Where there’s a will

They say the hardest part of any Camino is getting started. That is being confirmed for our Camino as I write. But to return to the beginning we did have a wonderful send off from Stirling by our neighbours Dave and Carol, who appeared especially on our doorstep to wish us Buen Camino, and record the moment of departure.

But I digress from today’s post and it’s elliptic title. When climbing it’s a well understood principle that one must always maintain three points of contact to avoid catastrophe. Well, we seem to have slipped into adopting that approach on this trip. Our car is in Irun, our bicycles are presently in Deba, and we are still in San Sebastián. We just can’t seem to get going!

We had booked three nights in San Sebastián in the belief that we might need an extra day to get things sorted out before starting. Then we looked at the weather forecast. The stage from San Sebastián to Deba was daunting in prospect and the forecast for tomorrow (the planned day) was pretty grim. So, we decided to go today and return here to our hotel by train. We are now anticipating a wet rest day tomorrow and a return train journey to Deba so that we can cycle to Gernika on Wednesday. If any of that makes sense we will be very surprised!

And so to today. The morning dawned spectacular; a very far cry from yesterday’s lowering skies and Scotch mist. We made an early start along the boulevard and it felt as though we should be on holiday.

The observant among you will notice that the beautifully level coast road ends nearby and, in true Camino style, our route sheared off leftwards and took to the hills. The severe demands of the route were re-paid with interest when we completed our first 350 metres of climbing and looked back to San Sebastián, and westward towards Orio.

The cycling, whilst demanding, was truly sublime with endless views down towards the ocean or inland towards the Basque uplands.

Our route along a ridge line brought us to Orio and our first opportunity for a break.

After coffee and the mandatory torta de manzana ( apple tart, basque style) we followed the coast to Zarautz. The route delivered us on to a corniche road of surpassing beauty which we followed into Zumaia. Let the photos speak for themselves!

We arrived in Getaria where I tried to get a stamp in our pilgrim passports. The church of San Salvador was open and fascinating but there was no one to assist nor even a stamp available for self-help.

So, I returned to Linda who had been looking after our bikes and was becoming acquainted with the person who replaced Magellan as principal navigator on his heroic journeys

It seems that Senor Elkano was an outstanding seaman and was able to continue the great work begun by Magellan. He took over Magellan’s fleet when he was killed and completed the first circumnavigation of the globe.

We continued on to Zumaia for the last push on to Deba, and then the route really started becoming almost belligerent. The roads throughout today’s ride had been exceptionally steep, but now they became plain silly. When the gradient exceeded 25% I was forced to get off and walk. To add insult to injury the tarred road gave way to gravel, and then rock, and we both had to resort to pushing.

The above was a better bit of track; we pushed for at least a kilometre. We were relieved to reach a tarred surface and suddenly the road started to descend, but today still had a sting in its tail. As we approached Deba the route took a left turn to cross a headland and deposited us on to a ridiculously steep drop into Deba. We were both concerned to avoid going base over apex on the steepest track I’ve ever cycled. Certainly steeper than 30%!

Having managed a light lunch in a neighbourhood bar of pintxos (tortilla de patatas, followed by sautéed mushrooms) we deposited our bikes at tomorrow night’s resting place and headed for the station.

Linda was very happy to leave her bike behind, and is now quite captivated by the concept of Caminos by train!