We’re In Pamplune, Or Is It Iruña, Or Is It Pamplona?

When does a hill become a mountain?

Monday 9^th May 2022

The day started with a mist hanging around the valley, but by 10:10am, having packed up, done the shopping and got on the road, the sky had cleared to a cloudless, vibrant blue.  A winding road led us out of St Jean Pied de Port and up into the hills to the south. On the way we passed walkers and cyclists enduring the Camino de Santiago.  Not one of them had remembered to rent a donkey, which I would have done!

At Arnéguy we were pulled over to the side of the road by one old chubby policeman and one young skinny one.  They checked our passports and vehicle registration and waved us on our way. It turned out that we were crossing into Spain, despite there being no sign to say so.  They didn’t want to see our Covid vaccination certificates, hola, gracias and aquí vamos.

The hills were fluffy with a covering of deciduous trees as we weaved our way up the snaking road to the Ibañeta Pass.  At Roncasvelles, or is it Oireaga, or is it Roncesvaux, we stopped to have drinks at the Casa Sabina next to the enormous Pilgrims Hostel and church, then carried on over the mountains and down more hairpin bends towards Pamplona. Camping Ezcaba turned out to be 10kms north of Pamplona, up in the hills, with no good bus service to the city, so we spent the afternoon researching the city for tomorrow and washing a mountain of warm clothes.  The temperature has reached 25c and it’s very hot in the sunshine; perfect for drying thick clothes that we hope we no longer need.

Tuesday May 10^th

This is the big day.  The big test for my new E-bike.  Will it get me all the way to Pamplona and back before I die of exhaustion? We set off after 9am, got lost twice on the way; the cycle route map was only 10cms by 12cms and darn hard to read. Plus, there were never any signs saying “Pamplona this way” in any language.  But we managed to complete the 10kms, with added extras, in just over an hour and I hardly used the extra power as we followed the river downstream.

Pamplona was a nice city to wander around on a bike and on foot; not too huge and not too busy.  We ate our first churros (this trip) for morning tea and continued to wander some more. At Spanish lunchtime, 2pm, we chose a restaurant on the Plaza del Castillo and indulged in the 3-course ‘Menu de Dia’.  And we over-ate, hugely over-ate. Time to burn it off on the ride back up to Camping Ezcaba.  I had been dreading this ride since yesterday afternoon.

What a pleasant surprise!  Despite the river tumbling downhill into Pamplona, the cycle path was actually quite flat with only a very slight gradient.  We only got lost once and I used warp factor 1 occasionally, only resorting to warp factor 2 on the really steep hill up to the campsite and up the driveway to Reggie.  The whole 10kms return journey only took us about 55 minutes, although I did leave Rodney well behind on the last bit and had to wait a while for him to turn up with the key to Reggie. My nose-less Apollo has passed the test and the battery was still almost full when we checked it. Phew.