San Sebastian rest day

October 3, 2021

This rest day gave us the time and space to plan and re-think the next phase of the tour.

We didn't really need, or deserve, a rest day after just two reasonable days of cycling from Biarritz, but the weather was calling for 100% rain and lots of it, most of the day (we are now using two European apps, Météo Blue and Weather Radar, which do a better job of forecasting, or else the coastal weather is more predictable than when we struggled to plan our rides based on faulty forecasts from the standard iPhone app) so we booked into an Apart-Hotel for Saturday and Sunday nights in Donostia-San Sebastian. Indeed, we woke to the sound of heavy rain and were glad not to be in our tent as the thunder rolled.

We like the comfort of a plan with the flexibility to change as the conditions warrant. Before leaving Canada, we had studied the maps of France, looking up routes and potential places to stay as well as things to see and do, but Spain seemed too far away at that time. Now we are here it was time to learn the new territory. Looking at the relief map for the next week, as well as our initiation to the Pyrenees crossing Jaizkibel, and the autumn closing of campgrounds got us to re-consider the plan to camp. Once we got our minds around it, it was liberating to think pedalling up the hills without the weight of camping and cooking gear and staying indoors every night. As luck would have it, we have reserved an upscale hotel for our last nights in Lisbon before flying home, so we had a place to send and retrieve the unwanted equipment.

The rest of the day was mostly taken up sorting the luggage, finding an appropriate box and packing tape, and researching Spanish websites to determine shipping costs depending on the size and weight. In the end we chose DHL, partly because their website was partly in English and we saw that going to a drop-off location nearby would eliminate the need for us to find someone to print a shipping label.

Later, the sky cleared and we did get out for a walk around the downtown. The relative quiet of a wet, Sunday afternoon complemented the Saturday night energy and confirmed to us both that San Sebastián is high on our list of places to come back for a longer stay.

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