In Mundaka

June 18, 2024

Another beach day planned and foiled by uncooperative weather. The morning started out nice but cool and we thought we would walk around a bit, decide where we wanted to swim, and swim in the afternoon. But it only got cooler and cloudier as the storm moved in.

We did learn something, though. Our very friendly host mentioned this morning, that if we wanted to go over to the other side of the estuary, there was a boat. A boat! Could we have taken it instead of the 30 km ride-around? A little online searching found what’s in the screenshot below:

So, to inform ourselves for a potential next time and to help any other cyclists who might use this journal for research, we decided to look for the ferry dock on our walk.

The logical place would be the little port, but we hadn’t seen any indication of a ferry service yesterday, but then we were looking for a restaurant.

Google Maps to the rescue to find Txorrokopunta Quay. (I had to copy and paste!). When we got to where Google said it was, there was no indication that a ferry might dock there. We hung around for a while on a bench in the sun (there actually was a bit of sun then) and then a little boat showed up.

That’s the ferry and that’s where you catch it from Mundaka.

It stayed there with the skipper on board for quite a while. We were too nervous of being able to communicate with her to go down and ask about the service, but heard later that she does speak some English. We also heard that the service is weather-dependent and doesn’t operate all year. It’s necessary to call and book. However, we will definitely look into this if we ride the Spanish north coast again.

Eventually, two people came down and boarded and they were off.

I saw these flowers in the high meadows we rode through and here on the coast.

Mundaka. The closest building on the left of the photo houses the restaurant we ate at last night on the ground floor and a more expensive establishment upstairs.

Another view of Mundaka with the little port on the right.

Interesting building in Mundaka. A wealthy family’s residence?

We also did our gift shopping at the Mundaka Surf Shop. I had to include a photo of the very cute t-shirt we got for our granddaughter. All the local logo clothing include the line “the longest left in Europe” so I had to find out what that meant. I found a very interesting article about Mundaka (which mentions the boat service too).

It won’t stay white very long, I’m afraid. She will be just shy of 11 months when she gets it.

After watching the teenagers take turns jumping into the water (ignoring the “no swimming” signs around the port, we had dinner in a restaurant by the littke port. We chose to sit indoors since it was threatening rain and it did rain.

Then the rain stopped and I had to run outside to capture this cloud formation as well as I could with my phone.

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Scott FenwickAny chance of a ferry across the Mundaka estuary? We also did not find the ride around it very worthwhile but we were out of season for the ferry crossing.
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3 months ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Scott FenwickIf we return, I’d contact the ferry service and see about booking at whatever time of year. There’s no schedule posted anywhere we could find, including on the website, and I suspect any business would be accepted if possible. Of course, it would be necessary to ride around if the ferry could not operate due to weather.
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3 months ago