| Day # | 32 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 23.4 miles | km | 1319 feet | metres | 1 |
| Trip Totals | 1246.6 miles | km | 45048 feet | metres | 1 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
Luis at our hotel sent us on our way with a nice breakfast, including plenty of coffee inside us this morning.
We soon left Laudio and started to climb out of the town and into the hills. Once again, Northern Spain gifted us with lovely scenery. Woodland. Views of the hills and valleys. Wonderful. The roads were quiet and cycling enjoyable.
The climbing was straightforward. Our legs are now Basque Grade Legs, capable of great feats of cycling endurance. After the climbing, there was of course a descent. A fast, winding road that took us down to the small town of Okondo. We considered stopping for coffee there but Luis had clearly done a good job as neither of us felt the need for more coffee, never mind Second Breakfast.
After Okondo we were back on the route we'd followed to leave Bilbao on Day 28. We arrived at Sodupe where we'd got off the train that we'd taken to get around a road closure and wondered if the road was still closed or had reopened. M1 had tried to find out using Google in the morning but found no information.
We crossed the river and followed the road that we'd skipped by train and happily did not find it to be closed. This novel stretch of road followed the river up the valley, and eventually we crossed the river again to continue cycling towards Bilbao on the other side.
The weather was kind to us today and it's sunny and warm this afternoon. The forecast is for sunny weather for the remaining few days we have here in Spain.
On entering the city, we quickly found our way to one of the cycle paths that cross the city and followed it, often by the river Nervión. We passed a few of the city's sights along the way, including the world famous Guggenheim museum which was on the opposite bank.
We arrived at the Airbnb studio appartment that we've booked for the next few nights. We were a little early and so went across the road to a bar and had drinks. M1 sent a message to the Airbnb host to let him know that we had arrived and shortly after, we were invited to go to the apartment to be let in and shown around.
The studio apartment is on the ground floor of a nice house up on the hillside. It's pretty much perfect. We don't intend to do much more today. M1 has shopped for food and we're taking it easy now. We'll do some sightseeing over the next couple of days and then cycle to the port on Thursday to catch a ferry back to England.
The route we cycled in Spain, including the extra loop we added that took us to the lovely Vitoria-Gasteiz and back looked like this in the end:
We did of course take some photos. And what do you know? Here they are:
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| In the hills above Laudio |
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| One of many twists in the road |
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| Northern Spain is about so much more than beaches! |
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| On the section of road we'd skipped using the train on the way south |
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| Arriving in Bilbao |
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| That's the Guggenheim Museum in case you didn't know! |
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| Home for the next couple of days |
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