Stage Zubiri to Puente la Reina (by bike)

At 44.3 kilometres, this second stage by bicycle gathers almost all the Navarrese landscapes of the Camino: the wooded valley floor, the historic city and the cereal plateau. The profile comes down to a long initial descent, a flat urban section and the climb to the Alto del Perdón, the only notable pass of the day.

Leaving Zubiri crosses the Puente de la Rabia over the Arga, whose name recalls the belief that walking livestock three times around its central pier cured the disease. The way follows the river downstream through Larrasoaña and Zabaldika, among oak woods and riverside groves, to Trinidad de Arre, where a medieval bridge and its basilica already announce the city.

Pamplona is crossed from side to side: you enter by the Portal de Francia, skirt the walled enclosure and pass the cathedral of Santa María la Real, with its Gothic cloister, before leaving by the Citadel and the University of Navarre. Cizur Menor then marks the start of the climb towards the sierra.

The Alto del Perdón, at 770 metres, is the high point of the day. On the ridge stands the monument of sheet-metal silhouettes representing the pilgrim procession, with the legend telling of where the way of the wind crosses that of the stars. The descent is the most technical part of the stage: a surface of loose stones best taken slowly, especially with panniers.

The final section rolls through fields by Uterga, Muruzábal and Óbanos to Puente la Reina, the town that came into being precisely to let pilgrims through. Here the Camino Francés and the Aragonés converge, and its Romanesque six-arched bridge over the Arga, beside the church of the Crucifix with its Y-shaped Gothic cross, is one of the most recognisable sights of the whole route.