Ujué

September 27, 2023

We’ve got two layover days here, and Rachael wants to take a walk on one if not both of them. Today will be the windiest, so it’s a walk for her for sure. I’ve mapped out two rides from here and we look at them together to see which if either she’d most want to ride tomorrow. She opts for the longer but flatter ride to Carcastillo, so for today I’m headed east and uphill to Ujué, a hill town that sits on a ridge about fifteen hundred feet above Olite. The ride will be a climb - a gradual twelve miles up, and then a coast back.

I’m out the door first, with Rachael taking her time getting started because she’s planning a shorter, less aggressive walk than usual because of her sore big toe. She picked up some pads at the pharmacy yesterday and hopes that will help, but that remains to be seen. Before we go we coordinate our plans for the day. There’s only one key so she’ll take that, and if I get back first I’ll just wait around town somewhere until she arrives. In any case, we want to both be back in time to grab lunch somewhere.

I’m slow leaving town, because first I bike around for a few minutes looking at the place in the morning light, looking at surfaces that were in the shadows last night.

Finally I move on, taking the quiet way east out of town - the pedestrian underpass beneath the railroad tracks. On both sides of the tracks there’s a steep set of stairs down, and a long, gradual hairpin ramp alternative. I take the ramp of course, but I walk it because it’s narrow and the bend is too sharp to bike. I walk fast though because there’s a guy on a motorbike coming behind me I’m holding up.

Across the tracks I look back at the castle once more and then start biking east. There’s a straight, flat mile and then the climb begins.

A look back at the castle from outside the town.

The route east. If I’ve got the layout right, our road will cut through the front ridge and then climb to the right between it and the farthest one. Possibly that’s Ujué jutting up on the horizon on the far right.

A view to the north. The whole length of the ridge is lined with wind turbines, part of the field we passed through on our ride to Olite two days back.

A few miles into the climb, a look back at Olite.

This is the Canal of Navarra, a project designed to bring water from the Irati River near Pamplona to the arid southern part of the province. Only the first phase is complete so far. in the distance is the town of Tafalla.

Up. It’s still pretty tame here, rising around 3-5%. It steepens to bout twice that for the last two miles before Ujué.

We’re past that frontal ridge now, looking down the trough behind it. Wine country.

San Martín de Unx comes at about the midpoint of the climb. I’ve been wondering about the pronunciation of this place on the way up, thinking I’d caption this photo “I just have a hunch I’ll like Unx a bunch” as a pronunciation hint. But I was wrong. It’s not like that.

Still climbing, looking back down on San Martín de Unx.

As I said earlier, the climb is more challenging here. The roadside colors help keep me motivated.

Toward the top it’s very quiet as I follow the crown of the ridge to its dead end at Ujué. Views to the west across the eroded, badlands-like foreground are remarkable.

The first look at Ujué, sitting atop the end of an eroded fin.

The view east on the far side of Ujué extends to the Pyrenees.

Like Olite, Ujué is another spot that’s been on my radar for years, and it’s one of the reasons we’ve booked a multi-day stay in Olite. It’s a mysterious place whose origins go back a thousand years, but it didn’t gain real prominence until Charles II made its fortress church of Santa Maria a pilgramage destination.

And like Olite, Ujué is worth the detour. There are only a few people about when I lean the unlocked bike against a sandstone wall of the church and climb up for a look around, confident the bike will still be there when I return.

I’ve been thinking that on the descent I’d take a detour up the road toward Sanguesa for a few miles just to add some distance to the short ride. But by the time I finally pull myself away from the church/castle there’s not the time left. I coast pretty much all the way back to Olite, arriving right at 1:30.

As I approach I’m surprised to see on the Garmin Rachael’s marker straight ahead of me, by the railroad underpass. I assume she’s wandering around at the end of her walk to round up her miles, but in fact she’s disoriented and trying to find her way back to our room. Her Garmin is acting up and not managing the confusing city streets well, and it doesn’t locate me either. It’s lucky I showed up to rescue her!

As long as we’ve met up, we decide to just walk straight to lunch. The place we ate yesterday is full up, but the one straight across the street works as well.

Heart

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Ride stats today: 25 miles, 1,900’; for the tour: 671 miles, 20,000’

Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 661 miles (1,064 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	9
Comment on this entry	Comment	4

David MathersScott, Your photography is always very good but today’s collection is particularly striking. Definitely makes me want to travel through this area…well done!
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7 months ago

Scott AndersonTo David MathersThanks, Dave. Spain is such a remarkable place for bike touring - so many quiet roads, so many exceptional attractions.
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7 months ago

Kelly IniguezI'm thinking a start in Bilbao and following your footsteps is a good idea.
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7 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Kelly IniguezYou really could piece together a fine trip starting and ending in Bilbao, or even a one way tour that ended in Barcelona. There is so much to see here within several hundred miles, on both the French and Spanish sides of the Pyrenees. Also, it’s probably one of your better options in southern Europe if you’re limited to a summer tour, not likely to be as hot as your tour this year.
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7 months ago