76 km
I feared to hear some raindrops on the tent in the early morning, but it must have been something else. Starting from St Jean I had the choice between multiple tracks. One seemed to use the Camino for pedestrians. I took another one from Brig to Cabo Fistera. It started good an used minor roads parallel to the route national. That went fine until Valcarlos. From there it turned in the heights and used the Camino footpath, which is not a good idea with an heavy bike in the mountains. In order to reach the route national I had to cross the river, but the path was very steep -first down and then uphill- so I walked and had many efforts to keep bike and trailer under control. This took some time and sweat.
The route national was very quiet and had a moderate ascend, so I stayed on that track until Pamplona. After noon I reached the highest point 1057 m, the pass of Roland.
I had a little chat with 3 Belgians, who arrived at he same time.
After lunch it was a short distance to the next target: Monastery of Roncesvalles. I asked for a credential there, that is the document that identity a pilgrim and I got my first stamp in it.
On the way down to Pamplona I had to climb again several times to 900 m and 800 m, so it was not just one downhill run.
Several times the pedestrian Camino crossed my track and there were many walking pilgrims to be seen.
I stopped rather early on the camping, I’m the north of Pamplona, because I did not want to hurry through the town. The next camping would be in about 30 km.
Now I had time to dry my sleeping bag in the sun.
Paul
I feared to hear some raindrops on the tent in the early morning, but it must have been something else. Starting from St Jean I had the choice between multiple tracks. One seemed to use the Camino for pedestrians. I took another one from Brig to Cabo Fistera. It started good an used minor roads parallel to the route national. That went fine until Valcarlos. From there it turned in the heights and used the Camino footpath, which is not a good idea with an heavy bike in the mountains. In order to reach the route national I had to cross the river, but the path was very steep -first down and then uphill- so I walked and had many efforts to keep bike and trailer under control. This took some time and sweat.
The route national was very quiet and had a moderate ascend, so I stayed on that track until Pamplona. After noon I reached the highest point 1057 m, the pass of Roland.
I had a little chat with 3 Belgians, who arrived at he same time.
After lunch it was a short distance to the next target: Monastery of Roncesvalles. I asked for a credential there, that is the document that identity a pilgrim and I got my first stamp in it.
On the way down to Pamplona I had to climb again several times to 900 m and 800 m, so it was not just one downhill run.
Several times the pedestrian Camino crossed my track and there were many walking pilgrims to be seen.
I stopped rather early on the camping, I’m the north of Pamplona, because I did not want to hurry through the town. The next camping would be in about 30 km.
Now I had time to dry my sleeping bag in the sun.
Paul
