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 Gasteiz / Vitoria it runs 402 km to Gasteiz / Vitoria; allow about 7 h 00 of riding. On the way it passes Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian, Ekain, Chemin de la Côte and back through Ekain. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
For about 57 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.
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 is where the day begins. 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.
Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian comes up about 86 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ekain.
In 1969 two young men exploring a hillside above the Sastarrain valley near Zestoa crawled into a narrow opening and found themselves in a gallery of painted horses. Ekain is one of the finest Palaeolithic painted caves in Europe, its walls covered with images of horses, bison and other animals made some fourteen thousand years ago with remarkable skill. The horses in particular are famous, drawn with shaggy manes and round bellies, so lively that they seem about to move.
Read the complete Ekain write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 145 km into the recorded legs you reach Ekain. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Ekain.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ekain write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ekain sits at 189 km, about halfway. 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.
back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian comes up about 317 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz closes the day.
Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz → Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian → Ekain is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ekain → Chemin de la Côte is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chemin de la Côte → back through Ekain is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ekain → back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through 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.