Day 3 and Day 4

Day 3 Thurs 5th Sept St Jean Pied de Port to Pamplona

Left St Jean Pied de Port via Sports Shop and headed to the unknown - the climb over the Pyrenees. Entered Spain quite soon and it went up - and up - and up! from 200m to 1057m.
Lunch (beer and sandwich) just over the top opposite the Monastery at Roncesvalles. Then followed a generally downhill ride to Pamplona - saw dozens of ´racing´cyclists out for late afternoon rides.
In Pamplona we had arranged to stay in a Franciscan Friary with a priest friend of Tony O - they met in Brasilia in 2012 and fr Gabriel invited us to stay with him. After showers and a conducted tour of the Friary we had supper with fr Gabriel in the Refectory and then went to the 8pm Parish Mass that he was celebrating - he introduced us to the congregation and included us in the prayers.
fr Gabriel then drove us into town for an extended walking tour showing us the sites and explaining every detail - the bull running route and its details, Plaza del Castilla the central square, Iruna Restaurant (Hemingway etc) and the Citadel.
We had a great welcome and enjoyable evening - thank you fr Gabriel devoting your time to us.

51miles - total 120

Day 4 Fri 6th Sept Pamplona to Viana

After breakfast in the Refectory fr Gabriel insisted on driving us out of town !!
He preceeded us in his car with flashing hazard lights on and led us through town and onto the road towards Viana, our next stop.
Thanks again to fr Gabriel.

We headed out of Pamplona through villages and often intersected the Camino walking route - riding alongside on tarmac surfaces.
We followed national routes which were nice and quiet due to adjacent newly built motorways. These roads were often wide, traffic free and well surfaced although they still had a few testing hills on them. The bonus was we had a number of long descents on clear roads often over 40mph - panniers helped. We felt we were seeing the real Spain when riding through small towns and villages.
Signs of recession were apparent with incomplete and unsold new housing developments.
We have enjoyed greatly the fellowship of other pilgrims and travellers throughout the day and at mealtimes, whether at lunch or in the evening. Today we met Australians, Dutch, South African, Russian, American and other Brits.
After we arrived in Viana just after 6pm, we booked in to our ´Palacio´, showered and were about to go out to eat when the heavens opened with a mighty downpour of hailstones. We ate in the Hotel Restaurant!!
We chatted with fellow diners from Germany and Australia.
Another good day on the Camino.

60miles - total 180