But I am getting ahead of myself.
Portsmouth was pretty grim - but surprisingly The Pride of Bilbao was relatively speaking not. We had a small but perfectly servicable cabin with a decent enough shower. I had a chance to attend a talk on how to spot dolphins and whales in the Bay of Biscay and later albeit from a long way away actually saw some dolphins swimming in the opposite direction. We watched Mama Mia (again) at the on board cinema and we slept well and managed to prepare ourselves well for the beginning of thge journey.
The Pride of Bilbao
The boat docked on time 13 miles outside of Bilbao Easter Monday morning. We had chosen to take the coast road north (something we were later to regret) and had been delighted to find out during the crossing that we could get across the estuary without travelling all the way into the City Centre.
The Pride of BilbaoThe boat docked on time 13 miles outside of Bilbao Easter Monday morning. We had chosen to take the coast road north (something we were later to regret) and had been delighted to find out during the crossing that we could get across the estuary without travelling all the way into the City Centre.
So we pottered off the boat and up river a couple of kms to reach this strange bridge/hanging basket which whisked us across the river and on our way all for 0.50 Euros. (see left). After a brief breakfast in the village on the other side we were really on our way. And initially with the all the adrenalin pumping through the system we were ecstatic - the bikes were heavy but manageable, the views superb and the weather extremely kind - sunny but not excessively hot. We were going to follow the small coastal roads - all of which we expected would offer picturesque views- until hitting the Ria de Gernika inlet where we would be forced in land and towards the Pyrennees where we expected it would start getting pretty hilly. Well after a stunning but extremely arduous route between Gorliz and Bakio we decided to reassess our route. Coast roads we were reminded are also very often far from flat and as we were heading North away from our eventual target we decided all the extra effort (euphemism for we were really struggling) on what was our first day was perhaps unnecessary. So we changed the route and decided to start heading South/South East to cut a big corner off our original route. Road maps are not topographical and I never did Geography at school. So I make no apologies for being stunned and mildly irritated by the continuing theme in the landscape as we changed direction. Expecting flat countryside before rising slowly and steadily towards the Pyrenees we were presented instead with more and more serious up and downs. The Pyrenean foot hills it seemed extended all the way to the coast.
By mid afternoon we were absolutely knackered and began looking for a suitable place to camp. It was too early I kept saying, we will be too conspicous, lets keep going until we find somewhere more suitable, there's bound to be somewhere better past the next village. And so eventually there was. But not until we had cycled 80km on our first day and not once on a flat bit of road. We eventually camped in a lovely bit of woodland - in sight of a private road where frighteningly more cars than we thought ever would, whizzed up and down - perhaps there was a restaurant or something up there we wondered. But none stopped and none seemed bothered as we cooked our first meal in the wild - a well needed and much appreciated pasta and spicy tomato sauce. It was the best pasta I have ever had - not just for taste but for location and comfort and my god we just needed it. I slept well if intermittently - fear of nasty farmer kicking us off his land - and woke up the next morning thrilled with what we had acheived on our first day and looking forward to who knows what on our second.
