July 22, 2016
Lekeitio to Gorliz
Weather!
I got up and on the road fairly early. I was the first one in the campground café, just as its doors opened at 8. The only options there were for breakfast was the Spanish version of toast and, since it was out on the counter, cake. The cake was plain, no icing, so I had that. Toasted pre-sliced factory bread doesn't appeal to me. Even the baguettes in Spain aren't as good as in France, nor are the pastries I've had.
I followed the route marked as scenic on my Michelin map, with the usual Spanish Basque navigation problems. Sometimes there are roundabouts with none of the exits labelled, or perhaps there was a sign so far back I've forgotten which I need. I like the French signage for roundabouts! Sometimes the signage is for towns and routes I can't find on my map, so I have to guess. The best one, however, was then the arrow sign for a right turn said BI 3150 (which does not appear anywhere on my map) but just beyond it, on the road it pointed down, was a sign indicating that this was BI 3152 (the route I was looking for). I should have taken a photo of that. My map is 1:150,000 or 1 cm = 1.5 km so most roads should show up.
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I only made one significant wrong turn. In Ibarrangelu I wanted to take the turn to Laida, whcih is marked as a village on the map, but which my Garmin couldn't find. This happens often with Openfietsmap since many of the place names are in Basque only, while the map generally has the Spanish names, but sometimes those are different on the ground. Just now I searched Google Maps for Laida, and it found the beach (Playa de Laida) but not the town. On the ground, it was Laga Laida or something like that, with the direction sign at the turn saying just Laga. I saw no Laga on my map, expecting it to be a village or town, though looking again now I see a Playa de Laga. You see the problem!
As I entered Ibarrangelu, there were two policemen controlling traffic into the town. Only authorized vehicles could pass, but I was okay on my bike, just told to "be careful." So on I went, looking for the turn to Laida or someplace to sit and eat my bread and cheese and not paying enough attention to where I was going. I was distracted by the crowds of young people, most wearing dark blue shirts and carrying plastic bags or coolers, walking down the road. I went the same way, and ended up not just in Elantxobe (wrong, dead-end road), but at its port, another dead end but down a steep hill! I crawled back up, looking for the turned missed, and got all the way back to the policemen. I asked them, since they spoke a little English. One had no idea, and the other told me which way to go–that way, then the first right. The sign said "Laga" with no marking for BI 3234, but my Garmin confirmed that that was the road I was on. Sometimes it just gives me the Basque name.
Before I got to Playa de Laga, which would have made a pleasant lunch stop, it started to rain. So I continued south along the estuary and ended up eating at another beach, one just as large but not dignified with a name on the map, after the rain had stopped.
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You have to go all the way south to Gernika for the first bridge across the river, then it's an up and down ride back north to Bermeo. By this time it was getting quite hot, but since I passed the campground near Bermeo without really noticing, I decided to continue to the one at Gorliz, which looked like it might be nice for a rest day. There were some nice views passing Cabo Matxitxako, but I wasn't tempted to try the road out to it. Instead, I took a break at a picnic area high above and overlooking the coast and laid out my tent fly to dry. I'd packed it separately on top of my rear rack in the morning because it was quite wet with condensation and I wanted the rest of the tent to stay dry. Now that it was dry I put it in a pannier because there were nasty clouds to the west. Sure enough, it was pouring on the way into Armintza and I was thinking about a hotel, but the town looked depressing and maybe the rain was lessening? I carried on to Gorliz, and the rain had stopped by the time I got there.
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The stretch of road between Bakio and Armintza is highlighted as scenic on the Michelin map, but I'm not so sure about this one. The scenery included logging clear cuts and a nuclear power station! I learned later that the power station was built about 30 years ago but never activated. There were many protests and the ETA killed two of the engineers on the project.
Dinner tonight at the campground restaurant, just because it's close and convenient. Salad followed by scrambled eggs with mushrooms and langostura and flan for dessert.
Distance 86 km; ascent 1702 m; descent 1872 m.
Today's ride: 86 km (53 miles)
Total: 1,434 km (891 miles)
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