Category: 2024 Spring – Pyrenees – Porto

We left the lush, rolling landscapes of the Rioja near Pomplano and entered the flatter, drier, hotter area to the west. The ride was big, too. About 72 kms with quite a bit of climbing, especially at the end. The last 10 kms was a constant climb from 750m to about 1,000m. It was wonderful to find our lovely B&B.

One stretch of the ride was about 20 kms, straight as an arrow, with huge farm fields stretching out on both sides. No wind, no cars, and no distractions except the bugs that bounced off of our faces when we were flying down hills at high speed. (Slightly alarming.) In fact, we’ve been amazed at how few cars and trucks we’ve encountered, and all have been very courteous. Always a full lane of clearance.

Patti: my mum, who was an inspiring traveller and adventurer, never made it to Spain. I left some of her ashes on the side of one of the vineyards in Rioja. I hope it was grapes for white wine which was her favourite. At our hotel that evening we really enjoyed the wine of our next region, Ribera del Duero. Highly recommended. Actually, when we arrived in that small enclaves, we rode ‘round and ‘round, trying to find the hotel. Finally an elderly woman came out of her house, asked us what we were looking for, and walked us down the street to where she could point at a white building which was where we were staying. Moral of the story: GoogleMaps is okay, but always trust the abuela.

This video is a 360 surround, so be sure to drag the view around if you like.

This short video shows the brilliant canola fields near the end of our day. Quite amazing the farmers keep this land so well tended considering the rolling terrain and altitude.

Wednesday May 8th marked the last day of our first week of cycling. We were incredibly lucky to be spending that day in brilliant sunshine in the Rioja region of Spain.

We rode about 50’ before we realized that our devices were sync’d to different GPS routes, so we pulled over to the sidewalk and while we figured out which route was the most current route, a young mum walked past us with her seven year old daughter. They continued past and then came back because, as the mum asked, the sweet daughter had a question. Of course, all of this was in Spanish. John started to explain about the bikes/trikes as best he could until we figured out that the little girl’s question was about John’s hand. How did he… was there an accident… This mum and daughter were originally from Morocco. Kudos to the mum for persisting and advocating for her very shy daughter, so they had their questions answered. They asked for photos with us when they left us. I wish I had asked them to share them with us. Two beautiful young women.

Later in the day, for a number of segments on our route, we were joined by a (I’m guessing, seventy-two year old) Dutch woman who was cycling alone, on a battery-assisted bike, repeating a trip that she had done in 2005. Carrying all of her gear with her. Completely inspiring. We wish her well.

The day was long. Hot and dry. 73.3 km. We rode through stunningly beautiful Rioja vineyards and ended up in an architecturally daring hotel in Eskuernaga, Villabuena de Alava/Eskuernaga, Pais vasco/Euskadi, Rioja. Daring food for dinner. Gorgeous wine. And, obviously, early to bed.

I’m sure John will have juicy tidbits to add. John here. I’m amazed by the importance of agriculture and vineyards in this area. The fields are full of grapes, the towns are full of bodegas, the countryside has many workers bending over tending to various plantings and vines.

We always see the ridge of mountains to the north, separating Rioja from the sea, and the snow-capped ridge of mountains to the southwest. This area of Rioja is very hilly, and many hilltops are crowned with ancient towns and castles. We cycled through several towns today, never failing to lose direction at least once, and burning up our e-bike batteries on the steep inclines. Great fun!

We left our mountain hotel in Akeretta surrounded by misty mountains, a light drizzle, and a cool temperature. The ride started on the shoulder of the busy road but soon enough we were treated with the Greenway all the way into Pamplona. Pamplona is famous for the bull run through its narrow winding streets. Not everyone’s cup-of-tea.

Our route planner avoided the crowded centre of town, and in return we enjoyed the splendid parks and the magnificent castle. Pamplona is a beautiful city, and is, of course, a mecca for the Camino de Santiago pilgrims. Some of the pilgrims choose to carry everything they have with them, some have porters to pick up their baggage in the hotel in the morning and ferry it to their next accommodations. (See the photo, below.)

We travelled through several small towns, and became lost in almost all of them. The roads are very narrow, unmarked, and are incredibly steep. Our most difficult challenge was a steep descent from a village, over very rough cobblestones, ending in stairs down to an old arched bridge, and stairs up to the adjoining road. Unfortunately our route planning app didn’t flag this as impossible for trikes. A bit of head-scratching and slogging got us through the obstacle. We had a fun conversation with a nephew and his uncle from Trois Rivieres at the end of that adventure. They filmed us grunting and huffing our bikes up those steps. I wish I had a copy of that…. At any rate, 66 hard-won kilometres later we ended the day with a lovely ride through the ancient town of Estella. Our hotel was basic, and full of peregrinos (Camino pilgrims). Patti and I had local Basque dishes in the basic hotel restaurant: Pork Knuckle, and Pork Tripe. They were DELICIOUS. And, obviously, we fell into bed, exhausted.