Saint-Malo to Pamplona

I hijacked a thread the other day but didn't get much response.

I'm after a little bit of local advice about the very far north of Spain.

Need to shake out some cobwebs so a friend and I plan to catch a ferry over to Saint Malo in the end of June/July then cruise down the Atlantic coast, across the coastal side of the Pyrenees in time for the second week of the month to spend a couple of days in Pamplona for the festival, then head up to Bilbao for the ferry back to Portsmouth.

Never done that sort of distance before. Ridden to Paris/Fontainebleau a few times, Dartmoor and back a few times. But not to Spain. Never even been to Spain.

But I'm well up for some sunshine, beer and laughs/Saddle sores.

I've driven along the Atlantic coast in France dozens of times so know and am confident that the terrain and distance is fine. It's when it gets to the hilly bit at the bottom that concerns me.

I'm not intending on doing ''The Pyrenees'' - Aubisque, Tourmalet etc. As much as I'd like to see them, I just know I'm not up to it and my buddy even less so - he's far fitter than me but he's not a cyclist by any means.

So I'm very much hoping that the coastal edge between Bayonne, Irun, San Sebastian and then down through the Señorío de Bertiz isn't going to ruin us. If you think it's monster hills then maybe we should get a train down to Pamplona from San Sebastian?

So I'd like to know a bit about local topography, what's the public transport system like in Spain, how easy to transport bikes on trains?

What's Pamplona like during the festival? Anyone been? I have idealistic images about cute spanish girls and tapas, but I fear it'll be like Oktoberfest and full of masses of hideous tourists (like us)/ram packed and expensive.

How do you say "We're not local people" in Spanish? And what about "Please don't hurt us"?

That sort of thing.

Any locals here?

Si? Gracias.