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 Zarautz it runs 492 km to Zarautz; allow about 7 h 37 of riding. The stops in between: Chemin de la Côte, Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian, Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz and Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
For about 36 km this is Basque Coast Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
41 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
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.
Read the complete Altxerri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Altxerri is where the day begins. Next is Chemin de la Côte.
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.
Read the complete Chemin de la Côte write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chemin de la Côte comes up about 36 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 118 km into the recorded legs you reach Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian. Next is Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Country and possibly its most underrated city. It sits on a high plateau, the Llanada Alavesa, surrounded by low mountains and wide farmland, and its medieval old town climbs a small hill in the shape of an almond, with the old cathedral of Santa María at the top. This is the cathedral the label refers to, a Gothic church begun in the thirteenth century as both a temple and part of the town's defences.
Read the complete Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz, about halfway. Next is Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro.
Every year on the morning of 29 June, the people of Haro climb a hill outside town and drench each other in red wine, and nobody has ever satisfactorily explained to me why this needs to happen at nine in the morning. The Batalla del Vino is the loudest expression of a town that lives and breathes wine. Haro is the heart of Rioja Alta, and just outside it the old stone bridge at Briñas crosses the Ebro, a medieval structure of solid arches that has carried travellers, mule trains and wine carts across the river for centuries.
Read the complete Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro sits at 208 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz comes up about 287 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 373 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian. Next is back through Chemin de la Côte.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chemin de la Côte write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chemin de la Côte, late in the day. Next is Altxerri.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Altxerri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 492 km.
Altxerri → Chemin de la Côte is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chemin de la Côte → Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian → Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz is 85 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz → Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro → back through Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz → back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian → back through Chemin de la Côte is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Chemin de la Côte → Altxerri is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.