San Sebastian to Itxaspe

July 20, 2016

A most welcome change in the weather

I think it rained overnight since all the streets were wet. The streets of San Sebastián were almost empty, unlike at midnight last night when I went out into the street to get a breath of "fresh" air. It was still warm and muggy then and I still felt claustrophobic.

Of course, nothing was open yet and I set my Garmin to find Igeldo, the only village on my map along the quieter road west, between the main highway and the coast. The route seemed okay, leaving through the light-industrial suburbs until the last small roundabout, where there was a café open! I stopped for a caffe con leche and an over sweet pastry, them continued around the circle to the correct exit. The road surface quickly deteriorated, and then it turned steeply uphill, so steep that there were diagonal grooves in the rough concrete. I ended up pushing for quite a distance; I think some of the grades exceeded 50%. If this was a ski run in avalanche terrain, it would be borderline danger. But there was the occasional car descending so I knew there must be something up there. I met one man walking down, who said I must have been directed this way by a GPS! and said it was another 200 metres until the slope moderated. I'm not sure if he meant 200 m vertical! Later, a descending driver said it was just "un poco" more. Finally I reached the top and then the road descended, no as steeply, into the village, where it hit the main road, the one I'd intended to take, at a T intersection. Three roadies were approaching the same intersection from the direction of San Sebastián. Thanks, Garmin. Next time I'll try more to use my map, though that's a challenge too when very few of the place names on the map match those on the ground, which are all in Basque.

The quiet road was quite pleasant but also ended in a T at N 634 near Orio, which I followed to Zarautz. At the tourist info there, I acquired a booklet listing all the campgrounds belonging to the Federacion de Campings de Euskadi. I'd hoped this was available on paper; I'd found it online but with no data left...

The beach at Zarautz. The weather has changed.

Onward on N 634, the only option until it turns inland and the hopefully quieter GI 638 continues along the coast after Deba. I stopped at Getaria, as did the family of Dutch cyclists I met leaving Zarautz. It was a very nice little town, and I'd thought of spending the night here, but it was just too early. I continued along the coast to Zumaia, another possible stopping place, where I had lunch and decided it was still bigger than I'd like. I decided to carry on to the next listed campground, in Itxaspe.

Looking over Getaria rooftops to Punta Itzari

Grinding uphill, I was thinking that at least I wouldn't be starting my day tomorrow with this, and then I heard thunder and it started to rain. How long would the rain last? It was still too warm to put on my rain jacket, never mind the pants, so I was going to get wet. I saw a café and stopped for my third café con leche of the day. They probably thought I was a weird tourist, ordering such a thing midafternoon, but I didn't care. A TV was on in the bar and I watched the Tour de France live for the first time ever. At home it's still the wee hours.

The rain seemed to abate after about 20 minutes so back on the bike. I was disappointed to see that the turnoff to Itxaspe led downhill. At least it wouldn't be too steep to come back up tomorrow morning.

On the way down to the campground, two things happened. My front brake lever began clicking when I squeezed it, and my Garmin shut itself off as I was looking at it. It just went blank, with about 40% of its charge left when I turned it on again. I will definitely follow up when I get home.

The sign at the camping said "completo" but that was for the large pitches. There was room yet for a couple of small tents. I set up quickly in case the rain should start again and then tightened both brake cables. I think the brake pads are in dire need of replacement. I had hoped to get to Bilbao, but I think I will replace them as soon as possible. I should have learned how to do it myself and brought spares and the required tools. Brake pads on my other bikes lasted much longer; I guess it's all the big descents, or the difference in wearing thickness between disk brakes and rim brakes.

It still wasn't raining and looked like it might have stopped for good. I took the opportunity to go for a walk in the Basque Coast Geopark, one of the reasons I'd chosen this campground. It was worth it, even though the rain started again and I returned to the campground quite wet.