And we're off! After a five-day-long sojourn in Pamplona, we finally continue along the Camino de Santiago up over a 300 m high ridge lined with turbines and down into the next couple of valleys. Before that, however...
...we wake up at 0545 to pack up everything and make it into town for the first Encierro. Nothing is open at this hour; moreover, this being the busiest day of San Fermín, Pamplona is seized by a town-wide shop closure so that all the shopkeepers can partake in the festivities. We reach town around 0715, where we are immediately greeted by the foul odour of sangria and piss caked onto nearly every street following the Chupinazo yesterday - it is an olfactory spectacle, one full of colour and sound and untoward stenches that waft down from the old parts of town into the river basin below...we fight our way through the mess of people, some passed out in doorways after a night of partying and drinking, to the beginning of the Encierro route between the small statue of San Fermín and Plaza Consistorial. It is already packed with runners, and the police are urgently herding them into lines so that they can pack more in. There is no special entrance into the route - to get in, you must climb the double barricades separating runners from spectators of your own free (and presumably misguided) will...and then you wait with the others, who hang back for a while but (for the most part) slowly inch as far forward as they can get. Locals and tourists watch from every balcony; apartment owners will rent out the balconies for 25-35€, a tidy sum for such a short event. And then...
...they set off one firework! Five minutes to go. The atmosphere becomes tense. Alcohol-addled festival-goers wonder why exactly they are here in the first place...and a second, then a third! The corrals are open, the bulls are running; the crowd turns into a frantic torrent of arms and legs trying to get out of the way of several tons of angry bull by any means possible...they jump over the barricades, dive off to the sides - some poor sods are stuck in the middle, and must lie as flat and still as possible while the bulls trample them in a hopefully non-injurious manner...and everyone books it for the Plaza de Toros, a short dash down 800 m of road. We reach the Plaza somewhere in the middle of the pack and let out sighs of relief...
...but too soon! The real Encierro begins here, where they lock you in the bullring for half an hour as they bring out each of the six bulls in turn, allowing them to rampage around the crowd of runners one at a time while a brave few attempt to grab their horns - and usually get tossed, flipped, and generally abused as a result. The rafters erupt with shouting and cheering as this happens; the greater the perceived injury, the better - though most people merely get thrown, and are alright to stand afterwards. Most crowd the exterior wall, hoping to get as far away from the thing as possible. We opt to keep a medium distance for the most part, close enough to see the bull but far enough to get the hell out of the way when it makes a mad dash through the crowd...
...except when they change bulls; then we run over to the corral gates, where runners get down on all fours in several rows and let the bull run across them on its way out into the ring. This is safer than it sounds; the bull is interested in getting out of its enclosure, and will make a straight line dash out into the ring.
Thirty minutes pass, and we are finally released from the ring back into the streets. We head for Plaza de Castillo, where some other people we met during the Encierro are getting together for a few post-run drinks...but we must soon head out, as the day is already starting to become uncomfortably warm. We start out on the paths near Pamplona, which turn out to be rough dirt paths in some areas - unfortunately, Venus' bike is equipped with thin road tires, which puncture easily under shocks from off-road travel in a pair of holes on opposite sides of the tube known as a "snake bite". We get several of these before we finally reach normal road around 1500. Each tube repair takes time and effort...her derailleur is also poorly adjusted, and needs a quick stopgap tuning to make it at least usable before we can start the ascent over our first post-Pireneos ridge.
But we make it eventually with the help of free water given to us by a helpful construction worker halfway up, who extends a hose through the fence for us to fill our water bottles and parched mouths with. We slog up the hill slowly, getting her used to the pace of climbing - with gear in this heat, it is imperative to move slowly or you risk overheating like a mistreated engine...for that is what you are on a bike trip - a machine for converting food to distance covered and awesome experiences had.
We stop in Estrella/Lizarra for the night. As it is late, the municipal albergue is full - but, this being the Camino, the local church is more than glad to receive us for the night. We think it wise not to mention our atheist/agnostic tendencies...before retiring to bed, we make sure to grab a meal in town and watch the semifinals; another victory for España, another great day to be in this country! Time to rest up now, for the going will be no less difficult tomorrow. Yay for having taken part in the Encierro, and all the more so for still being alive!