June 14, 2014
Mundaka
One of the best coastal rides ever
We began our day with breakfast at a cafe in the village, and then walked again through town enjoying seeing it in the morning sun. Our luck with the weather continued and beautiful conditions were forecast for today's ride along the coast - sunny, not too hot, with a modest headwind.
Heading west from town we were amazed at the number of cyclists sharing the ride with us this morning - over the coarse of the day we passed hundreds, perhaps a thousand, cyclists going the other way in small groups. It is no wonder - the 30 mile stretch of coastline from Getaria to Leikeitio ranks among the best coast rides I have taken anywhere. The scenery is fantastic, with cliffs plunging to the sea and colorful littoral margins bright green with algae. The route passes through a string of villages and towns - Zumaia, Deba, Mutrake, Ondarroa, Leikeitio - each lovely, colorful and distinctive, each with its own enticing sandy beach. Any one of them looked like it would have made a great overnight stay. Highlights of this stretch were the beautiful, graceful bridge in Ondarroa and the channel in Deba with its row of boats 30 feet or so below the road, each with its own little road-level pier ending abruptly (and without railings - how do they prevent losing their children to these?) in a vertical ladder drop to the boat below. Riding this stretch, I was mentally imagining possible future tours that might let us experience this wonderful ride again someday.
After Leikeitio the road leaves the coast and climbs a 700' ridge before dropping toward the coast once more and entering the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, a vast protected tract that encompasses more splendid coastline and the entire Gernika inlet. As we rounded dramatic Cape Ogono and arrived at the mouth of the inlet, Mundaka lay just ahead of us, a half mile away - if we had a boat. Instead, 15 miles of riding still remained as we looped inland to the outskirts of Gernika and the first bridge before turning north again. The last 8 miles strained us a bit, consisting of a steady series of 100' rises and falls all the way to the heart of town. We climbed each of them swearing it was surely the last, only to see one more ahead as we crested each rise.
Mundaka is a curious little place, and it was a bit crazy on the day we were there. There was some sort of festivity going on, with a loud open-air disco for children blaring well into the evening. It has some great views back across the inlet, but it wasn't really the stay we had been imagining after the string of beautiful towns we had passed through earlier.
Net elevation gain: 4,800' today, 106,700' total.
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Today's ride: 59 miles (95 km)
Total: 1,276 miles (2,054 km)
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