Day 4 Puenta le Reina to Logrono

Day 4

Puenta le Reina to Logrono

45.65 (total 148.12)



Church - Villtuerta

It had been a hot night but my bunk was next to the window so I had a slight breeze to keep me cool. There were eight of us in the room and gentle snoring had been present but despite all of that I slept well and was ready for getting up at 5:45. We were on the road by 7:30 in the cool of the morning. I particularly noticed how loud the dawn chorus was with the joy of a new day.



More tostada's

By 9:00, after climbing fairly steadily, we had reached Villatuerta and stopped for what was to become a common order, “Tres Coffee con leche y tres tostadas, por favor.”. After breakfast we crossed the bridge and rode up the short hill to the church which was all locked up. A house nearby had the stamp for our credentials before we continued on towards Estella. As we approached Estella the A12 could be seen going up the hillside out but our road seemed to be going in a different direction and avoiding the hill. Wrong! As we went through the town there suddenly appeared a tunnel through the hillside and this was the start of a long climb of about 4 miles up through Irache (we missed the wine fountain!) on which we gained around 800 feet in height. The road then levelled out after that and Malcolm found his legs to zoom away and we lost contact for a while. We thought that we would all meet up again at Los Arcos so Chris, Ricky and myself went around the town but we could not find Malcolm, who, it turned out, had headed on to Logrono.



Los Arcos

Again we had level roads heading away from Los Arcos but the few miles going out of our next village, Torres del Rio stay with me vividly. Here we were climbing steadily up steep hills and I was effectively on my own, Chris was somewhere up front and Ricky somewhere behind. The road was very quiet with virtually no traffic. A pattern developed where the road kept going around shoulders of the hill with a climb up one shoulder and then down into the valley before climbing up again. Each descent was fast, each climb was steep. This went on for about 5 miles and in the context of mid 30’s heat under a relentless sun with very little shade. I became intensely aware that I had only half a bottle of water left and that a simple puncture could cause me great difficulty in the heat. Happily, nothing happened to cause an upset but it was great relief that I rolled down the final descent into Viana to find Chris sat waiting at the roundabout.

Once Ricky had caught up we stopped for lunch and drinks in Viana. The final approach to the town was up a steep hill with a park at the top. I spotted a water fountain and went to fill up but a man walking his dog managed to get across that the water was not good. He directed us towards the town centre through a gateway and we entered a network of narrow streets. The whole place was heaving as it was Sunday afternoon and many families were meeting to eat.  We then met the same man and his dog and who again directed us to a bar/cafe for some food.

Viana

From Viana it was a steady ride to Logrono where a pizza delivery boy led us to the aubergue on his motor scooter. Unfortunately there were two hostels and Malcolm was sat waiting at the other one. We got directions and went across but there was not enough accommodation for us so we all rode back to the first aubergue where we booked in. We ate that night in the bar next to the aubergue and where Euro 2012 was on the TV. The lady who served us in the bar kept us all entertained with her descriptions of the menu being largely “moo” and “baa”! We did have some serious discussion as Ricky was concerned that he was holding us back when we could be making faster progress. There was some recognition that we may not make Santiago but it was clear that we wanted to stay together as a group and that we wanted to enjoy the trip, being able to stop and see things as we went.

Again it was yet another early night, being in bed by 9:30 to be ready for another early start.

Viana