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@edscoble
Day Three.
Staying in a hotel room enable you to get out of the building in no time, this may be the case had I not decided to unpack everything from the panniers and spree them all on the spare bed before falling asleep half clothed.
Might have a little too much to drink, Spanish bar are ridiculously cheap, lots of Sols to consumed.
Breakfast are a cyclist's dream, with yogurt, watermelon, coffee, croissant, ham, cheese, and bread (didn't eat those three), and pineapple juice, I was the only one there.
Left a little late at half 9, water filled, fruit packed, arm warmers and gilet on, was mildly chilly with those wooden musk in the air, left the quiet street of Onati directly toward a climb, those lovely switchback pine trees infested climb on a real smooth road, bit early for that especially with the load but it warm me up quickly, decent climb, a bit of descent, and then into a small forest road between Legazpi and Ormaiztegi, a lots of fun on a low trail bike being able to turn into corner later and quicker than usual.
Back on the main road that go alongside the motorway, riding through Beasain, there was a lots of railway tracks, I later learn it's a major railways town that exports it's production around the world, Europe, US, India, Africa, etc.
Spanish road are amazing, they actually do love their cyclists, mainly the sport side rather than the practical, they're much better at pressing the importance of giving cyclists a lots of room when overtaking, that night at a bar in Onati, I saw a government ads on the TV showing an animation of how to overtake cyclists properly, including actually slowing down as oppose to stepping on the accelerator, they also have a huge number of road sign demonstrating this too, as a result I felt really comfortable in Spain, the only time I got overtaken rudely twice was ironically, by two English drivers.
When I was drawing up the route, Google Streetview make light work of finding picturesque road that's worth going through, when in doubt, I simply check street view to see what it look like, whether it might be a worn down farm track, or a industrial route with a dead end not obvious in the map itself, sometime you're lucky if it was taken recently in high definition, that how I found the small country road through the forest, very quiet, lots of ramblers, and smooth road and almost no traffic between Legazpi and Ormaiztegi.
Reaching Tolosa after a nice gentle soothing ride on the valley, there’s a big climb ahead, the second one of the day, there was no switchback but a long continuous road, crossing the border from Basque Country to Navarre, even then there’s still more climbing to go, at that point, it start to drizzle, the rain does fall mainly in Spain.
It’s just my luck that it start to rain after I reach the top, thinking it’ll stop eventually, it start to get harder with icy rain hitting me on the descent, pulled over, put rain cape on, and grit my teeth riding without gloves, cursed the elusive DeFeet glove that magically disappear with such regularly.
Pulled over at a petrol station at 4pm, I notice that I'm not too far from the French border, only 35km, and there's only two big hill on the way, I figure that I should be able to make the Pyrenees pass before nightfall, after all, it been plain sailing since Santander on beautifully smooth road that made the 42mm tyres a little redundant for shock absorption.
It gotten a little darker when I reach the road to the Pyrenees, the surface was amazing, there was a lots of evidence of a mudslide happen recently, which may explain why the whole road have been resurfaced, it helped the climb providing enough grip on the narrow traffic-free road.
I notice bunkers near the climb, look like barrack for soldiers during WW2, reach to the top of the climb, went into a restaurant, had quiche, coffee and mounted the sodden bike into France, it was a great descent, even in the misty rain, it look fantastic.
France being a bit French, the road was unquestionably horrible.
Found camp site for €3.50 at Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry, it just turned dark, free wifi, town got pizza joint, ate, then slept soundly feeling the rain platter against the tent.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5880055
7/10 would.
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