On Tuesday we headed over to Ezkurra near Pamplona with a detour into the Picos de Europa on the way. Didn't take any photos really as I was going to do some filming on the action camera. As it was so damn hot I got a bit worried about the camera mount giving way in the heat and decided to mount it inside the windscreen which was fine. What wasn't fine was that I forgot to change the view on the camera as it was now upside down, so now have a heap of upside down footage of the run through the mountains!
Here's a shot of the territory we were heading into.
After two hours we had to admit defeat and actually put the roof up and the air-con on and when we arrived at Ezkurra after checking in to the hostel we were staying at we retired to the terrace for a couple of beers where the temperature was showing as 45 degrees C in the sun and slightly cooler at 35 in the shade!
The hostel was the heart of the little village providing rooms in three separate buildings, the village pub and restaurant as well as breakfast stop for all the locals off out to work. The food was good, rustic Spanish fare and at 15 euros for three courses including wine and coffee it was a bargain too. I'm pretty certain from some of the local artwork we were well into Basque separatist territory.
Wednesday we drove across to Pamplona home of the infamous bull run, where if you're feeling brave you can attempt to run the 830 mtere course from the holding pen to the bull ring ahead of the charging bulls. This is the start to the San Firmin which is the fiesta that goes on for a week and has among other attractions daily bull fights. While not our sort of thing the Spaniards obviously love it and judging from the queues for tickets and the TV trucks present not many were being put off by the protest we caught the tail end of.
As it was the day before the start of the fiesta half the roads in the city centre were blocked off and we were lucky to come out unscathed with frustrated Fernando Alonso wanabees coming at us from all directions trying to get to their destinations while we tried to find somewhere to park. Once we did get parked up we had a good wander about and traced the route of the bull run from the holding pens at the start to the bull ring gates.
No that's not me in the bottom photo, just some randomer photobombing my shot!
Thursday will see us heading over the border into France and up to the Gironde region near Bordeaux.
Glad your tucked away else where. 
