Cycling Estella to Pamplona, Spain: Headwinds, Holidays and Hemmingway

18-19 March 2019

Estella to Pamplona (18 March 2019, 46 km, 28.5 mi)

Our hotel in Estella turned out to be a wonderful find. We were actually sorry to have to leave after only one day. It was well laid-out, quiet, and it had really fast internet. Located in the old part of town it had great historic charm. It was easily one of the best rooms we have had so far on this trip.

But leave we did. The first 20 km included a pleasant ramble over two low ridges, with gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains.

Precipitous cliffs formed a dramatic backdrop for our departure from Estella. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

This is where they keep the wine - a bodega cooperative in Ciraqui, Spain. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

At 20 km, we crossed the Río Arga at a town called Puente la Reina, at the foot of a famous passage on the Camino de Santiago - the Alto de Perdón (Mount of Forgiveness). From the bridge that we crossed, we had a great view of the “bridge of the queen,” a Romanesque stone bridge built by an 11th century Basque queen for pilgrims on route to Santiago. It’s still used as a footbridge on the walking path of the Camino.

“The Bridge of the Queen” (puente de la reina), has been crossed by pilgrims using the French Route of the Camino de Santiago for 1,100 years. Río Arga, Puente la Reina, Spain. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

The baroque steeple of this church graces the skyline in Puente la Reina, Spain. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

Crossing over the Alto de Perdón is a rite of passage on the Camino de Santiago. Although it’s not a huge mountain, it’s still a challenge to get up and over, rising 337 m (1,100 ft) in approximately 10 km. For pilgrims headed to Santiago, it comes shortly after leaving Pamplona, and the top of the ridge is a popular place to rest after the long climb. Apparently in the summer, vendors even sell refreshments to pilgrims at the top of the pass. I couldn’t find any information about why the ridge is called the Mount of Forgiveness, but it seems appropriate for an important waypoint along the Camino.

A brisk headwind had kicked in early in the day, and was quite strong by the time we reached the foot of the Alto de Perdón - ensuring that we wouldn’t get to cruise up and over the pass without some real, pilgrim-level effort. The top of the mountain is covered with wind turbines (apparently more than 40!), and they were all aimed away from us to catch the wind that was blowing into our faces. They were spinning really fast, too. The one-two punch of the climb and the wind slowed our progress to a crawl.

It’s always a bad sign when the wind turbines are pointed away from you (read: headwind). These, on top of the Alto de Perdón, were spinning really fast. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

Getting close to the top of the pass at the Alto de Perdón. If the valley in the background looks deep, that’s because we just climbed 1,100 ft from there. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

At the top of the pass, we stoped for a few minutes to enjoy the view. But we didn’t want to linger because a dark storm cloud was approaching fast. Just moments after we got back on our bikes, the cloud swooped over the crest of the mountain, and it started to rain. Cold and hard. We donned our raincoats for a shivery, soggy ride down the other side of the pass.

It really was spectacular. The view southwest from the Alto de Perdón. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

Luckily, as we descended from the heights of the pass, the temperature rose and the rain stopped. We had a beautiful, very scenic ride into Pamplona.

The scenery on our approach to Pamplona. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

We had been riding on a major road for many miles, so the downhill run from the top of the pass went by quickly. As we got close to Pamplona, it looked like we might be able to coast into the city on smooth, fast pavement.

There it is! Pamplona is in our sights and it looks like it’s all downhill. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

But of course... it wouldn’t be quite that easy. Just about 10 km outside of the city, the road we were on merged with an Autovía - the type of highway on which bikes are not allowed. Bummer. Our route diverted onto a not-so-well maintained gravel road. Luckily that stretch didn’t last too long. But we still had to take side roads to circle around and approach Pamplona from the southeast.

Watch out for those washboards. They can really rattle your teeth on a steep descent. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

We eventually made it to our hotel, happy to be in out of the wind and looking forward to our rest day.

Rest day in Pamplona (19 March 2019)

One of the best things about our hotel room in Pamplona was that we were on the eighth floor, up on a hill. As a result, we had panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. The scenery was especially dramatic because of unsettled weather - including strong winds, lots of clouds, and occasional rainshowers that created a constantly-changing kaleidoscope of light and shadow on the mountains.

The morning view from our hotel room window. Pamplona, Spain. Copyright © 2018-2019 Pedals and Puffins.

It turns out we were took our rest day on a Spanish holiday called San José day (i.e., Fathers Day). This meant that almost all the restaurants and grocery stores were closed. Not good for us. We took a long walk in around town and found only two restaurants open, both American fast food restaurants. KFC and Dominos Pizza saved us from going hungry.

Finding food has been particularly challenging on this trip. Unlike in the United States where grocery stores often stay open 24 hours a day, almost every day of the year, and there are convenience stores and fast food everywhere, Spain is very different. In Spain, most restaurants don’t serve dinner until 8 pm, and some don’t open until 9 pm. Convenience stores are no where to be seen. In addition, many grocery stores, especially in the smaller towns, close for a large part of the afternoon (the siesta), and then open again for just a few hours in the evening. At least half the time when we have wanted to buy supplies, we have found the stores to be closed. This dramatically increases the amount of time required to just find food and water. It can also present a problem when you are passing through a town mid-day, with low supplies and there aren’t any stores open to purchase water or food. Don’t even think about trying to have an early dinner when you want to get an early start the next morning. We’ve managed to stay fed, but it does add an extra level of challenge to the trip.

For the first time in a while, we didn’t have a bunch of additional chores to take care of on our rest day. Sweet. Between rain showers, we had the chance to get out and see some of the highlights around town. Pamplona is most famous, of course, for the running of the bulls during the Festival of San Fermín, in July. So, we definitely had to go see the monument to the running of the bulls. But a leisurely stroll around town helped us discover some of Pamplona’s other, less infamous sights.