In the northwest end of Navarra, halfway between The Middle Zone and Navarra North is the Sakana Valley. The PUNTO BIKE is encased between the Sierras de Aralar and Aizkorri in the North, and Andia, Urbasa and Entzia in the South.
In the images, road with wide and smooth curves in Urbasa (photo 1), a rock formation known as Las Dos hermanas, at the eastern end of the valley (photo 2) and view of the valley in the direction of Pamplona (photo 3).

Tierra Estella is among many other things, traditional cycling land, in this sense, one of its greatest exponents is the professional race "Grand Prix Indurain" held annually on its roads.
Its location, in the South of the Sakana Valley, makes it very frequent to travel on its roads. To reach Tierra Estella we will always have to climb some of the Mountain passes that protect it; - Lizarraga, Urbasa, Opakua, Arteta, Ultzurrun -
In the images, spring rainbow in the environs of Aritzala and broken race in the descent of the Col of Eraul towards Abartzuza during the edition of Grand Prix Indurain 2017. In front Simon Yates raced towards the goal in the Puy of Estella.

In the North of the Sakana Valley, in the Sierra de Aralar, the Artxueta mountain and the San Miguel, Sanctuary , stand as the representatives of difficult cycling in the area. If we want hard route we include the ascent from Uharte Arakil, if we want to smooth we climb from Lekunberri.

The Sierra de Aralar is shared between Gipuzkoa and Navarra. The massif has dimensions that allow to carry out routes of a certain extent by its perimeter. It is not excessive but considerable, since we speak of a minimum that exceeds slightly the 100 kilometers.
It is what we call the Aralar Tour a route with many options and a very different environment depending on the slope that we are traveling. In the south - Navarra - uniform and predictable roads and landscape, in the north - on the Gipuzkoa slope - an infinite number of small roads, constant ups and downs between farmhouses and small mountain villages, intense Lizarrusti forest on the western slope, and Gipuzkoa Industrial present but without high interference on route.
We are talking about routes with classic scents which run precisely for a territory in which they abound and that is "seat" of one of the greatest fan group in the world, the Basque fans, that is always present in the ditches of all the great cycling races.

At its westernmost point NAVARRE touchs with Alava in the "Cuadrilla" - region - of the Montaña Alavesa. With regard to cycling, we can define it as a group of small villages overflowing with authenticity with intercalated natural spaces that follow each other regularly and wide enough to allow any type of itinerary.
In the pictures; Daily environment in any of the routes of the area, pedaling between the beechs (photo 1), and La Muela de San Román (photo 2) on the village of the same name, forests and crops in equal parts.

The port of Etxauri is the prototype Col that we can find in this area of Navarra. 6,8 km of route, 430 meters of unevenness, sun and shade in equal parts and excellent viewpoints of a good part of NAVARRA and the neighboring Communities.
The fact that it is located directly above the Pamplona Basin, and the spectacular surroundings with the road under the walls of the climbing school, makes it included in routes that usually return to La Sakana crossing the Sierra Andia trough the Lizarraga Mountain Pass.
In the photographs the peloton of the Euskal Itzulia 2017 ascends under the cliffs of the port. In the foreground Movistar, with the final winner of that edition of the event - Alejandro Valverde - in the front, approaches the top well guarded by the Trek-Segafredo of Alberto Contador.

Although it is not usual, some times what we want cyclists is to face us as hard as we put ahead. For these cases we keep the Diablillos Vascos.
In the second photograph we have one of the TOPs TEN of the area, the fearsome "Gaintza Wall" - 1,6 kilometers at 15,3% - where Alberto Contador sentenced his Vuelta to the Basque Country 2014. In the first photograph we descend Lazkaomendi with the view set in the ascent to Usurbe, - the mount with the antenna in the top - the absolute TOP TEN of the zone and whose hardness we accustom to simplify simply saying that its wall comes to be like "Half of the ANGLIRU".

The relative proximity of the wine region of La Rioja produces an irresistible attraction for rolling between vineyards. It is not close, so what comes up is the challenges of the routes Reto Rioja and Ardo eta Ardi (Sheep and Wine).
In the first image the new facilities of Bodegas Rothschild Vega-Sicilia under the Sierra de Cantabría in the Alava village of Samaniego. On these lines pedaling between the vineyards of the Marqués de Riscal winery in Elciego, behind the charismatic building designed by Frank Gehry.

Another option to take into account when we are in the Sakana is to roll north, towards Gipuzkoa towards what the industrialists of the district have agreed to promote internationally like Goierri Valley.
The routes are developed along the low slopes of the Aizkorri and Aralar ranges and by a mixed agricultural / industrial territory with a strong imprint of mining past.
The routes are always alive and changing; A stretch of forest, a small port between hamlets, a ratonero descent, we circled a locality of a certain entity ... and again up by another ramp. Aroma and flavor of classic, Tour to the Basque Country, which is quite logical being as we are in the heart of the core ... it is rare the year that the Basque round does not go down these roads.
We could think that traffic can be a problem in this geography, but the reality is that the highways absorb the circulation.
In the images, stop at the Alto de Barbari between Segura and Zegama (photo 1), typical landscape of the agricultural Gipuzkoa - with the Aizkorri mountain range on the horizon - (photo 2) and Medieval farmhouse in Zerain (photo 3).