Camino de Santiago de Compostela 2013 Canadian Pilgrims on Bikes: June 3 "Day Off" in Roncesvalles

What a day off in Roncesvalles! The first task of the day was for John Hickie and I to ride our bikes down into Pamplona to pick up our 9 passenger Mercedes Vito van and drive it back up to beautiful Roncesvalles and our rooms in the Monastery. John and Ian were waiting for the bus to Pamplona in the rain. A transient clearing down the valley convinced us to ride. Right decision. The ride was essentially downhill but had two climbs that peaked at 14 percent. We travelled 55 kilometres to Europcar´s office and had a good cycling start for the Camino. Dan, Klari and Nola walked the 27 kms down to St. Jean Pied de Port and returned by cab. The walk started in the fog but turned out to be a beautiful day....about a six hour walk. The funny highlight to that escapade was how impressed the taxi driver was with Dan in that he was travelling not only with two women but that neither one was his wife!

On the walk down the Valcarlos route. We were told the Napoleonic route would be too challenging - poor weather to traverse, which was very disappointing. Valcarlos route entirely by road - French drivers definitely much speedier than Spaniards.

This is the start of the Camino!

Walking the Val Carlos Route

St. Jean Pied de Port. A very busy place!

John and I left the van at the Monastery and rode our bikes the 27 kms down into St. Jean via the Valcarlos route, took a few pics, met a guy from Rhode Island, and then against the advice from the Camino "sello" stamper, decided to ride back up to the Monastery via the more difficult Napoleon Route. It averages 13 percent for 7 kms including 2 21 percent slopes and a 23 !!!! I had to dismount temporarily on the 23 as a little delivery van came over the crest of the one lane road just as I was experiencing some stress.... Nothing to do but jump off and get out of his way! Truth is without the van I was about to bail anyhow...

The reason the hospitalerio advised us not to take this route on our road bikes soon became apparent as the last 5 kms over the top are not paved and they had had 21 days of rain. Despite the difficulties, it was well worth it. Gorgeous views with a Golden Eagle and three vultures soaring over a steep ridge just as we rode over it.

I was glad to have the Trek Domane but everyone will laugh at how inappropriate it was for the next section....we had to carry our bikes and walk through the muck for a couple of kms and arrived back at the Monastery after 10 to a very worried Klari, Dan and Nola.

This was our first sign of trouble but much worse to come...

Temp dropped to 3.6 degrees and the wind chill was lower still and we were still below the tree line!

A welcome sight as we arrived back to our home for the night and what the kitchen could whip up for us....and a rightful scolding from our team. We washed our road bikes in the mountain stream before departure the next morning.

Ouch...My new Trek Domane and the EP D3 wheels that arrived two days before departure were certainly baptized on today's ride! This climb really showed off the Di2 drivetrain.