we pitched our tent, and went for a swim in the river. afterwards, the emergency pasta got ransacked and we went to the bar for a beer. maurice's one and only spanish sentence being further embellished to become <<uno cerveza grande y uno pecono por favor!>> fluent! you'll never catch an irishman thirsty. i noticed the long-haired mechanic tending to his bicylce had a strange twang to his spanish. indeed, the wolverhampton dialect of castillian! we chatted to jim for a few hours and his having cycled from santiago was full of advice on where to stop, where to go and what to do.

another early morning and a record (longest) hour and a half to get up, have breakfast and get on the bikes. we tried the off-road route of the camino before plumping for the easier roadway. muscles warm up and aches ease.

we stop for coffee and a bun at 11.00. back on the bikes and off to pamplona, arriving just after onset of siesta. maurice's suggested visit to the train station, to dump our stuff in lockers, proves one of his less inspired. we head back into town, finding the tourist office and a list of <<pensione>>. after our first real encounter with the spanish language, vero has successfully negotiated a room and space for the bicycles in the landlady's office. we head off to the supermarket to buy giant spanish peaches and replenish the pasta store. leaving that in the room, we go to the department store and, after innumerable trips up and down the four floors of the shop, we find the swimsuit section and a new bikini for veronique. wandering around the town, we walk the ramparts, reminscing about saint malo of summer 1999. we go to a restaurant and have the menu del dia, the only faux pas being ordering rose wine as vino tinto sounded suspicious! then off to bed before day three and the feared reaction of our muscles to all the cycling.