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 Irun it runs 288 km to Irun; allow about 4 h 18 of riding. The stops in between: Altxerri, Collégiale de Ziortza, Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre and back through Collégiale de Ziortza. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 36 km this is Basque Coast Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Altxerri.
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 comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Collégiale de Ziortza. 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, about halfway. 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 sits at 168 km, about halfway. Next is back through 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.
back through Altxerri comes up about 252 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Chemin de la Côte closes the day.
Chemin de la Côte → Altxerri is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Altxerri → Collégiale de Ziortza is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Collégiale de Ziortza → Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cathédrale de Saint Jacques Apôtre → back through Collégiale de Ziortza is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Collégiale de Ziortza → back through Altxerri is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Altxerri → Chemin de la Côte is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.