Did I say today was going to be tough? Perhaps the hardest 48 k's we have ever done. Left our hotel in Pamplona at 9.15 and arrived at our hotel in Estella at 5 pm. We knew it was going to be hard and I had calculated we could be in the saddle for 4 hours - ummm.
We got out of Pamplona a lot easier than we got in thanks to being educated on reading Camino signs by one of the walkers. So at around 9.30 we were on the city fringe and starting our real days riding from an altitude of 450m. We then started a series of climbs over 6km to 635m which took 1 1/2 hours - slow and hard. So we stopped for a snack in Zariquigui ready to conquer the Alto del Perdon at 770m. Two choices - take the road, another long slog or push the bikes up the hill. We chose the latter and walked with the bikes up an unbelievably rough track for 45 mins to reach the top - but WE MADE IT. Then we had to get down the other side which was even harder, trying to keep our feet and stopping the bikes from slipping. So it was another 45 mins before we could actually get on the bikes and ride again. We stopped for a quick lunch in Puente La Reina at 2 pm with still another 22 k's to go for the day. More unexpected inclines, not so steep but long and tiring. However we of course persevered and 2 1/2 hrs later arrived at this lovely hotel, tired but again very pleased with our efforts. Unfortunately we have been having problems with chains coming off or slipping, particularly on Rhon's bike so we had to take them to a bike shop to have them looked at. So tomorrow may be an enforced lay-day although we are hoping they bikes can be fixed reasonably early and we can get in at least part of our scheduled ride. So probably about 6 hours in the saddle plus stoppages for bike problems and a couple of wrong turns, made for a tough day. And so to bed in Estella.
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