50 people had signed up, however some of them also belong to Ecologistas en Accion, and since many of the Vive el Ebro group were interested, they allowed those people to sign up; so now 150 people were on board, more would have come, but the people in charge, lacking experience with large groups, were afraid to take on more.
I had left Wilbur behind with my friend Alicia, because this trip was bikes only, no support vehicle, and at a rate of 50 kms daily was too much for his paws. So Jorge and I took the van to Logroño, there was no sleeping provided for the first and last day, so we used the van; but first we headed over to Plaza del Mercado at 8pm, the meeting spot for a welcome critical mass throughout this gorgeous city. Followed by a little bar hoping, wine and tapas.
The next morning we gathered again at Plaza del Mercado, we received a little instruction and police escort to the beginning of the trail. Upon arriving at the first town of Oion, the group split 3 ways, one longer, harder route, climbing the sierra, second a shorter route, while the third was heading more direct to the final destination of the day, the medieval castle town of Laguardia, that just happened to be celebrating it's festivities. Jordi and I waited for Ana from Elche in Oion, as she was delayed due to loosing one of her wheels, on her drive up. By lunch time we landed in Yecora, where all the groups coincided, so the only local bar ran out of food. Luckily, most people carried some snack, besides stopping along the way to feed on grapes, figs, almonds, walnuts. Somehow along the way I ended up in the longer route, arrived at dusk to Laguardia, and showered with cold water. We all went out to enjoy the festivities.Although I was still very tired in the morning, I was trying not to fall behind. I was dragging myself in order to make it to the Eguren Ugarte winery, however after the visit we enjoyed some wine tasting and a delicious chorizo sandwich, and I guess it must have given me a real boost, cause after that I was cruising along just fine, I even made it to Briones, another castle city, in time for a hot shower.
Last day back to Logroño, seemed not as hard, but definitely longer, and a feast for the eyes in it's entirety. There were no showers upon arrival, we changed when we got to the van, and went back to Plaza del Mercado to meet up with everyone again and do some typical bar hoping.
Before heading back home the next day, we took a 40km detour to visit another castle city, this time it was Olite, not far from Pamplona; this town had to spend a fortune on the reconstruction of this XIII century bastion, but it was definitely worth the trip. |
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