About the Pyrenees, from Elizondo to Pamplona. Day 22

Tuesday, 8/8/2023, Day 22
Today we started our 4th week, now over 1500 km away from Cologne, about 900 km left to Cadiz. Since Bayonne, we have cycled 120 km in 2 days over the Pyrenees. Today was even more challenging than yesterday, longer climb (15 km uphill), steeper (up to 19% gradient), more altitude (1106 meters). But we did very well, obviously have a lot of strength in our legs, and are very proud of ourselves. At an altitude of 984 m, we reached the summit of the mountain pass. Until then, we had a fantastic route through the wooded Pyrenees with wonderful views. It was really a pleasure. Anyway, the weather was perfect, clear skies, warm, no wind, pure summer. While I was wondering about all the horse manure on the road and thought about who would ride their horses up this mountain pass, we soon found the answer. There are no riders, there are only horses. After the pass, we had a long downhill ride, which surely cost us a lot of brake pads. We always rode parallel to and along a mountain stream, which later turned out to be the river Arga, which also flows through Pamplona. This mountain stream was made up of several waterfalls that come crashing down from high up in the Pyrenees. We wanted to touch nature, so we took off our shoes and socks and dipped our battered feet into the ice-cold mountain stream. We also took the opportunity to fill our water bottles (of course above my feet) with fresh mountain water. After the very restful descent, we still had 30 km to go to Pamplona, which seemed very exhausting to us, especially since it had become very hot and our legs were quite tired. Finally, we arrived in Pamplona in the late afternoon at 35°C and were surprised at how much the Camino de Santiago makes itself felt here, signposted everywhere, even with scallop shells on the sidewalks, dedicated bicycle paths along the Camino de Santiago. We have now been on the Camino de Santiago for about 250 km since Castets in southern France, and while we only saw isolated pilgrims in southern France, the number of pilgrims heading towards Pamplona has increased significantly. While the pilgrims continue to walk west from here, we will continue south the day after tomorrow (after our mandatory rest day on Wednesday). So, we will leave the Camino de Santiago towards the south here. Tomorrow is a rest day and as always on Wednesdays, we will have our home office day.