View from the Pillion - Barbastro via Ujué

We gear up relatively early (for us) and set out on a short route to the fortress-church of Ujué, where pilgrims climb the cobbled streets. It's a bit easier for us on the bike. The narrow, steep road winds up past stone buildings to the stunningly sited Romansque Gothic Iglesia Fortaleza de Santa Maria de Ujué. We jostle our way into the tiny parking lot at the top which is crowded with cars.
The view goes on forever, slighly reminiscent of a softly, hazy Tuscan landscape. We make a short stop to climb the pilgrim's steps and peer into the dimly lit church.

This isn't just a destination for pilgrims and tourists; people live in the old stone houses around the fortress.

Once down from the fortress, the road is wide open, fast sweepers mostly through farmland. Then we get into a series of backroads which are pretty rough in spots with sections of construction and road building. But there is almost no traffic and we keep up a pretty good speed. At one point we cross a bridge over a blue lake and through the tunnel on the other side we find a nice view point of the dam and the valley below and the mountains that ring the road.

The road has plenty of twists and turns and follows a fast flowing river. This is clearly a popular venue for kayaking. A whole stretch of the road is taken over by their vehicles. 

The downfall of having an older GPS with slightly out of date maps is that sometimes, just sometimes, it can lead you astray. And that's what happens next. The GPS points us in a direction that too late, Peter realizes is an old abandoned strip of the road. We quickly find the surface deteriorating into potholes and then rough gravel. We stop and do a careful turn - but the bike dips into a hole and Peter's boot slips on the gravel as he tries to keep it upright. I slide, ever so gracefully, onto the ground. Peter's first instinct is to ask if I am okay. I am. So he focuses on our predicament and follows up with a few choice words #%!t and *#c$. But quite quickly, with Peter pushing with his back and me pulling with all my puny strength, we are upright again. A quick check shows us there are some superficial scratches on one sidebag, but no serious damage and everything is operational. With some mumbling and grumbling, we set off for a well-earned lunch break in the town of Huesca.

Video for Ujue Monestary to Lake La Perla. A nice mix of sweepers and twisties on hidden back roads southeast of Pamplona. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdX8XO913E8

By guess work and good luck we find ourself in a pretty square in what we assume is the centre of town. The place has a sleepy Sunday afternoon feeling. But there is one restaurant open and we order from the ubiquitous daily Menu.

Video for Lake la Perla to Barbastro. Riding the twisting road along the Rio Gellego with kayakers getting ready to run the rapids. Back roads into Barbastro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G67i9IygOtE

There is absolutely nothing in any of the guidebooks about Barbastro, but it's a convenient overnight stop before a long day's ride to Cardona. There is also nothing special about the Hotel Rey Sancho but the room is fine and there is actually air conditioning. The place is quite big,and is absolutely deserted except for the receptonist. We don't see any sign of other guests and the big parking lot is empty. It's sort of an eerie feeling. Anyway, its a good place to chill out for a while, download the day's GoPro videos and catch up on some some journal notes. We are too far out of town to walk for dinner (and the hotel restaurant is closed.)

Barbastro turns out to be a gritty working class town. It takes a while to find a place to park the bike and we wend our way back by foot to the centre, through back streets. This is the only time we see evidence of poverty. Beside the unusable Tourist Parking Lot, filled with broken glass and garbage, we see people living in dreadful open-sided stalls.

The centre of town is a bit more opulent and quite busy with the usual Spanish street life. A nice wide treed avenue has tables from the restaurants lining the street. The friendly server has enough English to advise us on typical Spanish fare of pulpo, sepia and a lusty red wine.