This is current Pamplona WX forecast…
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Hello Armin
Nice souvenirs from Puy de Sancy few years ago.
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And I found this In my archive
I like this country
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Hello Armin,
You seem to be a little in advance for the Pampelona feria, the next is scheduled in June 2022 !!!
Best 73, Nico
Not June, but July (6th to 14th), although neither 2021 nor 2020 took place due to pandemia, so I doubt it will happen in 2022.
Cheers,
Guru
oops … thank you for your correction; of course, it should be difficult to organize it in this period. But I remembered to participate two times … when I was younger !!! Great amazing … perhaps not for the city residents … 73 Nico
More than difficult, it would be crazy and irresponsible, I think.
I used to enjoy it in my teens and some of my 20’s, even in some of my 30’s, but I often preferred leaving Pamplona during that crazy week for a destination in the coast.
The locals have it every year available, so we can enjoy it some years and skip it some others. However, I know people who never miss one and some other who never participate in any. There’s people for anything and everything.
I’m now (56) in a moment that I prefer leaving Pamplona during that week, but my daughters (18, 16) and son (11) prefer staying… That’s the way things go…
73,
Guru
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After crossing the border and turning south, the landscape changed completely. Even the drive along the N-121-A was a pleasure.
As I am an early riser, I arrived in Pamplona too early to move into my holiday flat. The most sensible thing to do at this moment is to activate the local mountain EA2/NV-119.
And the first contact was ? … EA2DT !
View of Pamplona from EA2/NV-119
Since the weather forecast had only announced 3 days of good weather, I took it sportily and changed my programme to the first 3 days.
On Saturday there was a triple:
The journey from Pamplona is a bit complicated. The navigation system led me to a road in Luzaide that ended in front of a pedestrian bridge. In the somewhat larger curve that I then had to drive, I then slalomed around 100 pilgrims on the Way of St. James. In general, as lonely as the area may seem, I was never alone on a summit during the activations.
Basically, you should have a device with you that shows a map and your location. It is not always clear which way leads where and the location information on the rare signposts sometimes puzzled me.
On the other hand: one would be disposed of professionally… There are griffon vultures everywhere.
The first summit was EA2/NV-022 in combination with EA2/NV-170.
On EA2/NV-022 there are remains of a fortification. Here it has a built-in windbreak for activators.
View of EA2/NV-022 from the hike to EA2/NV-170 (with the parking space in between)
On the way to EA2/NV-170 I saw horses with bells for the first time. I had only seen this on cows before.
View of EA2/NV-170
The 3rd summit on this day was EA2/NV-012. For drivers of a car with higher ground clearance, it is a possible drive-up.
On Sunday I made a double of EA2/NV-021 and EA2/NV-023.
Also a beautiful hike with great views.
View of EA2/NV-021 from EA2/NV-023
As you can see, there is a fence here on EA2/NV-023 to which you can easily attach your antennas.
Normally you have a geometric point for the antenna everywhere
View of EA2/NV-023 from EA2/NV-021
Yesterday there was the double EA2/NV-073 and EA2/NV-070
The hike from Azanza up the mountain was still in the clouds. But it soon cleared up. Here the landscape is completely different. Sometimes you have to find your way between the juniper bushes. There were autumn crocus everywhere.
First EA2/NV-073
The way up to EA2/NV-070
At the top
Today i take a break and have a look at the city… but with everything I’ve seen so far: If I had to choose between living in Pamplona or Bordeaux, it would be Pamplona… (sorry Bordeaux)
The next few days I want to cherry-pick a few more… that means I will make a few more completes. Where - you will see as always on the alerts. 
73 Armin
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I’ve spent all day with Armin DL6GCA, taking him to four summits around Pamplona.
The first summit was Mt. Ezkintza EA2/NV-148 and I forgot taking any pictures. Armin worked on different HF bands and I worked on 40m CW and 2m FM with Armin’s H.H.
Then we went to Mt. Erreniega EA2/NV-092, during which ascent we enjoyed some sweet, delicious blackberries. Armin worked on HF and I only worked on 2m FM until the H.H. ran out of battery. I only logged 2 QSOs.
You can see following Armin during the activation:
On our descent we still had some more blackberries.
The next activation was Mt. Iriberri EA2/NV-116:
Armin’s H.H. had ran out of battery, I had my FT-817ND, but I decided not to activate here and just take some pictures while Armin was activating. You can see them here:
After this activation we descended and headed to the village where I own my house and we enjoyed a nice lunch and some refreshing drinks (coke and beer). Quiz: who drank what?
After the lunch we headed to Mt. San Martin EA2/NV-151, the last summit of the day. Armin worked on HF and I setup my sloper endfed wire to work on 40m CW and 15m CW, where I logged one DX USA with Paul @N1ZF.
This is the only picture I have from this activation with me in the foreground and Armin upstairs in the distance:
It was a great pleasure spending a big part of the day with Armin and I’m glad that he bagged 4 new EA2/NV summits, being one of them a complete for him now (EA2/NV-092).
73,
Guru
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Guru @EA2IF and Armin @DL6GCA .
Thanks for sharing today and the pictures 
You were very active and had a great time. Many greetings 
73 Marcel DM3FAM
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Hi Guru and Armin, Thanks for your activation report and photos. You both look like your are enjoying the activity with great smiles each. Well done to you both.
Take care and stay safe.
73 Geoff vk3sq
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Thanks, Guru, for the report and the great pictures! This must have been a perfect day: the two of you heading from one summit to the other until the batteries went flat😉
It’s hard to tell who had the beer. Maybe you and Armin got the Coke 
Looking forward to hearing you on the air soon again. Take good care!
73, Roman
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And the winner is…
Roman 
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Mt. Ezkintza EA2/NV-148 is a very large garden (park) of a church, which provides not only very comfortable seating but also plenty of space to set up antennas.
Guru in action:
And yes - I had the coke… I was the driver 
73 Armin
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Hi Armin @DL6GCA
What dictates your judgment ? 
-1 If it’s the peaks I completely agree with you 
Pamplona : look at scale
Bordeaux : look also at scale
It’s obvious and there is no doubt about it !
-2 If it’s the quality of the wine, I don’t think so 
Bordeaux :
Pamplona :
Again it’s a matter of taste, the Coka I stopped a long time ago 
-3 Like the rest, beauty remains very subjective !
Bordeaux :
It is a city which is nevertheless in the world heritage of Unesco 
Pamplona :
Importantly, living in Pamplona costs 30% less than living in Bordeaux.
There are surely other elements of comparison, I stopped there !
I like to argue about choices and do not see any game on it
73, Éric
NB :
I am of Spanish origin and I love the life of this country
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Hi Éric,
In a joking tone, I warned Armin yesterday that this type of comments may fire up the French-Spanish relationship… 
We must keep in mind that there’s a lot of subjectivity when someone makes a decision about any preference and almost about anything.
Regarding wines, I used to drink and enjoy wines from Bordeaux when I was living in Michigan USA back in 1998-99. I ordered them because they tasted the most similar to the wines from my area (Navarra and Rioja) from all the options available in the restaurants I used to visit. The wines from Navarra and Rioja were not available in the “carte de vins” of those restaurants. The market share and prestige of the French wines internationally is far greater than Navarra and Rioja wines, but you know it’s sometimes a question of marketing.
However, during my time in Michigan, I remember also tasting wines from California, Chile, South-Africa and Australia, for instance and they all were very interesting wines.
Let me confess, that I found wine from Navarra in a supermarket not far from my QTH in Michigan, USA and that’s what I had at home
73,
Guru
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“Dale limosna, mujer, que no hay en la vida nada, como la pena de ser, ciego en Granada”.
Sorry eric, there is no other city like granada.
We also put “tapa” with the beer.
tapa= small plate of food, I don’t know how it translates.
73
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Hi Guru,
In joke tone also I don’t want to start off topic
I don’t particularly like Bordeaux but I like Rioja! I lived in Oceania for 4 years (2 in New Caledonia and 2 in Tahiti) and our choice at the time was for Chilean wine, even in brick, or Californian wine which took less time to reach these islands! French wine came by boat and overpriced.
I lived a long time also lived in Africa (+/- 8 years) and there it was the Portuguese wine (in Dame Jeanne [big bottle 20l ]) which had our choice. There was no other in the depths of the countries visited.
Helping José :
Tapas are small dishes that are prepared to accompany an aperitif, I knew the time when it was free (just to please customers and of course to make it consume more) but since the whole world is gone monopolized and unfortunately it pays off everywhere 
73, Éric
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The trip is over and I arrived home safely. I unloaded, got everything ready to go again (after the trip is before the trip) and the first load is rotating in the washing machine.
Actually, I wanted to stay overnight on the way home and participate in the EU S2S event on HB/FR-036 today. But things turned out differently. As I had already left Pamplona at 5:30 local time, I was already in Geneva at 15:30. So I just continued my journey. Unfortunately, I needed 4 hours for the last 250 km on the motorway in Switzerland… (Traffic after work in Switzerland?)
Of course there were more summits than planned. (9 x F/MC-XXX; one on the way and 14 x EA2/NV-XXX)
It was an incredible journey and the impressions have to settle down first. I saw beautiful landscapes and met wonderful people in person. The highlights were the hikes F/MC-003 - F/MC-004 and EA2/NV-070 - EA2/NV-073, as well as the activation day with Guru and the conversations that went beyond amateur radio.
On the last evening there was a nice surprise: Guru, Ignacio and I had arranged a “last beer” together. And Ingnacio brought Jorge EA2LU with him!
The conditions from EA2 are already different from what they are here. You can almost forget the 40m band from late morning until early evening. Ignacio had already warned me about this.
I would also like to thank the loyal chasers. Some callsigns are in my log almost every day.
73 Armin
…let’s see where it goes next…
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Hello Armin, Hello Guru,
Thank you for the reports and nice pictures of your activities
in F / MC and EA2 / NV.
Part of it brings back memories of my Camino de Santiago, which came to me from France
across the Western Pyrenees to Pamplona and on to Logrono and Santiago. Back in 2015/16 without radios, as there was already enough to haul.
I say a big thanks for the QSO’s and hope to hear from you again soon.
Best 73 ’
Paul DL6FBK
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