Fair Weather Bikers

The boat woke us up at around 6:30, but we didn't get up until about an hour later as we'd decided to skip breakfast.

We were off the boat by around 8:30. It was a cloudy day, but we didn't care - it was just nice to be off the ferry and on the road again.

As soon as you leave the docks in Bilbao you are straight onto the motorway and there are lots of junctions and lane changes to deal with - this was the first real test of the GPS and it worked a treat, in no time at all we were on the outskirts of Bilbao.

It was at this point I missed a turning, but the GPS plotted a route to get us back on track. I turned us around and was waiting to rejoin the road. There was quite a lot of traffic but I saw a large gap after a lorry; big enough for me and Nig, so I set off as soon as the lorry passed.

Unfortunately I had not seen the car tucked up behind the lorry. I pulled straight into the car's path oblivious to the danger - luckily the driver had very good reactions and just managed to avoid me, and justifiably sounded her horn as she went by, making me jump out of my skin. Nig said later she missed me by inches. It could have been a very premature end to our trip. Knowing you don't get too many of these escapes, I vowed to myself to be extra careful from there on in.

We filled up just out of Bilbao as the sun came out, and then set off towards Pamplona on the N-240 which was a very nice and enjoyable road with lots of flowing bends and very little traffic. It was an excellent start to our trip.

We had a sandwich and coffee on the outskirts of Pamplona and then made our way around the city on the ring road - again the GPS proving it's worth tenfold. It was very hot by this time and my jacket did not have air-vents in the sleeves, so it was getting a bit sweaty - but this was soon resolved by wearing my gloves inside my sleaves rather than over them, allowing air to blow up the sleeves and provide enough cooling to keep me comfortable.

We then started heading up in the Pyrenees. Instantly the roads became a joy to ride and the scenery improved every mile. The road became more and more twisty as we climbed up and up. The road surface was fantastic and there was very little traffic – it truly was biking heaven!

In what seemed no time at all we arrived at our camp site in Ezkaroze: Camping Osate. The campsite was very nice with good toilet and shower facilities and an on site bar/restaurant.

The bar didn't serve food until 8pm - so we cooked up one of the tinned curries I'd brought and had a cuppa by the tents. I repacked my bike and we relexed for a bit watching the huge butterrflies gliding about - I'd never seen butterflies glide before! We did attempt to go for a walk and explore the local area - but didn't get very far before we decided it was too hot and headed back for a nice cold beer.

We had a few more beers, then a very nice burger at 8pm, followed by a few more beers for me. Nig, on the other hand, discovered that they sold beer in extra large glasses as well as the standard fairly small ones - so he had a LOT more beer.

We retired at some time between 12pm and 1am - I was nicely chilled out, Nig was very merry!