moto-iberientour-22

Lourdes-Pamplona

The rain stopped in the morning and it is sunny. After refuelling, I head to Col du Solour. The road winds up the slopes with a maximum of 8%. At the top, there is a roadblock, which is not surprising.

The detour to Col du Portalet takes an additional hour and a few more kilometers. However, it is much steeper and you have to avoid or wait for calm cows and nervous sheep at the beginning. Their droppings and loose gravel make you sweat. In the valley, in a restaurant, there is an Australian woman. She is walking to Compostela, still a slim 800km to go! Not for me!

Then it gets challenging, narrow, and steep as I climb higher towards Portalet Pass. It gets chilly, very chilly; at the pass, it's 5 degrees, very windy, and no bar is open! After that, it becomes rather boring again. I zoom towards Pamplona on small country roads. A Guardia di Civil follows closely behind me for a while - that is extremely annoying - and later drives in front of me with the maximum allowed speed - that is even worse. However, I only get hot due to the constantly rising temperatures. For most of the time, I follow a dammed river whose water glows unrealistically turquoise.

I have to stop several times and cool down in the shade of trees.