CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Donostia / San Sebastián it runs 599 km to Donostia / San Sebastián; allow about 9 h 48 of riding. It goes by way of Collégiale de Ziortza, Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian, Santimamiñe and Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 70 km this is Basque Coast Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
San Sebastián, Donostia to the Basques, wraps itself around one of the loveliest urban bays in Europe. The Concha, a near-perfect shell of golden sand, is enclosed by two green hills, Urgull on the east with its old fort and statue of Christ, and Igueldo on the west, reached by a vintage funicular. A promenade with white balustrades runs the full length of the beach, and on a fine evening half the town seems to be walking it. In the nineteenth century the Spanish royal family made the town their summer retreat, which explains the elegant belle époque buildings along the seafront.
Read the complete San Sebastian write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
San Sebastián is where the day begins. Next is Collégiale de Ziortza.
High on a green hillside above the village of Bolibar, in the Biscayan interior, the collegiate church of Ziortza looks out over a valley of meadows, farmhouses and eucalyptus and pine plantations. It is a tranquil, solid place, a church and cloister built of grey stone with a fortified look, and it stands on the Camino del Norte, the coastal route to Santiago, so you will often see pilgrims resting on the benches outside.
Read the complete Collégiale de Ziortza write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Collégiale de Ziortza comes up about 70 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian.
Imagine a mountain with a hole through it, and a medieval road running straight through the hole. The tunnel of San Adrián is a natural cave passage near the crest of the Aizkorri range, on the border of Gipuzkoa and Álava, and for centuries it carried one of the main routes between the Castilian plateau and the Basque coast. Pilgrims on the inland Camino de Santiago, merchants, armies and kings all passed through it, and a small chapel was built inside the cave. The old paved road leading up to it survives in sections, worn smooth by centuries of hooves and boots.
Read the complete Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 154 km into the recorded legs you reach Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian. Next is Santimamiñe.
In 1916, a group of boys exploring a hillside in the Basque Country found paintings deep inside a cave, and Santimamiñe became one of the most important prehistoric sites in the region. The cave, near Kortezubi in the Urdaibai valley, contains Magdalenian paintings of bison, horses, goats and deer, made around fourteen thousand years ago, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of cave art of northern Spain. To protect the paintings, the cave itself is closed to the public, but a visitor centre offers a virtual tour that recreates the interior in detail, with guides explaining the art and the people who made it.
Read the complete Santimamiñe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Santimamiñe, about halfway. Next is Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre.
Down in the Casco Viejo of Bilbao, where the old streets run in a tight grid beside the Nervión, the cathedral of Santiago stands at the heart of the Siete Calles, the seven original streets of the medieval town. It is a Gothic church, rebuilt after a fire in the sixteenth century, with a neo-Gothic façade and spire added later, and it sits so snugly among the tall houses that you often see it only when you are standing right in front of it.
Read the complete Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre sits at 224 km, about halfway. Next is back through Santimamiñe.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Santimamiñe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Santimamiñe comes up about 339 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 446 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian. Next is back through Collégiale de Ziortza.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Collégiale de Ziortza write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Collégiale de Ziortza, late in the day. Next is San Sebastian.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete San Sebastian write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 599 km.
San Sebastián → Collégiale de Ziortza is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Collégiale de Ziortza → Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian → Santimamiñe is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Santimamiñe → Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre → back through Santimamiñe is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Santimamiñe → back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian is 107 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian → back through Collégiale de Ziortza is 83 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Collégiale de Ziortza → San Sebastian is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.