Day 3 ~ 8th August 2000

Oxtandio to Vitoria

We set off early from Oxtandio in thick fog towards our first city of the pilgrimage, Vitoria. We had a pleasant morning riding through low hills, and passing several lakes before picking up the main road that runs to Vitoria. Although busy, it had an excellent "cycling lane", and by mid morning the sun's heat was searing. We arrived, early in the afternoon to find that the local fiesta (fiesta de la Blanca) was in full swing, and as such it was nigh on impossible to find accommodation. We eventually got a room at a very dubious "pension", the middle aged landlady showed me the room while wearing a bizarre see through pink negligee. Matters were made worse by the fact that the lock on the bedroom door was broken, although she commented that this didn't matter as she only let the "best" people stay there, and in any case it would be very hot during the night so it was invariably better to sleep with the bedroom door open!.

She charged us 5000pts + 1000pts for the bikes as it was fiesta week, she said her normal rate was 2000pts but we felt that we had little choice.