Back to France where people understand me and I can understand them. That has been a challenge everywhere except the hotels in Spain. I cannot complain as it is I that should have a better grasp of Spanish having travelled in South America but it was too long ago for the vocabulary to lock in. It has been a day of contrasts. A couple of interesting stops, first at the Caves of Arguedas and then at the Medieval town of Olite. The caves were actual dwellings until the 1960s and are easily accessible from a free car park, when I found it! Olite is a small walled town with a castle and no visitor cars allowed so easy parking outside the walls. It was popular with locals and tourists alike. One or two Dutch cars and camper vans were around. Then the day went down hill. My plan was to walk without the bulls in Pamplona and set the destination for a city centre car park. This was one of Google’s worst errors so far and there have been plenty. The car park is only accessible at certain times, as I read on the signs as otherwise it is in a pedestrian area. Google took me into two pedestrian only streets requiring a U turn. I then chose another car park and Google kindly took me down a one way street to another pedestrian only area. This was a little more dodgy as the only way out was the wrong way back along the one way street. I then chose another car park and wow it got me there. Could I get a parking space. NO! Any spaces available could only be accessed by very small cars, either due to the width or the other bigger problem. The roadway between parking spots on either side was very narrow and even more narrow due to the tiny spaces with bigger vehicles sticking out into the roadway. There was no way I could get the car into one of the three or four spaces I found. I was not alone! I ended up parking in a disabled spot while paying the parking and left! This process took just over one hour for no result. Google, the maps provider, has been routinely iffy in towns but today it was on top form. On the A-68 heading north form Zaragoza it decided it would take an imaginary exit where none existed and then decided it needed to get through two roundabouts, where none existed and rejoin the A-68 at a junction that did not exist. Next in Arguedas it’s direction to the car park was illustrated as a straight town street, again which did not exist and in fact was entry into a large camper van site with card key entry. I could not do these trips without navigation support but in Spanish towns the available system has left a lot to be desired, exactly when you need it most. So no walking without the bulls. Within half an hour of leaving Pamplona all was behind me as the road north to France was wonderful. Sweeping through steep valleys cutting through tunnels all on a beautiful smooth surface. That has got me here to Ciboure/St Jean de Luz, just over the border in Basque France. It is a nice little port and a gentle stroll and a glass of something before dinner was what many people were doing. Very nice indeed. So not pictures of Pamplona but I’ll start with some caves, then Olite and finish in St Jean de Luz. Now that I am back over the mountains on the Bay of Biscay the clouds have returned.

For orientation there is an outline map is here.