Hotel Rural Bidean Irun

... lejos de casa. Para su tranquilidad he de decir que no me atraen demasiado las chinas ;-) aunque nunca se sabe. Al final me dijo que aunque no es lo que más quería para mi estaba de acuerdo en que aceptara la beca.




Ya después por la tarde, un par de horas antes de que finalizara el plazo de aceptación navegué por pagina web de la organización y cuando me pregunto si estaba seguro de aceptar la beca respondí Si.

This stage has no difficulties, the landscapes begin to change, we left the woods behind us and we begin to see beatiful fields til we reach our destination.

In Los Arcos I don't recommend the main refuge... when we were there we saw lots of bugs, an unpleasant smell, a small kitchen... the village is not very impressive but the main church (worth to see)

We'll remember this stage for the amount of mud we accumulated in our legs. It was an awkward day, at least this stage was pretty easy but the beginning (a huge climb with a lot of mud).

We founded the main refuge in Estella newly renovated, clean, with all the facilities... a nice place where we met people from Italy, Germany and New Zealand , we decided to cook together a huge tipical spanish omelet!!! We also took a walk around beatiful Estella despite of the pain in our legs!

... so I'm feeling pretty chuffed and tired in equal measure, but seeing as I've covered good distance I've decided to go the more scenic and mountainous route to Barcelona, I'm sure I will regret it halfway up a long climb, but hey ho what can you do? The thunder seems to be getting closer and it's starting to rain so I'm going to get packed up and to bed, it has just gone 9.00 after all, it's amazing how early you can get to sleep after a days cycling.

... friends! (Oh and yes my new friends are from Puerto Rico, I got to learn all about the country on the way to Pamplona and now I think I need to go!!!) SO it was raining and FREEZING COLD and like the ass that i am I only wore shorts and a t-shirt! Doris told me to bring a sweater but I was like nahhhh why WHY are mom's always right! So we actually found a store that was open! GREAT AND they had the sash things that everyone was wearing PERFECT this would ...

... Crazy. ... The crowded arena means that we won't get free seats. We are going to have to pay 5 euros each for upper level seats. No problem, they are cleaner and calmer up there anyway. Just what we need after very little sleep. Alfredo leaves to get tickets and I scout out the arena. I notice a much larger police presence today then yesterday or last night. Nearly fifty policemen in full riot gear. That doesn't make me feel too good. Alfredo comes back with the tickets and we ...

... Around 1pm, we are all hungry, and decide to head home ... where Alfredo and Marta cook us up an awesome lunch. Mixed salad (our best salad since arriving to Spain, and that is saying A LOT!), fresh baked fish, and red peppers that are the area's specialty. And then, we all sleep for two hours. ... Sam is woken up and given a treat by Marta, a chocalate bar sandwich. We would never imagine giving that much sugar to our kids in the evening, but Marta assures us she ate them all ...

... to survive this festival I knew I was going to need hydration and rest first. So we grab some bottles of water, I took some tylenol has I´m still feeling quite sick, and we found a place to sleep in the park. We both brought daypacks, and I brought along my pillow and sheet to sleep with. We didn´t have any accomodations for the night in Pamplona. Our plan was to stay up until the bull run at 8am and catch the first bus out. Or sleep in the park ...

Jeszcze rano, po mroznej nocy w parku w Pamplonie, udalo nam sie zobaczyc na Placa de Torros stadko ludzi, biegajacych za bykami (lub odwrotnie). :) A potem zaczela sie przygoda ze stopem. Pojechalysmy dwoma, oba no coz, tiry, ale we dwojke nie obawialysmy sie niczego i choc troche to zajelo i troche ...

... to ring to get it back, but when Nathan rang, the person on the other end of the line didnt speak English at all, so we ended up going into an English Language School to ask for assistance. The woman there was really helpful and even called us a taxi and wrote the address on a note to give to the driver. So about 1 ½ hours and 100 later, we were on our way again, quite happy to be leaving Pamplona. It was quite funny really, but not at the time!