What kind of cycle tourist am I? I ask only because I suppose there’s different kinds of cycle tourers ,each with a slightly different emphasis-is it all about the bike,chasing segments and barrelling through countries with a rigid daily plan and not seeing anything other than your own front wheel and garage forecourt feed stops?

Or is it just using the bike as little as possible,cadging lifts and avoiding too much riding,unashamedly dodging hills or weather ,taking days to cover only a few miles and being easily sidetracked ?

Or is it something in between, using the bike as a way of seeing places at cycling speed ,with the ratio between the actual cycling and touring being as close to 50/50 as possible, while remaining pragmatic about the end game .

You know why I’m asking ! It’s because I took a train! After my planned Pamplona rest day on Sunday 5th I decided to make up some ground by train,because :

(i) I was a bit concerned about my timings,needing to be in Barcelona (about 250 miles away) for the overnight ferry to Sardinia on Friday 9th

(ii) between me and Barcelona was about 9000 feet of climbing

(iii) my legs were tired 😊

So I guess I’m in third category-obviously the tour wouldn’t work without cycling but sometimes the end is more important than the means . Trains are a last resort (hence the length of this self justifying conscience purging post so far!!) but sometimes needs must. That’s all.

But before the train out I had a rest day in Pamplona . It was Sunday and felt very quiet. The UK seems alone in Europe as treating Sunday like any other day, and it takes a bit of adjusting to. I actually think it’s better in many respects, it seems to encourage a different more family based lifestyle and provides a definite relaxing end point to every week, rather than every day merging seamlessly with the next .

So, Pamplona. A really interesting place . I thought the bullfighting heritage would be a lot more evident than it was, but maybe outside the San Fermin in July it isn’t such a thing. The actual bull ring was closed but seeing the narrow high sided streets that the bulls (six at a time) gallop through, gives a real sense of how amazingly daft these people must be !

The city also trades on its Hemingway connection. He was at his most prolific in the 1920s when he became obsessed with “the fiesta of bullfighting and brutality,drink and song” . He based himself in the Cafe Iruna in the main square Plaza del Castillo. It’s still there, a magnificently preserved building,all wood panelling and tiled floors. They even have a life sized statue of Hemingway leaning against the bar inside . My 6 euro beer was an expensive drink but a cheap ticket to an hour of ringside seat people watching .

The following day I caught the train to Huesca,via a change in Zaragoza. With bikes, trains in Spain are a bit (ie a lot) of a pain. In short there are three main types of train but only on the little commuter trains can bikes be rolled on without booking. The other types require booking in advance and with only two bikes per trip allowed ,it’s a bit of a lottery . Even worse the high speed inter city trains require a bike to be booked on ,paid for,and packed in a bike bag airline style.

But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I arrived into Huesca at teatime on Monday . This is a really charming little town ,fairly high up and so a couple of degrees cooler. Most of the town is pedestrianised so it was a really quiet and relaxing traffic free environment. I actually enjoyed it more than Pamplona and the £29 Hotel Al Centro I stayed in was superb-the buzz and chatter and ambience was right on the doorstep.

I sat with a beer and tapas and planned tomorrows route to Albalate de Cisco. Just shy of 60 miles so had an extra slice of frittata con patate to carb load 😊👌