Day 36 - St Jean de Luz to San Sebastian - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

May 23, 2023

Day 36 - St Jean de Luz to San Sebastian

Mid Term Break

Today was a short day for distance, but a big one for significance. We were just finishing up the longest continuous stretch that we’ve spent in France, and for the first time ever we would be cycling into Spain. It also makes the halfway point of our trip and once we get to San Sebastián, the start of a 5 day off-bike mid term break.

This is quite the build-up for what turned out to be quite a nice but ordinary day of biking. To add to the quotidian nature of the day, it started in the the early hours of the morning with the repair (hopefully) of one of our Exped sleeping mats.

Our original planned route for today had us crossing into Spain at Irun and then heading west a few km’s to Hondarribia where we would then climb ~400 m to ride along a spectacular ridge overlooking the Bay of Biscay. Previous reports and pictures of this ride from fellow CB’ers looked spectacular.

The reality today though, was that the top 100 m of the ridge was shrouded in cloud and the weather forecast showed a reasonable chance of thundershowers at mid -day, about the time we’d be on the ridge.

Climbing 400 m to ride in the fog really didn’t appeal to either of us so we rerouted through the lower (but still hilly) inland valley through Irun, Olartzun and then into the continuous urban sprawl from Errenteria through to San Sebastián.

We were very impressed with the cycling infrastructure. We had more or less dedicated cycling paths for about half of the trip, and all of the way through urban areas . We were also introduced to what’s ahead …. Hills, some quite steep. There does not appear to be a flat piece of terrain anywhere in the Basque region!

We arrived in San Sebastián several hour before the official check in time for our hotel but there was no problem getting checked in early.

We’ll be here for two nights, then we’re heading to Bilbao for two nights - without bikes, with a return to San Sebastián for a third night. we’ll then get back on the bikes and head east into the Pyrenees.

Although we won’t be riding for the next few days, we will be continuing the theme of the journey. Both San Sebastián and Bilbao are well known culinary destinations, and we have some serious gorging planned. That’s a rather coarse way of putting it, as most of the food and drink we’ll have will be quite refined. However, there will be a few ‘garagardoa and pintxos’ sessions thrown in for good measure.

We started our mid term break in fine style tonight with a 5 course dinner and wine pairing (plus 4 amuses) at Sukaldean (One of those Michelin recommended places with no star but Bibendum licking his lips … our favourite places!). No food pics (not the right atmosphere for that) but it was sensational, and the sommelier was outstanding. He helped out filling us in on the food we were eating and the wines he paired them with, all local and traditional Basque, but all with very modern interpretations. He also introduced us to the ‘porron’ a cross between a carafe and a drinking funnel (for lack of a better description) that lets you do away with glasses … just pass the porron around the table!

Spain is off to a great start!

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SOTD - If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot.

Let’s just replay the story from yesterday’s SOTD. What played next right after Tina? This one.

Gordon passed away a few weeks ago just as we were starting this trip. We didn’t recognize this with a SOTD as nothing seemed to fit. This double coincidence may have been the sign that we needed. That’s the story I’m going with.

Setting off for our last few km’s of biking in France. Hendaye is about 5 km’s to the south where the Bidasoa river flows into the Atlantic, and forms the boarder between France and Spain. It’s been a slice France!

Riding the EV1 south towards Hendaye. The point on the left is Hondarribia in Spain

Really great riding along the coast with the road rolling up and down along the headlands. Shame about the cloudy weather, it lent a great atmosphere to the ride but does not make for great photos.

The Harbour at Hendaye. That’s Irun / Hondarribia Spain on the other side. Note the clouds covering the ridge top … that was our planned ride with the hope of having stellar views over the Atlantic. Maybe next time.

New country for cycle touring! We’ve been to Spain several times with the kids but always on the Med coast and never on bikes. Always exciting to get a new experience, and it does feel very different from France with just the simple crossing of a river.

Getting used to Spanish G roads rather than the D roads we’ve had for the last month.

Very green, very pretty and very hilly! Not a flat spot in sight.

Just finished a push up this short 20%+ hill on rough weathered concrete. This was the only section of ‘poor road’ that we had though.

Payback for the short push … some lovely Amerylis in full bloom

… and some lemons that will start to ripen soon.

Beautiful riding. We’re off to a great start.

As soon as we started to get into built up area as we approached the coast, we were on dedicated bike / pedestrian pathways all the way into San Sebastián. Very sweet!

In San Sebastián. The final few km’s along the water front to get to our very nice boutique hotel where we’ll be pitched up for a few days.

No food pics, but this is what we had … all of it was sensational. The biggest surprise was the amuse ‘Olive’s Gilda’ . This is a traditional tapas of an olive, some pickled beans and anchovy on a skewer, however this rendition looked like a small green olive hanging from a small olive Bonsai tree. You picked it off (it was cool to the touch), popped it in your mouth and bit it. It had the consistency of a soft chocolate (and was in fact just cocoa butter) filed with olive oil infused with anchovy. Every diner around our did exactly what we did when we had it. Their eyes widened and they said ‘Wow’. The rest of the meal continued to surprise and more than satisfy us.

And this is the ‘porron’. A traditional Basque wine flask. You grab the top spout with the slender lower spout pointed towards you, tip back your head, open your mouth, pour … and then pass it along! I was encouraged to give it a try, and did. I’m sure all of us have done something similar in our youth with a Two Buck Chuck, or a PBR, but it was quite nice to do with a very fine Rioja!

That’s all for now. Mid term break has now started … but the gorging continues!

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,589 km (987 miles)

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