The Bikepacker: Bikepacking - Logroño to Haro

Day #

State of Legs

:-)

	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	46 miles	km	3176 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	2220 miles	km	96192 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

Route So Far

Travelogue

Yesterday was a day of bike-related breakdown drama! My front wheel, with its broken spoke got repaired in record time so I wasn't delayed. But in the process, the shop trapped or damaged my precious thermoplastic inner tube and about 5 minutes after getting the bike back, the tube ruptured and emptied all of its air. I replaced the damaged tube with a standard butyl one and attempted to repair the hole in the Tubolito tube with a patch. I haven't tested the repair because you can't inflate these tubes when not installed in a tyre to pressures of more than 5 psi. If you do, the tube stretches like a balloon animal and stays that way. I know this because I did it once. And then read the FAQ which tells you not to do it! :-)

Either way, I'm not confident the patch will hold as the hole is in an awkward position, right by the valve and so whilst I have kept the tube, I consider it to be out of action. So, it seemed prudent to buy an additional spare to sit alongside the one I have remaining. Add to that the fact that I now have a new rear tyre which is a make completely unknown to me and my front tyre no longer has the thermoplastic tube inside it, the odds of punctures occurring may now be higher than they were. Or maybe I'm just being puncture paranoid.

Whatever the psychology, instead of my usual early start, I rode into town again to visit a bike shop and buy a few spare inner tubes. Just in case.

That done, I headed out, following Eurovelo route EV3. Very soon, I was on the Camino de Santiago and it was as I'd expected. A gravel trail with lots of walkers and a few cyclists. Close to the city of Logroño, the camino has a fine gravel surface and is quite nice to ride on. But this very quickly changed. And not for the better. There was coarse gravel, there were stony sections, there was rough tarmac. There was sand! And there were sections of actual road, some of which were main roads.

I rode on the Camino de Santiago for about 20 miles, I think and I have to say it was quite a jumble of fragments of road and trail and of different surfaces. Mostly it was actually pretty unpleasant to cycle, rough and lots of up and down, up and down. I saw mountain bikers who probably find it fun to ride but the two other cycle tourers like me, with bikes laden with bags, were all making incredibly slow progress and one, a guy from New Zealand, was pushing his bike up a hill the last time I saw him.

This was one small section of the famous camino, but based on that I'd have to say that the Camino de Santiago is not for cyclists. I hated it and was glad to get off and on to proper roads once again. For walkers it may well be great but I wouldn't recommend cycling it based on today's experience. It just wasn't fun!

The weather was pretty terrible as well. Now, when a Brit says the weather was bad on holiday, it usually means that it rained. Not so a cyclist. Rain would have been quite alright! Instead, I spent hours cycling into an aggressive headwind. After 5 hours on the road, including the time buying inner tubes, I'd only done 25 miles. It was painfully slow going and exhausting.

To get to today's campsite, I had to turn off my westward route and head north for 5 miles. The wind got even stronger for a while but was also blustery, threatening to blow me into the road at times. It felt like there was going to be a big storm and not far away, I could see what looked like a huge, localised downpour moving across the land.

Fortunately I reached the campsite without being overtaken by any storm.

On checking in at the campsite, I was allocated a pitch which was identified by a number. I set off on the bike to find my pitch somewhere in the grid of roads on the large site. I explored one of the roads that led off the main road and observing the pitch numbers, concluded my pitch wasn't there but it was probably in the next road along. I stopped at the junction to adjust something just as five young boys (maybe 11 years old?) came around a corner fast on their bikes. On seeing me with my bike and all its gear, they screeched to a halt and came over to talk to me. In Spanish. When it turned out I was English, one of them who really seemed like the leader, managed to communicate with me in English with great confidence. Can you imagine? An 11 year old. So cool. He took charge and organised the gang to escort me to my pitch. I tried to tell them I didn't need help because it was almost certainly the next turn I needed, but they were determined to help! So, I smiled and said OK. Off we went, me following the gang at speed in the opposite direction to where I'd been headed. They turned down one of the streets. We cycled to the end. No sign of my pitch. So we cycled to the next. Same again. They talked and argued, looking at a map the campsite admin had given me. And we started again. Eventually, we ended up in the street I'd originally said I thought my spot was on! And it was the right place :-) The leader kid talked some more with me and managed to ask a few questions about my trip. We said "adios" and "gracias" and off they went. Awesome. They were such cool kids!

After setting up the tent and showering, I prepared some food and for the first time on this trip, had to retreat to my tent to eat as the rain started. This was the first rain I'd seen on this trip apart from a brief spell when I was in an apartment in Eaux-Bonnes. It didn't last long though and the sun is now out again!

Today was pretty tiring thanks to the wind and a general uphill trend. I think that trend continues until I am in Picos de Europa so I have a good few more days of this to come. I just hope the wind drops, changes direction or just goes away!

Here's today's profile, followed by some photos.