Tuesday September 2, 2014

Hills, hills and more hills – some daft American told me it builds character!!  (LOL)  We woke up early thinking we might get an early start and keep ahead of the heat.  At 6:30 it was still dark, so we had a cuddle and got up at 7:00 as usual.  We left at 9:10 with a tent wet from the dew.

We were told it was relatively flat from here – from a car driver.  Only believe what cyclists tell you – it was not relatively flat at all it was hilly.

We came into  Laredo and stopped to look at the map, an older gentleman asked where we were going so we told him Santander – the general direction – he told us it was a motorway, then said we could take the national route (which was the route we were planning on taking) then he got a few other people involved discussing which was the best route for us to take.  All we really needed to know was whether we were on the right road.  But the Spanish seem to like to have a committee involved in our route. If one of them can’t speak English, they stop other people to see if they can speak English and discuss the route together then carry on in Spanish. It is very funny.  Eventually the older fella decided he would take us to the road we were supposed to be on, to make sure we were on the right road and not the Motorway.  May be he had heard about the two touring cyclists that were on the motorway going towards San Sebastien!

We carried on going up and down hills until we stopped in a small town for lunch we had passed a group of Russian cyclists a couple of times and they passed us as we ate our lunch.  This group of 6 cyclists had major discussions at every roundabout.  The major roundabouts usually direct you to Santander via the motorway and the N route – two different directions.  Cyclists cannot go on motorways, all you have to do is follow the directions for the N route easey peasey.

The N634 is a national highway road, with no traffic on it, as the Motorway runs alongside it in some areas or they are working on building a major highway next to it.  There are some roadworks, but these guys were there to warn us to slow down.

We arrived in Solares at 1:00 and picked up our groceries for dinner, and checked for a campsite.

There was nothing in the Town, so we decided to wild camp. I knew there was a National Park nearby and figured we would be able to find something in that general area.  We didn’t figure on the fact that the National Park was actually a wildlife park with elephants and lions!!

We thought we might be able to camp at the campervan park, but the notice specifically said no camping and wild camping was strictly forbidden.  We were at a loss as to what to do when we spotted a Municipal Albergue.  We had asked at a couple of the restaurants if they had rooms –E70 to E80.  I asked at the last restaurant about the Albergue, he called a number told them we were touring cyclists and let us in to this hostel.  We are on our own in the hostel which has a kitchen, a common room, hot showers and lots of rooms – cost for this hostel E12 for the two of us.

We prepared our dinner in the hostel kitchen and then went for a nice walk after dinner.

Life is good.

Monday September 1, 2014

We had a late start this morning, because we waited for Jagoba to come to the apartment, so that he could cycle with us to the Portogalete Bridge.  He came at 9:30 with a gift of chorizio sausage and some other smoked meat from his uncle.  We left his apartment at about 9:45 and cycled through Bilbao to the Portogalete Bridge.  Ralf took some more photos as we cycled along the cycle lanes of Bilbao.  Bilbao used to be a huge industrial city with cranes lining both sides of the river.

The Portogalete Bridge is the only bridge of this type to be still working around the world.  There are about 12 bridges around the world like this that are still standing, but this is the only one that is still in use. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It has a \”ferry\” that is suspended under the bridge structure that carries cars, and passengers across the river.  It takes about one minute to do the crossing.

After we crossed the bridge I went into the Tourismo Office and Ralf took some photos.

When I came out Ralf was nowhere to be seen.  He was surrounded by Spaniards who were telling him the best way to get to Santander, the scenic route, the quickest route and the route with less traffic.

One of the older people had his granddaughter with him who was trying to translate what her grandfather was saying.  Ralf said she did a really good job, but every time she couldn’t remember the words she went very pink.

At the tourismo office the lady explained we could take the escalator to the top of the hill, then take the cycle path.  I wasn\’t sure what she meant by escalator, but there was an actual moving sidewalk all the way up a very steep hill.

Jagoba stayed with us until we got to the beach area where he was going to spend the afternoon and then cycle home again (27 kms).  At the beach we met two girls who were cycling the Camino.  Jagoba talked to them and told them what we were doing.  They wished us well and cycled away.  We had some lunch and said our farewells to Jagoba.

We were told that there was going to be two big hills, tough with the weight we are carrying.  Two roadies were telling Jagoba about the hills and shaking their heads at our bikes and panniers.  It didn’t sound like it was going to be a fun afternoon ride.  We followed their directions and headed up the first hill – dropped down into the grannies and motored up it, not too bad at all.  Going up the second hill we passed the two girls we had seen at the beach and managed to get within 100 metres of the top before I had to get off and push – it had kicked up to 12%

The downhill was a screaming downhill.

We arrived in Castro Urdalis at about 2:30 and found there were two campsites.  One was 2kms away up a hill and the other 7kms away on our route – relatively flat from now on said the woman in the Tourismo Office.  We decided to do the 7 kms as the campsite was on the way.  It wasn’t flat, but after the hills we have been doing in the past few days, they were rolling hills.

We ate the chorizo and Jagoba’s mum’s pasta sauce for dinner with a lovely wholemeal baguette.

Ralf went for a walk around the campsite and beach area while I attempted to update the blog. He said the beach wasn\’t very pretty.

We paid E1 for the internet and it is so slow, all we managed to do was update the garmin’s.  I will use my data stick in future.

We were lulled to sleep by the sound of the motorway running through the mountain above the campsite.

Sunday August 31, 2014

What a lovely day we spent with Jagoba, our warmshowers host.  He took us around the old City along little passage ways and lanes that I am sure if we were on our own we would have gone in circles. Around 1:00 pm we stopped in the square and at one of the restaurants for a small beer and some pitxios (small snacks).

All the bars have these little snacks on the bars and you pick one to go with your beer. Jagoba took us to one of the these little restaurants which had some good snacks.

He asked if we wanted to go on the funicular to see the city from the surrounding hillside. He gave us his Mum & Dad’s transportation pass to use.  I wasn’t comfortable doing it but Jagoba assured me it would be o.k. Ralf explained to Jagoba that I wasn’t very good at deceiving the authorities.  But we did it anyway I waved the pass at the machine and the turnstile opened for me. I was worried that the station police would be waiting at the top for me – Ralf and Jagoba were laughing.  Ralf had no worries about using Jagoba\’s fathers card (who has been dead for a couple of months).  Jagoba said his father would be pleased that the money hadn\’t gone to waste.

We were on the funicular and up we went to the top of the City.

We had a great view of the City and had a lovely wander around the top, where a lot of Bilbaoans (not sure if they refer to themselves that way-but it sounded good to me) come to this area for picnics.  We were getting hungry again, so stopped in at another restaurant for more snacks and a glass of wine/beer.

We talked to Jagoba about what time they eat their main meal – it is usually around 2:30 then they have a siesta, get up around 6:00 have a light meal, then more snacks about 9:30 to 10:00, a late night usually around 12:30 (if they don’t have to work the next day).  The Spaniards seem to graze all day.  Jagoba could not get his head around eating at 6:00 at night.

This monument on top of the hill was to commemorate the fighters in the Civil War. It was a really impressive piece.

By the time we got back to the apartment at about 6:30 Ralf and I were starving.  Jagoba made us a lovely Spanish omellette (tortilla) with a mixed salad.

Jagoba wants to do some big cycling trips and was very interested in our equipment.  At the moment his family comes first and he feels he needs to be near his mother.  He may travel later in the year or next year.  Jagoba was a lovely person very kind and caring.

These murals were painted on the top of this arcade to represent the civil war.  Bilboa has some very surprising features. Old and new buildings trying to work together.

Saturday August 30, 2014

It rained in the night, but by the time we got up and had breakfast the tent was dry and everything was packed away dry.  We had about 2 kms of downhill through Mutriku, then it was uphill all the way for the first 38 kilometres. Ralf stopped on an uphill to take this picture of the side of this old building.

Our highest elevation was at 425 metres.  We actually climbed less than yesterday but we had one hill that was 2 kilometres long with a 10% grade.  I didn’t get off until the last 50 metres when it kicked up to a 14% grade. I felt very proud of myself.

Elevation from Garmin.

It was a lovely ride, even though it was very hilly, the last 30 kilometres along the N634 were relatively flat.

We arrived in Bilbao at 1:30 pm, we had arranged to meet our warmshowers host at 3:30. We came in along the N634 and followed the signs to the Guugenheim Museum.  Very easy to find and this was our first view of it.

This gave us lots of time to eat something and explore the area around the Guggenheim Museum.

Awesome architecture, the building changes colour depending on the light it was very interesting. Our host Jagoba met us bang on time at the flower dog. I was expecting a small flower display not this massive dog that was at huge.

Area around the Guggenheim used to be the old port, the Guggenheim revitalized Bilbao.

Jagoba asked if we would like a tour of the City but then said you look tired, I will take you home, it is up a hill!!

Why are our warm showers host houses up hills?  We cycled through the outskirts of the old city and up a smallish hill to Jagoba’s apartment.  We had our showers, and put a load of washing in.  Ralf went shopping with Jagoba who then left us in his apartment. Jagoba stays at his Mom’s house since his father died recently.  We have the apartment to ourselves and he has generously said we can stay as long as we want.  Which is really nice as we do want to explore Bilbao tomorrow.  Jagoba suggested we give him a call in the morning and he will show us the City.  I think we will have a lie-in and a nice breakfast, then give him a call.

Friday August 29, 2014

An early start today, we were on the road by 8:45 am.  It had rained in the night, but was clear when we first got up.  However, it started to drizzle as we were loading the bikes.  Drizzle isn’t so bad, it was warm, so we left the YHA in the drizzle.

Last night I had asked the guy at the youth hostel, which was the better route to take – up and over the hill or along a busier road?  His response was “You go left out of here and up two small montains for 8kms then it is flat for 4 kms, then you go down hill.  I did it with my brother a few years ago it is a nice road, we have not done it again.”

Two small mountains or busy road? – two small mountains it was!  Because the hill kicked up as soon as we left the hostel, we decided to walk the bikes until it flattened out a bit.  Two kilometres later and it eventually flattened out a little bit and we got on the bikes, it was still going uphill.

This road was the road we would have taken two days ago to get to the camp site.  I would have died and possibly killed Ralf if I hadn’t spotted the YHA.  The campsite was 4.5 kms out of town and at an elevation of 375 metres!  It looked like a lovely location.

The drizzle continued for most of our two mountain ride, we could see about 100 metres in front of us.

We could not see the hills coming up, which was probably a good thing, and we could not see the hills going down.

We stopped for lunch in a small port town.  There do not appear to be any sandwich shops in Spain.  Lots of cafeterias that sell good coffee and pastries and ice-cream.  I popped into a small grocery store, they had full-grain baguettes, meats and cheeses – I bought the fixings for our lunch and the lady sliced our baguettes for us and we made our sandwiches on a park bench.  We got a lot of strange looks at us eating our lunch and the loaded touring bikes, but no one stopped for a conversation.

Spotted these donkeys on the way down a hill, Ralf stopped to take the photo for me.

We arrived in Deba at about 2:00 pm and discovered the campsite we were going to stay at was actually 2 kilometres back up the road we had just come screaming down.  I checked the campsite book I had got in the Tourismo Office in San Sebastien and there was another campsite 2 kilometres out of Deba, not quite on the road we were going to take to Bilboa tomorrow, but it was in the general direction.

We arrived in Mutriku and followed the directions up a 12% grade hill to the campsite.  I pushed the bike up the 200 metres to the reception area.  I was convinced there would not be a flat piece of ground for our tent, but there was and it was a lovely campsite with a great view over the ocean and town.

The price was only E15, it had a little grocery store on site and the prices aren’t too bad, so we bought the fixings for dinner at the store.

We talked to a nice family from England about our trip and their vacation.  The daughter planted the seed into her parents head about a trip to Spain.  They drove out in their camper van and she flew out to join them for 2 weeks vacation and they then take a sedate drive back to England.

We have a warmshowers in Bilbao tomorrow night we are meeting him at the Guggenheim museum at the flower dog.

It will be a long hilly ride (64 kms), but at least we will have a bed to sleep in and a good shower tomorrow night.  I think I have become a little fixated with my showers of late.

Thursday August 28, 2014

I know we have only just had two rest days in Biarritz, but I was feeling a bit tired after not getting a good sleep for the past 2 nights.  Decided to get the phone and data stick sorted out and another wander around a lovely old city.

We left the hostel at about 9:30, it was a little grey and overcast, the beach had been swept ready for the masses.

We headed for the old town and walked down some of the little alleyways that make up the old town.  At either end of the street was a big church/cathedral.  We still are in awe of the stonemasons of days gone by.

We have seen posters of doors of Ireland, doors of Montreal etc. maybe we will put together a poster of doors of the world.

The older part of the city had lots of little laneways and interesting shops, and lots of bars.

As we walked towards the newer part of the City we stopped to listen to these buskers. She had an excellent voice.

We had our lunch on a long Avenue, with lots of little cafes and restaurants where people stopped to watch the world go by.  This demonstration was happening it is something about the government and extra taxes.

On the other side of the street, children were playing with bubbles.

San Sebastien has a great cycle lane through the beach area and the pedestrians looked both ways to ensure they weren\’t going to get run over by a bike.  The cycle lane is to the right of the flower beds.

We are back on line, although the YHA has free wi-fi, it is sporadic

Back on the road tomorrow.

Wednesday August 27, 2014

Today we were testing out our hill climbing legs again.  We have had almost three weeks cycling on the flat through France.  As soon as we left the campsite we were hitting the hills. We turned on to the Velodyssey route and found a small chapel and this memorial.  There were four slabs similar to the one below.  They represented appeals for contemplation and never to forget the wars, persecution, struggle for democracy and the human rights.

We took the Velodyssey route for a short while until we had to push the bikes up a steep gravel hill. I wasn’t getting any grip with my cleats and cycle shoes and with the weight of the bike I was beginning to curse velodyssey. An older lady who saw me struggling asked if she could help.  She got the back end of my bike and we both pushed the thing up a short 15% grade. A 60 year old woman helped me push my bike up a hill – Velodyssey indeed.

Today we climbed over 794 metres (2,600 ft) and it was a hot humid day – it reached a high of 37 degrees.

We stopped in Hendaye for lunch, it had a lovely beach and both Ralf and I could see a face in these rocks.

The final route through Hendaye and into Spain was interesting. No border crossing, the only ‘border’ was the river.

However, as soon as we got into Spain there were no signs of a cycle route.  We joined the main road and headed towards San Sebastian.  At one point we thought we might be heading for the motorway, but carried on cycling as it was still a dual carriageway.  Then we realized we were on a motorway, fortunately it had a big shoulder, but we got of at the next possible opportunity, which happened to be an on-ramp.  We had to go back a couple of kilometres to find our way through a grubby little port town and found a cycle path all the way into San Sebastian.  Even after we had arrived in the outskirts of San Sebastian, which is a big city, we weren’t even sure we had arrived in the right place.

We eventually found an Officinada Tourism (Tourism Office) and were told that there were pensions in the old city and one camp site.  We were both tired, so decided we would try a pension.  They were too expensive and on the second floor above shops in the old city.

We resigned ourselves to cycling to the campsite – another 5 kms out of Town and uphill.

As we made the turn away from the beach area and starting to climb I spotted a YHA, slammed on the brakes, rapidly unclipped from the pedals and turned to Ralf to tell him there was a YHA.  I went in, they had space and we were booked in.  We were asked if we were pilgrims, this is part of the Camino de Santiago de Compestala – a pilgrim walk.  We said that we were on bicycles, he gave us the pilgrim rate anyway.  We were in a dorm room that had 4 sets of bunk beds, a private shower room and our own loo, what more could we ask for after a long day of climbing.

It was a long hot day and nice to sleep in a proper bed after a good shower, a lovely meal and a glass of wine.