3rd September
Well, we enjoyed our stay in the Hotel Manexenea, but decided to get breakfast supplies (orange juice, croissants, yoghurt) from the local shop and eat en route in the hills. So we set off heading directly south out of St Etienne de Baigorry on the D958 and stopped as the road climbed over the one of the lower Pyrennean passes.
We spotted a few, what we thought were Condors, wheeling in the thermals.
It was a testing road to say the least. Quite narrow and pretty poorly surfaced much of the way through, however once we'd got onto the main road to Pamplona, it all opened out & improved dramatically.
We made haste to Lograno and then dropped onto the LR113 to Najera, where we made several passes through the town centre before finding the road out. Not a very attractive place!
We were now firmly in La Rioja and the LR133 cut through the Sierra de Demanda to Sala de Los Infantes. What a demanding road too. Initially well surfaced, it deteriorated badly the deeper we got into the mountains. A proper mentally & physically demanding ride for about 50 miles, with some really tricky series of bends and a very unpredictable road surface. A good test for us and the bike! It had also got a lot colder, but the rain held off at least.
We got to Santo Domingo de Silos for about 5pm and checked into the Hotel Villa de Silos. A nice rustic style room in a nice enough village that's pretty much set up around a monastery. Parked my bike in the Mayor's space!
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