Day 5 - Thursday 30th August

Potes to Pamplona

Distance – 437km

Overview.  A day of contrasts . . . rain in the Picos when leaving Potes, open sweeping plains while following the Cord Cantabrica and then dodging more rain towards our destination of Pamplona.

Pamplona Snapshot

History – The area served as a Roman camp in 75-74 BCE and it eventually became a town.  Its importance became as part of the Visigoth ‘empire’ in about 450 until it was disrupted by the Germanic and Frank invasions.  The Moor invasion reached Pamplona in 714 and the town flourished as a launching point for northern expeditions.   During the eighth century, Pamplona and its hinterland oscillated between the Moors and Franks, but they proved unable to permanently secure its rule over the Basque region leading to a period of instability and Pamplona became a fortress.  From the 11th century the bishops of Pamplona restored their religious authority and the pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela contributed a lot to revive the commercial and cultural exchanges with Christian Europe beyond the Pyrenees.  After the annexation of Navarre to Spain (1512), Pamplona remained as capital of the autonomous kingdom of Navarre and considerable efforts were made to secure the border with France.  Now it is famous for the insane ‘running with the bulls’ – although the Power Rangers might have done some good work during the event!

Elevation – 446m

Population – 200,000

More Planning . . .

We all met at 8:30am and did our detailed route planning over breakfast.  Once set we got ourselves kitted up for the day - in the bright sunshine!  There was little thought of rain, perhaps only riding through clouds like we did the other day.

The Rain in Spain . . .

So we got under way at 9:45am and headed SW on the N-621 - and that's where the clouds turned to quite serious rain!  We found a spot on the side of the road to get into our wet weather gear and carried on - although the pace was very slow as Chris was having a lot of trouble seeing through the mist.  This was not helped by the many mountain cattle foraging on the side of the road.

The rain stopped as soon as we crossed the 'watershed' from Cantabria back into Castille and Loen and all of a sudden we were riding in bright sunshine and on dry roads.  The scenery down to Boca de Heurgano (B) was stunning - the road had been made through a 'crack' in the rocks.

It won’t rain if we don’t look at the clouds!

Drying Out . . .  

Our first turnoff was Boca where we headed south and found a little coffee bar/coffee shop at Velilla del Rio Carrion to shake of the remaining moisture, take off the wet weather gear and have a drink.  After getting more directions, we headed off on the P-210 up and around the north side of a large reservoir (Embaise de Compuerto) - which provided the best riding of the day.

A room full of wet wet weather gear

The key navigation team in action

More Helpful Locals . . .  

The guys standing outside the bar/café seemed most intrigued with five older ‘English’ people riding around their neighbourhood – you wonder what they were really thinking!

Can you believe these English idiots on bikes?

No . . . you can’t get there from here!

On the Road Again . . .  

Once the fun was had we came down towards Cervera and then on the more major N-626 to Aguilar del Campoo (C) for lunch and fuel – we had passed through Aguilar yesterday.

Hey – who nicked our bikes?

There they go!

I say we go this way!

Bikes waiting for directions

The Plains of Spain . . .

The next part of the day's ride was on the N-627 until it intersected with the BU-V-6222 - a minor road without lanes or edges marked.  The wind had also picked up significantly - it was a steady 'gale' from the north.  The landscape was sensational with bleak, high, rocky outcrops, and yet somehow people were farming and growing crops in between.

We came across what seemed like the 'Grand Canyon' at Valdeajos (D) - a huge valley gouged out of the surrounding earth.  Unfortunately we were not really able to safely stop to get a good panoramic shot.

From there it became a bit of a chore cutting across the rough roads to the east - through very small villages such as San Felces, Sedano, Pesades de Burgos and Poza de la Sal (E, F & G) until we joined the SE-bound (eventually!) N-232 towards the AP-1 motorway.  However, even that was very interesting as we were following the Cord Cantabrica all the way east.  Given the hour, it was matter of staying on the motorway to Pamplona - although we did go 'through' Vitoria-Gasteiz'.  

And we were VERY lucky with the rain, or lack of it.  Every time a rain storm appeared in front of us our motorway veered off in the direction of blue sky or at least dry roads!

Valdeajos valley

Another Helpful Local . . . 

This man took it upon himself to give very detailed directional instructions on how we could get to our next ‘waypoint’ – the only problem was that he was a little directionally challenged himself and insisted on mixing up his left and right!

You go down here and turn left!

Pamplona Central . . .

We eventually pulled into the centre (literally) of Pamplona at about 8:00pm - although it took a bit of lap of the block to discover the general area of Hotel Maisonnave.  Eventually we parked up and John and Lorraine went off in search of the precise location.  Once it was all sorted we rode the bikes through some very narrow 'pedestrian' streets to the hotel, checked in, dumped the gear and then the riders took the bikes to an underground car park nearby.

It was 'happy hour' at the hotel - so we had a few drinks and assorted bar food for dinner, which was plenty as things turned out.  Later Liz (M) and I went for walk around the old city . . . and we were most impressed by the organisation and beauty of the place.  In all, we very pleased that Pamplona was chosen as tonight's destination.

‘Arrival’ in Pamplona – Garmin got us reasonably close to the hotel

Hotel Maisonnave Pamplona

Town Hall - Pamplona

Navigation . . .

Now that we are getting into the swing of this ride it is worth reflecting on the multiple methods of navigation employed by various Power Rangers.

Chris brought his trusty friend Garmin along for the ride and for the most part he served us well . . . although there were a few times when we did the Garmin Shuffle getting into or out of a place.  This meant doing a ‘Three Stooges’ routine of riding one way up a street, back the other side, around a round-about several times and then getting off our bikes and asking humans where the hotel was!

And Garmin seemed to be a bit of a slower starter . . . it would often take him some minutes to figure out where he was let alone where we wanted to go!  We did try to encourage him by calling him Manuel or Jacques depending on which country we were in, but it made little difference as he had clearly adopted a ‘European’ (I don’t dare say French!) attitude and he made if perfectly clear he would offer advice and instructions when he was ready – and not before!

Chris pleading with Garmin!

John and I brought along a number of maps that we used for planning and navigation.  I always had the current map in the transparent pocket of my tank bag – not that I could read it without glasses!  Still, it was a reassuring thing to be able to refresh and recalibrate the ‘moving map’ I always had running inside my head.

The traditional method of navigation

As previously indicated, we reverted to some very traditional methods of navigation by taking a few notes about key turning points, distances and roads to follow IN BIG PRINT.  I have to say this was probably the most successful way to get around with all these ‘old geezer’ eyes – especially when it was in the back of my jacket.  Lorraine could read it then and give me a thump in the kidneys every time I went the wrong way!

My riding instructions for Lorraine to read!

And finally, being the ‘creative type’ I managed to invent a new method of navigation – I inserted my iPad inside the pocket in the back of my jacket so I could become a modern day version of Garmin . . . an ‘iGarmin’ if you like!

Do you think the new ‘iJacket’ will catch on?