Devan's Bikepacking Adventures

🛖 Alpine Hut ➡️ Aeropuerto ✈️

“Worry less, ride more”
Good quote from our hotel bike storage room

It’s always bittersweet ending a bikepacking trip. My legs are happy to rest but my mind is set into a calmer pace of being, my body is set into a more frequent pace of consuming.

The ride back to Bilbao from the Gorbea hut was stunning – we descended a massive 5,808 feet and then crossed over more montañas on the National Mountain Bike route, gaining back 2,589 feet. Once back in Bilbao, we synced up with more bike paths en route to the Guggenheim Museum, the sculpture-like building designed by Frank Gehry. Back in high school architecture camp, I remember an assignment where we had to reconstruct some semblance of the Guggenheim using 1 sheet of paper.

Nearby, we ran into other tourists for the first time on our trip. This meant that there were hamburgesas for lunch! At this point, the sun was roasting us, so I asked a group of local roadies if bikes were allowed on the metro out of the valley up to the plateau where the airport and our hotel resided. They answered with a resounding yes, noting that we would need to ride in the 2nd car. After a few failed attempts on wrong elevators and wrong train stations, and a few helpful passersby who proactively pointed us in the right direction, we found the metro station, tucked away in the neighborhood quarters, just like any other store, and ascended to our hotel. Not just a normal hotel, but a “bike hotel” I stumbled upon on Google Maps. Turns out it is a bikers paradise equipped with bike tools, bike stand, and even a bike wash station (much needed!).

In our short visit to the Basque Country, here are a few cultural insights we’ve picked up on, as compared to the US culture (other than different mealtimes 😂):

Many meals are self-service but tables are bussed – it is expected to drop your napkins on the ground indoors
Urban planning infrastructure for pedestrians / bikes / public transit is well-thought out and efficient, and highly utilized
In general, most people do not hurry nor look like they’re in a rush
Smoking cigarettes is very common
Gardens are meticulously taken care of
Dogs are well-trained
Most cars are utilitarian & small
Energy management in public spaces is well-implemented, e.g. occupancy sensors galore
Very few homeless people
Most meals rely heavily on bread

A few stats from this trip:

0 mechanicals ✅
0 injuries ✅
1 rainy day 🌧️
25,143 feet of climbing 📈
221 miles biked 🗺️
2 happy people 👩‍❤️‍👨

👋 Thanks for following along. ¡Until next time, hasta luego! 👋

Woke up “early” for 7:45am sunrise, because how could we not?

Then found pristine bike cleaning station at our “bike hotel”

Flies & Mastiff

Today’s route was one for the books. Overall, we climbed 4400’ in only 21 miles in a whopping 7 hours, many of which were full hike-a-bike due to the extremely steep and rocky terrain. However, the views were fantastic, Patagonia-like, and we are now showered and relaxed, awaiting a home-cooked meal in an off-grid mountain hut on Gorbea Mountain, surrounded by (you guessed it) sheep, cows, and horses, all donning jingle bell collars.

We started out on protected bike lanes, easily exiting Vitoria, fueled by chocolate croissants and pizza. At one point, a highway appeared in the distance and the route veered onto a faint herd path which required crossing a cattle gate and ducking under an electric fence. We then entered the small town of Zárate, where we filled up on water from he town fountain (temp was approaching 90 degrees) and made sandwiches to lighten the load for the approaching climb. As soon as we started pedaling again, hundreds of tiny gnats appeared in a dark cyclone around our heads – like what you’d see in a cartoon – making it difficult to see. If you swatted them, they’d immediately returned like magnets. Luckily I had a buff handy, and wrapped it around my nose, ears, mouth, snug up to the bottom of my eyelids – this was necessary to ensure I could breathe with my mouth open and not swallow extra protein. Finally a short flat section appeared, so I pedaled hard to outrun those suckers, but within a few pedal strokes, my tires were swallowed by a huge mud pit and my body sunk down 6” into the earth, flies now even happier to have a temporary statue to prey on 😭

At a certain elevation, the flies finally disappeared 🙏 and we continued a big push to the bald summit with a 360 degree view. On the hike-a-bike grassy descent, we approached a hiker who were trying to communicate something about the trail. At this point out brains had turned to mush and lost most ability to speak or understand Spanish. A few minutes later, we approached another hiker who was very adamant about a certain part of the trail, pointing to somewhere and repeating “Perro para ovejas” and “mastín” – we finally put the pieces together and determined that there was a giant mastiff guarding the sheep from wolves, and the bikes may be a trigger for it to chase us. The hiker kindly walked us around the main route to avoid the mastiff – who was then nowhere to be seen – and we biked safely down to the hut, weaving back and forth across the grass to lessen the grade.

While I was typing this, the mastiff appeared, along with the sheep owner and sheep herding dog (video below).

Tomorrow is our final bike day and our legs are thankful for that!

Following the gpx track over the cattle fence

Sheep herding

“I see a spoon!”

(Our typical conversation while we try to determine if it’s a meal time or just coffee, beer, or wine time.) Today we rolled into Vitoria (Gastiez in Basque) at 2pm, just in time for the taco lunch menu to open, wahoo! 🙏

We have also nailed the dinner times on the dot the last 2 days (8:30pm), albeit we’re still the first people eating. We were so hungry one night, ready to point to the first item on the menu at our hostel. Luckily, we decided to do a quick Google Translate – otherwise we would be eating “pig hooves in sauce” 🤔

On a side note, about 90% of the dogs here walk off-leash, perfectly content, exploring the city streets alongside their owner. Wow!

Maitia sending us off after homemade breakfast in the tiny village of Larraona

Cityscapes, including outdoor escalator & free classical music opera concert

One of the many, very well-behaved, leashless pups

“Everyone in the small town knows us”

(Maitia’s, our host in Larraona, response to my question: what is your address?). Turns out the population of Larraona is a mere 60 personas, making Plainfield seem like an urban zone. Maitia, a former cook/baker, and her husband, a former mechanical engineer, opened a BnB as a Covid project. We were lucky to find this spot because the Urbassa Plateau is quite barren. In case you were wondering, all of our sleeping accommodations were pre-booked before our trip. I utilized the few bikepacking.com recommendations, and worked backwards to fill in the blanks based on the number of available vacation days, and maximum desired daily miles and elevation. Hence, how we ended up in Larraona!

Apparently the Urbassa plateau is home to many Neolithic remains – I kept my eyes peeled all day, half expecting to see a caveman pop out of a den, but no such luck. Instead, we shared the road again with horses, cows, sheep, and a new addition – donkeys!

What an incredible view to wake up to in Arbizu

Debating how to rescue it before it landed in the gutter – oops

Now we’re really locals – fresh baguette to go

Jai Alai court – a popular sport here that uses racquets shaped like scoops

Walking tour of Larraona (only took 5 minutes 😂)

Noticing the beauty in the little things

New best friend – Chola (spelling?) – Basque for “crazy”

“Everyone in the small town knows us”

Debating how to rescue it before it landed in the gutter

Jai Alai court – a popular sport here that uses racquets shaped like scoops

Noticing the beautify in the little things

Starting to Feel Like Locals

Dreaming in Spanish, talking to Danny in Spanish, learning new local slang greeting (“opa” – spelling?) which is neutral and not Basque nor Spanish. And almost nailing down meal times! We reverse-engineered today’s route to land in Lekunberri atlunch time, 11:30ish, before our big 12mile / 2900’ climb into the National Park. Yet once again, we were met with blank stares and “No comida aqui” responses. Darn! We eventually figured out that lunch typically beings at 1pm. Thus, croquetta appetizers it was.

The climb from Lekunberri started out as perfect pavement, transitioning to smooth and then chunky double track. Stunning views appeared as we crested the Sierra de Aralar, no signs of humanity save the bells strapped to the necks of 1000s of grazing sheep, giant horses, and cows dotting the 360 degree vista at 4000’. At one point, a herd of cattle ran to the trough to stock up on water. Minutes later, a herd of horses approached them, causing a stand-off, quickly winning over the trough, like a scene from the Lion King (see video below).

The 12mile descent was a mix of double track, fantastic singletrack, and classic hike-a-bike, sprinkled with surprise visits from more horses and cows commuting “home” on the same route we were taking. Each time this happened, we got off the bikes in order not to spook them and cause a stampede 🤣

We are now settled in the town of Arabizu, population 1,125, sounds of cowbells dinging in the distance, with a hazy view of Ihurbain’s rocky ridge line in the distance from our “hostel” – but really it seems like a fancy BnB – only $65 euro, including breakfast – not too shabby. Now we wait (aka drink beer) until dinner starts at 8:30pm – it is only 7pm and stomachs are rumbling.

Horse vs Cow

“My chef hasn’t arrived yet”

San Sebastian’s bicycling infrastructure is the best I’ve seen, period. Better than Madison, WI. Better than DC. Nearly every street has protected and colored bike lanes that don’t just dead end nor toss you back into traffic. Thus, it was a fun journey leaving the city as we headed inland towards Leitza, watching new railroad tracks being installed along the way. The bike path dropped us into the town of Hermani – at which point we wondered if there was a local bike shop for chain lube and chamois butter. As luck would have it, a Trek shop appeared 200m later! 🙏

The next section of the route took us into a steep, chunky double track zone, seemingly designed for mountain goats 😂 We biked a significant portion, finding the lines by dodging blackberry prickers and some sort of tennis ball sized acorns that look like sea urchins, and defaulted to hike-a-bikes when the grade became too steep. Eventually we synced up with an old and bumpy railroad bed, the Plazaola Greenway, passing through dozens of old tunnels previously used to cart out iron from the mines. Apparently tomorrow we will bike through a 1.2mile tunnel!

Tonight we enjoyed exploring the small town of Leitza, walking in circles, killing time, awaiting for dinner to “start”. This was after we had desperately downed ice cream and iced tea upon our immediate arrival. Finally at 7:30, after poking our head in every tavern and seeing no food, we asked a bar tender if there was any food in town. He paused for a few moments, brain spinning, went to his laptop, and then typed a menu from scratch! “My chef hasn’t arrived yet, but I will cook you dinner.” 20 minutes later we had a few slices of meat, a few French fries, and some bread. One day we will figure out the meal schedule. One eye-opening discovery we learned today: that LUNCH is the biggest meal of the day here, which is usually when we’re biking. Dinner sometimes only consists of a yogurt or small salad. Ha!

One last interesting piece from today – our AirBNB host Victor notified us a few days ago that he had accidentally double booked us, however not to worry as he secured us a room at the BnB next door under his name. Going on his trust, we arrived at the new BnB, rang the doorbell, and the owner, Paquita, knew exactly who we were. She shuffled us into the closed tavern next door to store our bikes and immediately called Victor. 1 minute later, Victor appeared to apologize in person. So kind. Then we asked Paquita where we could do laundry (since it was closed in San Sebastián on Sundays, yesterday). She immediately gave us a plastic bag, asked us to fill it, and offered to do our laundry in her apartment as there are no services in town. She refused to take a money for this. Then, after returning from our “dinner”, clean clothes appeared on our bed, folded to a T. Just one example of humanity’s generosity we so often experience while bikepacking.

Bike lanes everywhere

Innovative symbiotic relationship – corn and beans

Last bit of pavement before the double track

The goats don’t blink twice on the steep slopes

One of dozens of tunnels. Almost looks like a painting

Left: original train carrying iron ore, Right: Remnants

Food Capital of…

Spain? The world? Depends who you ask, but San Sebastián (aka Donastia in Basque) has more Michelin starred restaurants per capita AND per square kilometer than anywhere on the planet. As a result, today’s focus was more food and less biking (basically only one long 4 mile uphill). Even the sweets in the candy store (aka our biking fuel) tasted extra special. We also stopped for churros con chocolate and pintxos specifically recommended by Jean Marie. Yum yum yum.

Other than eating, biking, swimming, and site seeing, we spent the most time today trying to figure out where to store our bicycles for the day and night. Turns out our hostel didn’t allow bikes, the bike lockers at the bus station are not trustworthy (the passwords are too simple), and most streets are too narrow to walk with your bike. Bikepacking in cities is not our cup of tea, although eventually we settled on a hotel that allowed us to store our bikes in an unused conference room – fingers crossed they’re still there in the morning! 🤞

And then stop again at the top of the hill for donation- based coffee along the Camino

“The mountains are alive. They are not for sale”

Getting passed by roadies on tires so skinny you can barely see them 😂

The food we carried all of today thinking that everything was closed on Sundays!

But then discovered San Sebastián doesn’t sleep on Sundays

3-sided public urinal and soccer/basketball combo field/court

“¡Dime, dime!”

(“Tell me, tell me!”), says the bus driver. “Vamos a Zarautz, ayudarnos?” It is dumping rain and the forecast looks grim for the remainder of the day.

After breakfast, coffee, a caff-nap, and a GoogleMaps search, it appeared we may have a bailout option if we rallied quickly. A bus was scheduled to leave in ~30min from the town center. Our hostess spoke to the bus operator on the phone, who was quick to point out that our 2 bikes would be allowed if and only if they were disassembled AND fit into 1 box. Hmm. I wondered if the bus driver would stick to these strict requirements. We decide to give it a shot, cycling backwards on our route – in only 10 minutes, we were soaked to the bone. The bus driver called me into shelter after I waved him over. “Dime, dime!”, he exclaimed excitedly. I explained the situation in broken Spanish and he immediately gestured us to load our bikes under the bus – no disassembly nor box required! Score.

The bus provided a fantastic view of the coastline as we winded through spaghetti- like mountain roads, our slightly pruned skin and sopping raincoats delighted for an opportunity to dry up. I followed our GPS dot closely to ensure we pushed the “request stop” button in time.

About 90 minutes later, we rolled up to our destination of Zarautz, another coastal town, and were quickly greeted by our new host Juan Marie. At this point we, were running on only this morning’s croissant and slice of bread – bonking was in near sight, stomachs grumbling. We tried to explain but Juan Marie insisted we first share a coffee while he gave us a live Google-translate verbal tour of the town. We eventually found a clear moment to politely excuse ourselves and walked very quickly to the nearby grocery store, a place we could confidently assume would be open during the daily 2-3 “siesta” afternoon hours where shops, stores, and meals temporarily cease. We loaded up on more tapas plus meals for tomorrow, as we have been told that Sundays are a full-day siesta.

Speaking of meals, last night in Leiketio, we made an attempt to align our dinner with Basque dinner time (8pm +). What was to follow cannot be explained in words. Instead of finding food, we found the most incredible parade of thousands of locals dressed up in detailed costumes, singing in unison, dancing down the narrow cobblestone streets. We stood in awe for hours, taking in the scene, unsure if we were in a jetlag-fueled dream or reality. Dance hall style music, dancing, and fireworks continued until the wee hours of the morning, booming across the bay into our Bnb windows – even so, we slept sound like babies.

Squeezing our bikes onto the bus to avoid the rain 🙏

Danny’s never been one to love posed photos 😂

The sea and a tree that looked made of asparagus

When the Tour de France goes thru your town…

You apparently treat all cyclists likes kings and queens. In fact, there must be some unwritten rule that you’ll be exiled if you pass a cyclist too closely. While climbing a narrow, windy road (definitely part of the Tour), over 100 cars passed – and each one gave us 4’ or more of clearance – incredible!

We are feeling strong given we didn’t sleep much on the turbulent red eye last night – I think this may be my first “over-nighter”, or at least the most exercise off the least sleep. Maybe that’s why I accidentally routed us to the wrong Bilbao hotel to drop off our bike bags for the week – no worries, we did some taxi finangling to get everything all squared away for our return.

Today’s route was a perfect blend of challenge, culture, countryside, forest roads, pricker plants, lemon trees, pavement, greenways, hikeabikes (the 1st within the 1st 40min) and small towns (including one named “Ea” – unsure of pronunciation). We quickly adapted to the tradition here of endulging in several small lattes / espressos and tapas / pintox throughout the day – perfect for helping offset jetleg.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of today was witnessing half a snake wriggling across the road with no head 🐍😬.

Currently napping on and off while awaiting 8pm to arrive – that’s the early side of when shops open for dinner. Already took a dip in the ocean and scoped out the weeklong fiesta in Lekeito – an annual town party where everyone is dressed up in Halloween-like costumes. Fun!

The further we bike, the less English seems to be understood and the more Basque & Spanish is expected. Luckily for me, Danny is fairly fluent – I limp along, digging deep into the brain trenches to plop together vocabulary words that arise from my high school days. I will say that switching my phone into Spanish for the last ~month has been a great study tool!

We followed the Camino de Norte trail for a large portion of today, passing 50+ “pilgrims“ or hikers

Danny descending