We meet Miguel from Basque Bike Tours. Today he is 61 and we don't find this out today at our meeting. I did notice he was happy though.
[From his website]: "By proposing stunning and picturesque bicycle routes we aim at helping people to discover the Basque Country. We offer high-class bike travel services by customising the journey programs and adapting profile tracks to each person or group."
We are biking from San Sebastion to Bilbao (180km) over 5 days. Here in the context of Spain and France.
Miguel sets us up with the biking app Wikiloc. He has loaded the routes for us on it. We load it and get 10 days free, and then delete it. Our first leg is San Sebastian to Zumaia.
Kilometer zero.
Around the San Sebastian beachfront to start.
Then as soon as we leave San Sebastian our first hill. I follow Bill.
Our route is very close to and overlaps with the Camino walkers' Northern Way. This sign along the way tells the walkers how far they have to the end. We are going to Santiago too, but the one in Chile - and not walking (or biking).
We complete the day, some of the hills are pretty steep. And it is 30 degrees, hot.
We stay at Zelai Zumaia. The views are incredible.
We saw surfers at most of the beaches we went past.
We found a cafe in a square not far from the hotel. A Champion League match is on with Real Madrid, a big Spanish team. We watch the end of the game and Real Madrid score the winner in the last 10 seconds. That is sport.
Jude Bellingham, a 21yo Englishman the star. The Spanish crowd sing "Hey Jude".
Then the San Sebastian team is playing (starting at 9 o'clock). Some guys watching at the bar. It is a sports bar with TV's both inside and outside. We watch the first half then it is time for bed for us.
