Biarritz afternoon · Altxerri

145 km from Biarritz

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Why this ride

From Biarritz it runs 145 km to Biarritz; allow about 2 h 30 of riding. On the way it passes Chemin de la Côte, Altxerri and back through Chemin de la Côte. It crosses from France into Spain - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.

Roadbook

1. Biarritz start

   Biarritz was a fishing and whaling village until the 1850s, when Empress Eugénie, who loved the place from childhood holidays, persuaded Napoleon III to build a villa on the headland. Royalty followed, then the rest of Europe's idle rich, and the town still carries that Second Empire swagger: a palace hotel on the beach, a lighthouse, a casino, and a rock with a statue of the Virgin Mary joined to the shore by a little footbridge. Then, in the late 1950s, a film crew brought a surfboard and the town found a second career. It is now one of the oldest surf towns in Europe, and on a decent swell the Grande Plage is full of black wetsuits.

   For a rider it is a very good place to start a day, because the Basque interior is only twenty minutes away and it looks nothing like the coast. Head inland and the villages turn white with red or green shutters, the hills are small and steep and impossibly green, and the roads twist between them in short, tight, slightly bumpy sections that reward patience rather than speed. Ainhoa and Espelette are the obvious targets, the latter hung with strings of drying red peppers in autumn, and the Pyrenean foothills start to rise behind them. Go early. The coast road and the Anglet side are slow with beach traffic in July and August, and the ring of roundabouts around the airport can eat half an hour.

   Practically, you are in a built-up area of well over seventy thousand people counting Anglet next door, so fuel, coffee and parking are not a worry. Parking a bike near the old port is possible if you do not mind squeezing between scooters. The Atlantic is the thing to respect here: it changes the weather quickly, and a clear morning can turn to drizzle by the time you reach the hills, with a warm, wet wind from the southwest. Take a layer.

   Eat something Basque while you are here. A slice of gâteau basque, filled with cream or black cherry, from any bakery is the correct payment for a morning's riding, and the sea air will have made you hungry anyway. Stay for the last light if you can; the sun drops straight into the ocean behind the lighthouse at Pointe Saint-Martin and the whole headland goes the colour of brass.

2. Chemin de la Côte sight

   Irun is where the coastal Way of St James, the Camino del Norte, crosses from France into Spain, and pilgrims have been walking over the Bidasoa here for centuries. The river is the border, and in the middle of it sits the Isle of Pheasants, a scrap of land that has been governed jointly by both countries since the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, changing hands every six months. It is a peculiar, rather charming thing to stand on the bank and look at.

   The town itself is a working place, a frontier of warehouses, railway lines and shopping streets, but the coast it opens onto is spectacular. Hondarribia, a few kilometres north on the river mouth, has a walled old town with balconied houses painted in strong Basque colours and a fishermen's quarter full of bars where pintxos line the counters. Across the water, Hendaye looks back with its long beach and French manners.

   For a rider, the reason to start or end a day here is Jaizkibel. The mountain road climbs from Hondarribia along a ridge high above the Atlantic, with the Bay of Biscay dropping away on one side and the green Basque hills on the other, and runs on towards Pasaia and San Sebastián. The corners are open and flowing, the surface usually good, and the views are absurd. It is also a favourite with cyclists, and the ridge catches every gust coming off the sea, so ride it with some respect. Sea fog can roll up suddenly and erase the view entirely.

   This coast is green for a reason. Rain arrives often and without much warning, and the roads stay greasy in the shaded sections long after a shower. Summer is busy with traffic heading for the beaches; late spring and September are kinder.

   Irun has fuel, food and everything else, and prices on the Spanish side tend to make French riders smile. Eat in Hondarribia if you can: grilled fish, txakoli poured from a height, and a slice of Basque cheesecake if the place you sit in makes it. Then follow the pilgrims west, though at a rather higher speed than theirs, along a coast that will keep you busy all the way to Galicia.

3. Altxerri turn

   The Basque coast between Orio and Getaria is a place where steep green hills fall straight into the Bay of Biscay, and Altxerri is a cave in those hills, a few kilometres from Zarautz, one of the great surf and holiday towns of the province. Zarautz has a long beach, a seafront promenade and over twenty thousand people, which means fuel, lunch and everything else you might need.

   The cave is the reason people come. Its walls carry Palaeolithic engravings and paintings of bison, deer, horses and some animals that are hard to identify, made around the end of the last Ice Age, and it was added to the list of Franco-Cantabrian caves recognised by UNESCO. It is not a casual stop. Access is tightly controlled to protect the delicate surfaces, so visits are limited to small guided groups and need booking well in advance, and there may be times when no one goes in at all. Check before you set your route around it. If it is closed, the hills themselves are consolation enough.

   On two wheels the area is short and twisty. The coast road between Zarautz and Getaria is a lovely bit of tarmac with views over the sea, but it is narrow and busy in summer, and the villages are full of day-trippers. Inland roads lead up through small farms, apple orchards and pine plantations, with plenty of tight bends and the occasional wet leaf on the surface. Rain here is frequent, so expect damp patches even on bright days, and fog on the ridges in autumn.

   Getaria, the birthplace of Juan Sebastián Elcano, who completed Magellan's circumnavigation in 1522, and of the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga, is worth the detour. It is also the home of txakoli, a young, slightly fizzy white wine poured from a height into the glass, and grilled fish is cooked on the pier. Orio, nearer the cave, is a fishing and rowing town with a quiet river harbour. The Camino de Santiago coastal route passes through both Orio and Zarautz, so you will see pilgrims with scallop shells on the verges. The best time is late spring or September, when the weather is mild and the summer crowds have thinned.

4. back through Chemin de la Côte stop

   back through Chemin de la Côte, late in the day.

5. Biarritz finish

   Back at Biarritz. That is the ride.

Where this sits

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