The Bikepacker: Bikepacking 2024 - Bidart to San Sebastian

Day #

State of Legs

:-)

	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	37.2 miles	km	3189 feet	metres	1
Trip Totals	1007.1 miles	km	24997 feet	metres	1

Today's Route

Route So Far

Travelogue

Given we spent last night in a Bed and Breakfast, it should be no surprise to learn that our day started with breakfast. We normally schedule a couple of breakfasts into our morning, one when we first wake up and a second when we stop at a bakery en route at around 10:00. But today we must have eaten a good three breakfasts all in one sitting, including Basque style cakes, croissants and fresh bread and butter. In short, breakfast was good and set us up for the day ahead.

Knowing that this part of Northern Spain, often described as the "mountainous Basque region", would be.... mountainous.... we've reduced the distance we expect to do each day from our usual fifty to sixty miles to something more manageable. Today we'd decided to cycle to San Sebastian, also known as Donostia in the Basque language. This made for a roughly 35 miles ride but with a significant climb in it.

The fact is, we've barely done any climbing at all since our third day in France, following the Brest to Nantes canal to begin with and then joining route EV1 and following it close to the Atlantic coast. So, any climbing was going to be a shock to the legs.

We were mentally prepared for the most obviously challenging climb that was visible on the profile not long after crossing the border from France to Spain. It looked like it involved about 5 miles of ascent but with a similar descent on the other side, as a reward. What we weren't prepared for was that within about a mile of leaving the Bed and Breakfast, the road went up and down with alarming frequency and what's worse, with an alarming gradient which was typically in the double digit range! Thank goodness for the massive breakfast to provide the much needed fuel!

We followed the coast down towards Spain, passing through Guéthary (where we hit our first very steep gradient), Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Ciboure, and Hendaye.

Hendaye was the last town in France. We cycled alongside the River Bidasoa, took the bikes up in an elevator one at a time to a bridge that ran over the river and on crossing the bridge were officially in Spain! Not that you'd know.... there was no sign indicating we were crossing a border and entering a new country. Those lucky Europeans can afford to be casual and loosey goosey about such things, I guess.

The town of Irun is immediately on the Spanish side of the River Bidasoa. We found our way across it and stopped at a cafe for coffees and a shared slice of cake. We're not sure as we're in uncharted waters here but that may have been fourth breakfast! Except that it was at 12:30 that we ate that slice of cake, so no breakfast-related records were broken. It was late elevensies. Or possibly even lunch.

Heading out of Irun, with our big climb still ahead of us, we worked our way along narrow country lanes in beautiful countryside. It was hilly and at times brutally steep. According to Strava, at least one of the hills had a 20% gradient which would be tough at the best of times but on our heavily loaded bikes (have I mentioned our bikes are heavy?!) it was very tough indeed.

We fought our way through this stage quite valiantly though and soon found ourselves on a relatively major road which had a great surface and not a lot of traffic on it. This was the main road we'd follow for the next 10 miles up and over our big climb.

The "big climb" involved cycling to the top of Mount Jaizkibel. The gradient varied between about 5% and about 12%. We put the bikes in bottom gear and settled into a rhythm. In many ways, despite the climb being about 5 miles long, it was easier than those short and horrendously steep climbs we'd had to tackle earlier on!

Nevertheless, we were both pleased to find ourselves at the top of Jaizkibel and enjoyed the descent. M1 enjoyed it so much, apparently he and The Mule got up to 41 mph!

At the bottom of the descent, we entered the town of Pasaia. The town's built around a large inlet from the sea. You either have to cycle right around it or if you want a shorter trip, there's a small boat that takes foot passengers and bikes from one side of the inlet to the other. We opted for the boat.

After rolling our bikes down the gangway to the floating jetty, the boat came across from the other side. The boat's driver (or some other more fitting nautical job title) told us to take the bags off the bikes before loading them on, or at least that's what we think he said, it all having been said in Spanish. He seemed to approve as we stripped both bikes of their luggage, either way. M2 then got on board and M1 passed bags to her before carrying each of the bikes onto the boat and leaning them against the side.

The crossing was short and uneventful. On the other side, we pushed the bikes up the ramp and then carried the bags up to them, loaded up and carried on cycling.

We'd plotted this part of the route ourselves using the Plotaroute tool that we use. We followed the route round the inlet and stopped for cold drinks at a bar. We continued along the flat (thank goodness!) route and turned a sharp corner when.... DISASTER! The road was no longer a road but a large series of stone steps that disappeared from sight higher up! No way could we get the bikes up there. Plotaroute's mapping data must be a bit off in this area.

Anyway, we turned back and persuaded the Organic Maps app to plot a course to our destination which revealed that it was closer than we'd expected, a mere mile and a half away. So, not quite a disaster. More a SLIGHT INCONVENIENCE!

We'd been messaging the host of the Airbnb apartment we're staying in for the next two nights to help him to know when to get to the apartment block to meet us. As we approached the address, a tall man saw us from a distance and started waving. This was the host, Ignacio.

Ignacio turned out to be a thoroughly nice man. He took us down to the private garage owned by the apartment and we locked the bikes in there. We were then shown the apartment and everything in it. We've been left with lots of useful information and recommendations that will help us enjoy our rest day tomorrow in San Sebastian.

What a day! We arrived in Spain and crossed our first mountain of the trip.

Here are a few photos.