SantanderCirculo: Cantabria to Vizcaya

Tent held up very well on a stormy clifftop overnight stay, worth every centimo of the €29 (from Decathlon, everyone I met had camping/cycling gear from this French sports superstore...!)

Left the clifftop sewage plant in the rain, to reach Castro-Urdiales which looked rather rainswept to say the least

Not to worry about the rain, leaving Cantabria to enterVizkaya ( Basque country)

Typically hilly Cantabrian coastline


not overly encouraging graffiti...

Finally reaching the Basque border...

And finally reaching Portugalete and the UNESCO Puente de Vizcaya
a portacabin suspended by cables going back and forth, saving several kilometres avoiding going into the centre of Bilbao

How exciting, a hanging bridge! And only 0.60 euros!

Across Nervion river to Getxo, which I'm sure looks much better when it's not raining...

Portugalete from Getxo

bridge from other side

Carried on along the coastline, destination Guernica... ominous weather all the way...

But nice views of Portugalete and the Port of Bilbao from the clifftops :

A break in the rain and came across the somewhat Disneyesque castle at Butron

Onwards to Mungia, where I had difficulty finding the non AutoVia route out of town to Guernika: a very nice local man offered to show me the way through the one way system, leading in his car! Very friendly & helpful people all over Vizcaya (and Cantabria come to think of it).

This is a popular cycle route, with signs reminding motorists of cyclist priority at weekends...

Inclement weather obviously factored into the architectural plans of local churches:

Most welcome shelter during frequent showers...

Finally reached Guernica, unfortunately in the rain, but at least I took photos of a rainbow that appeared as a result of the downpour.

a ceramic tile version of Picasso's masterpiece

Guernica


commemorates Hitler's bombing of the town during the Civil war (see above link)

Went north from Gernika, into the Parque Natural de Urdaibai
which despite the rain was really beautiful, but extremely hilly on a bicycle...

Due to too many hills stopped at campsite in Mundaka, before reaching Bermeo. Very nice campsite btw, must be great in a dry summer!

Bermeo small fishing town, with some interesting boats/ships in the harbour


very steep climb on the way out of Bermeo, but great views

Up, up, uphill, not so much fun on a fully laden bicycle, but the views of the hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
certainly made it worth the effort

Hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

san juan de gaztelugatxe

Back downhill to the mainland 12th century hermitage of San Pelayo

By this time I had completed the small loop taking me back to the approach to Bilbao, where I found the campsite (with metro connection to the city!)

Campsite more or less deserted when I arrived so managed to get an oceanview pitch... note the sunshine, this was only on arrival

going...

going....

Gone! The sun would not be seen for a couple of days after this....

Next morning (actually was a bit of blue sky, i forgot) went into Getxo, then into Bilbao to find out info about getting to Burgos...

Portugalete waterfront seen from Getxo side


perhaps Lidl in a warehouse should have alerted me to the imminent rain...

Greenpeace parked up in downtown Bilbao, with the new Athletic Bilbao stadium being built in the background... note the looming stormclouds...

Absolutely bucketed it down in Bilbao... decided to buy a bus ticket to Burgos, hoping there'd be less rain there...
Soaked on way back to campsite, although sunset was visible later on...

a break in the clouds

All night, all next day, constant rain, gale force wind, rain, more rain, less rain, bit more rain, a lot more rain, has it stopped... no, more light rain.... bored with sitting in tent