extra); it was awkward and soon I was breathless!

It leveled a little and we pedaled again and then there was another steep climb; another pushing session, slow and with several stops to catch my breath (it seems I should have done more upper body exercises!); Oscar and Micael were able to pedal a little farther and then they were quicker pushing. Micael offered to help me with the bicycle but I said I would try to do it by myself.

Going up Alto del Perdón

We finally made it to the top of Alto del Perdón, surrounded by windmills, with the Monument to the Pilgrims and a strong wind that could almost blow us away.

Monument to the Pilgrim, Alto del Perdón

Following Iñigo's advise, we took the road instead of the camino, since the latter was steep and rocky and the former is pretty much unused due to the new highway built nearby.

Alto del Perdón looking West

We went through sunflower fields and vineyards, and the villages of Uterga and Muruzábal, from where we took the detour to the Church of Eunate, believed to have been built in the XII century, either by the Templar Knights or the Knights Hospitaller. We had some fruit and I called the Albergue Privado La Bodega del Camino en Lorca, to book.

Iglesia de Eunate

Our next stop was at Puente de la Reina, where the cited bridge is the main attraction.

Puente de la Reina

When leaving, Oscar and Micael tried to adjust the shifter of the new bike, which was already giving some problem.

Ajusting shifter

We decided to continue by the camino, and then we reached a very broken part, steep and full of loose rocks; we met a man there who just said "not a good way"; it turned out to the an abandoned Roman Way and we got to a place where the bridge had collapsed and it took some effort and pushing for us to pass and get back on the deserted road and ride on to Lorca, where we easily found our hostel, very cozy.

We showered, did some laundry, went to buy a few things for breakfast and came back on time for dinner (we were starving!): pasta, fish with french fries, bread, ice cream and wine. While we ate, the place filled; it seemed to us that it is the social center of the village so all the couples arrive with their kids, who run around while the parents have a drink and chat.

After briefly planning the next day, we where ready for bed. In our dormitory, we shared with a French couple and a Swiss fellow.

24 September - Day 3: Pamplona

Distance: 9 km

Most hostels - especially the public ones - have the policy that everyone must leave before 8-8:30am. This one was not the exception.

We got up at seven and went down to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and met another couple of bicigrinos, from Cantabria, who were going to do the trip from Roncesvalles to León, since they had already done from León to Pamplona (this is another thing some people does: they divide the Camino in stages that they do in several times, due to time limitations).

At 8:30, the hospitalero came to say good morning and good-bye, and two cleaning ladies were there, ready to start cleaning. Usually, the hostels remain closed until the afternoon, when they start receiving new pilgrims.

We had plenty of time; in the main square of the town, there was a band preparing to play on the streets, but not until 10:30, so we decided we would not wait and start our ride to Pamplona.

The Camino here was great; it is part of the park I mentioned yesterday, which goes alongside the Arga river and it extends to, through and beyond Pamplona. It's so pretty, with the clean river, trees and bushes on the sides and a path for walkers, runners, skaters and bicycles. Such a beautiful idea (http://www.pamplona.es/parquefluvial/es/index.asp), when will we do something similar in Costa Rica?...

Of course, in less than 20 minutes we were already by Puente de la Magdalena, the entry point to the old part of the city, passing then the Gateway to France. We wandered a little on the small, narrow streets when Oscar called already from the Madrid airport.
We found the Hostel Jesus Maria (municipal one), but it was closed until 1pm, so we just kept exploring the city; we went to Estafeta street, where we sat and had a coffee while imagining the bulls of the encierro running on that street; then the Plaza de Toros, and a very nice pedestrian avenue (San Ignacion?), where there is an sculpture of the encierros.

This is the closest I'll ever be of the Pamplona bulls

Then, on to plaza del Castillo, full of cafes and we stopped at Café Iruña (where Hemingway would hang when in town), with a fantastic decoration.

Café Iruña

When it was almost one, we returned to the hostel and there were already a few people registering. This hostel has 112 places, arranged in sets of two bunk beds, with two batteries of showers and toilets, laundry, a place to store bicycles and a kitchen.

Hostel Jesus María

During the afternoon, people kept arriving. so I went to the hospitalero several times, to make sure that there was still a place for Oscar - since one cannot reserve in advance.

Oscar arrived by bus around 7:30, pulling an old suitcase, where he had his panniers and stuff. We went by a local deparment store, where he checked the bicycles they had, then to the supermarket to buy dinner and back to the hostel. There, the hospitalero first looked at my cousing with his suitcase with some suspicion - he didn't quite look like a pilgrim - but once Oscar explained, there was no problem.

At the hostel, we had been observing the other pilgrims; it seems to us that it is definitely tougher for the walkers than for the bikers. Almost everyone had at least one blister to show in their feet and, especially among the younger ones, there were several with serious muscle cramps and tendinitis. There was a young couple where the girl could hardly walk and then we overheard her say that she was going to buy a new pair of booths (ahhhh!!). We started listing nationalities: Brazilians, Polish, French, Germans, Spanish, Koreans, Italians, Canadian, US.

At 10:30, very punctual, the lights went off and an hospitalero passed around asking for silence for everyone to rest.

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!

22 September, Day 1: To Saint Jean Pied de Port

Distance: 35km

Testing the brakes

I woke up with sore arms from hauling the bags yesterday (I never thought of training my upper body for this trip, big mistake!).

The day was very foggy; we put together the bicycles and loaded them. We had breakfast at the place: bitter coffee and mini-toast...

We left around 9:40, after several stops: get the bike computer; take out the gloves, the reflecting vest... until we were finally ready to start.

On the way, we started meeting pilgrims and bicigrinos; some shouted at us that we were going in the wrong direction. The landscape is of pastureland in the lower part of shallow valleys, with forest on the sides; there are sheep and cows.

In Roncesvalles, the Pilgrim's office wasn't open yet, so we waited together with two ladies from Sao Paulo (Br), who had come from SJPP. The office is part of La Colegiata, the main building in Roncesvalles. Since nobody was coming, I walked around to ask at the Tourist Office, but instead I bumped into a young cyclist, maybe 19-20 years old, whom I asked if she had come from France. It turned out that she has come, on her own, all the way from her town in Switzerland (1000km in 16 days).

According to her, the climb from SJPP is not as hard as they say, but she did do it by the road and not the camino, since it has been raining a lot and it is very muddy.

By then, the office was open. We filled a questionaire: religion, procedence, reason to do the Camino, means (on foot, on bike, on horseback), nationality, and in exchange, we received our "credencial", a document that identifies us as pilgrims able to use the hostels and where one collects stamps of the places one passes, as proof that you've done the Camino. There, we got our first stamp.

We said goodbye to the Brazilian ladies and the Swiss girl and started the short climb to Alto de Ibañeta. The fog was a bit thick, so before starting downhill, we stopped to put on an extra jacket below the vest, plus lights for the bicycles. And then we went down. The temperature in Micael computer was 16 degrees (Celcius) when we started and as we started going down, it dropped to 12.4 degrees. Chillly.



The road is flanked by mixed forest and some areas with conifers; Micael was having fun identifying trees species as we went: chestnut, ash, beec, Norway spruce, alnus, tilia, sorbus.


We met several bicigrinos and cyclists climbing. The latter, we assume, had a support vehicle carrying their stuff. Here, we did see several couples and some of them older than us.

We stopped in the village of Valcarlos, very picturesque. There, we had coffee and a chat with the owner of the cafe.

We continued downhill and reached another village - Arnegi - where, after crossing a bridge, we came across the first French sign, advising about speed limits on the French roads.

Arnegi

By 1pm, we reached SJPP. The hostel "Chemin vers L'Etoile" - where we had booked- is located in the old part of town, but it was closed until 4pm, so we went to have a look around, stopped by the Office of Friends of the Camino, where the fellow was very kind and got very excited when he learned I'm Costarrican, since he's just been there. So far, my very very basic French has survived.
We climbed to see the walled Citadel and by 2:30, when the shops opened, we looked for a supermarked to get some lunch.

The town is very pretty, with nice old houses made of stone and tiled roofs and with its cobblestone streets in the old part. We stopped by a statue of "Renaud" (who must have done something very good for his country to be there) and had our lunch there.

Saint Jean Pied de Port

By then, the hostel had opened and we were received by Eric, the "hospitalero" (usually, volunteers who help run the hostel), who showed us where to leave the bicycles and our room, where there were two other beds that maybe, maybe not would be used by other pilgrims. It is a three story, XVI century building, with a nice central staircase and the steps worn by use.

Albergue

We showered, washed some clothes and went over to the park, where we sat and watched people and cars pass (apart from a parade of different models of campers, a group from a French club of old small sports cars did quite a show).

Saint Jean Pied de Port

There was a comunitarian dinner at 7pm, so we returned to the hostel. We were only six people: Eric the hospitalero (French, with his 12 year old son), Anita the hospitalera (German, with her son Felipe), plus two Canadian ladies. We had good local wine, vegetable soup, stew, olives, ham, bread and very pleasant company and conversation.

The Canadian ladies explained that they are using a service that will take their bags ahead to their next stop, so they only carry a small daypack with a minimum load.

By 9:30, we were in bed.

21 September, Day 0

The bus left Malaga at 1am; we managed to get some sleep and by 7:30, we were at the Madrid South bus terminal. Our next bus would depart from a different terminal, located some 5-6km away. Initially, we had thought of putting together everything and just bike there, but when we were told that there was a Metro line connecting both, we decided to give it a try.

We bought our tickets and when it was time to pass the entrance, a fellow approached us and opened a wider gate for us to pass without a question! Of course, it was awkward and heavy to haul the two bike bags and the bag with the panniers in escalators and passageways, but it sure was nice to have access like that!

Once we reached the Bus Terminal of Avenida America, we took a corner in a café and had a nice breakfast.

Our next bus left at 10:30, going to Soria; there, we already saw a mother and daughter who were obviously pilgrims, given their attire with hiking boots, backpack and the very telling "walking staff". Again, the driver didn't even look twice at our bags when we loaded them.

In Soria, we transferred to another bus to Pamplona, where we arrived at 3pm. Our first impression of Pamplona is very positive. We had a few hours to wait for the bus to Roncesvalles, so I went to a supermarket to buy dinner.

Soon, a bunch of pilgrims had arrived, as well as " bicigrinos" - as they call the pilgrims on bike -, all waiting for the bus to Roncesvalles. Two buses arrived and the driver started by loading the bicycles, removing their front wheel and putting them all together; we cued with them and he told us to wait with "our bags" ...

Loading bicycles in the bus to Roncesvalles

On the ride to Roncesvalles, all the bicycle riders sat together; we were the only couple, we were the oldest and I was the only woman. The conversation was full of testosterone about how and how fast they plan to do the trip, plus the very annoying comment of one of them saying that he was looking forward to meet a "foreign peregrina" but without his wife knowing... (men...)

We had booked a couple of places at the refuge of Urrogui, a couple of kilometres from Roncesvalles, where they gave us a tiny room just for us. The place was very clean, and there were only two other guests staying in another room. We showered, had our dinner and went to sleep while it rained outside.

September 20, Day -1

Up until now, our bike trips had been one day excursions and when we went to Capadocia in Turkey, where we did day trips using the town of Ucagiz as a base. This time we are carrying our things along the North part of Spain up until Santiago de Compostela (with the potential extension to Cape Finisterrre). We are very excited and we hope that this trip will be the first of many.

When I was a kid - a thousand years ago - my beloved father, who pampered us in many ways, never gave in to his view that "my children will not have bicycles, because they'll take to the streets", so we never had bikes in our house, which didn't prevent us from learning to ride and use the bicycles of cousins and friends.

In my case, I owe my learning to the pacient help of my cousins Rodo and Yeyo and my good friend Ale Chaves, with whom I spent many afternoons riding.

Afterwards, it was not until I had finished college that Ricardo and Doris passed me a bike they didn't use and with it I started riding slowly, starting from a ride around a few blocks that left me exhausted and then increasing to longer trips.

Now, many years later, I realize that, in spite of my father's efforts, I've been traveling (took to the streets!) most of my life and it is not until now that it is more with the bicycle.

Sunday arrived and we were both up early; I guess a little nervous, after so much planning and preparation. We went over our packing list, made some changes, checked the lights, etc.

Then Micael proposed that, following his favorite Danish philosopher's premise that "expectation is higher than fulfillment" (Soren Kierkegaard), maybe we should just cancel the trip and enjoy all the planning and virtual traveling we'd been doing... Well, his idea was not accepted and around 11pm, we started to get everything together and soon after, we started pedaling to the bus terminal, some 6 km from our place.

Our bikes ready, in our big hall

We got there quickly and then proceeded to pack the bicycles and panniers in their bags, so in a few minutes, we had three large bags as luggage to put on the bus.

8 days to start Camino de Santiago!

We have our bus tickets to leave past midnight of Monday the 21st to Madrid and then on to Pamplona.

I have printed a profile of the route (www.godesalco.com) to use as a quick guide as we go, with regards to where to stop each day.

Yesterday, we joined an activity of the local bicycle association - Ruedas Redondas (Circular Wheels) - and we plan to join them for a day trip in Sierra Nevada next Saturday, as a warm up for the big trip!