Stunning landscapes

Our first morning under the Spanish weather was not a nice one. The day started off with rain, not people's typical impression of the Spanish climate. Camping for the night hadn't exactly done our little aches and pains any good. We began by sampling breakfast provided by Mr.Hall and Mr.Winfield. All of the cyclists stuffed their faces. We had cereal, tea, coffee, cereal bars, flapjacks and croissants to choose from. All the average cyclist needs. Even the beginning of the journey started with difficulty, the descent from the campsite was steep to say the least. We got to the bottom and Antony's and Daniel's discbrakes overheated, so much so that Daniel's burnt and blistered his hand when he tried to cool them down. There was a small ascent until we finally hit the coastal road. Once we were riding along the long, winding coastal road we all finally felt that this was what we were all expecting. The scenery was stunning. Below us was the sea stretching out, winding roads and endless bays.

As beautiful as these roads were, they were also dangerous for cyclists and we soon had our next accident of the trip. James slid off his bike going around one of the bends. Despite some nasty gashes, James agreed to carry on. The support vehicle wasn't nearby to administer first aid, so James had to do with merely a bottle of water to wash the wound. Luckily we were soon entering the town of Ondarroa. Again, another example of how stunning a Spanish coastal town can be. The group pulled up in the main square and used the time to explore the town. The sun was shining and the harbour was glistening. We relaxed with a few drinks and took in the summer sun. Whilst in Ondorroa, it also soon became clear for the first time that we were truly in the basque region, as we saw E.T.A signs everywhere. It was quite a confusing time, especially later in the week when we saw news reports concerning attacks by the seperatist group. The support van soon arrived and patched James up with one of Mr.Howell's special 'Jesus plasters', no I have not made that up.

We soon set off again through the harbour and back onto the coastal roads. The road to Deba was quite a dangerous one, up to that moment we were all mainly used to quiet country lanes and little village roads but the main way into Deba was a busy highway. I think its safe to say that at that point, we were all amazed by Deba more than any other place we had encountered so far. Deba was a small secluded beach town, enclosed in a bay and surrounded by hills. It was a stunning setting, although probably not something you would find in an average holiday brochure. Perhaps that was the appeal of the place, it was so clean and bright. We found a park on the edge of town and sat and relaxed in the sun. The support vehicle arrived and set up for lunch. Mr Hall cooked a wonderful pasta salad and we all had a great time over lunch, chatting about the days experiences and the beautiful places we had visited so far. Unfortunately, it could not last long as we all quickly needed to jump on the train to San Sebastian. The train made its way through the winding mountain passes. Not all of us stayed on the train until San Sebastian, some of us heard of a climb that we wanted to try for the challenge. Therefore a group of us got off the train at Orio and prepared for the ascent. The group consisted of Antony, Maria, Craig, Miss Sedgely, Mr Howell, James and Mr Roberts. Even after all the cycling we had previously done, the ascent still managed to shock us all. It was like something out of the Tour de France, all we could do was knock it down into a low gear, grit our teeth and just pedal away. We were all doing anything to take our minds off the climb, talking about anything, even planning next years holidays. The hill climb was located at Igeldo, we cycled from 5 metres above sea level to 310 meteres above sea level in approximately an hour. It was possibly the most testing part of the whole bike ride, but a challenge that was well worth doing. We all felt a great sense of achievement when we reached the top. To our delight, at the summit of the climb was a little bar/cafe. So we all grabbed some drinks and ice creams and sat admiring the view. We were all so drained but one thought was in all our minds, 'what goes up must come down', so we all knew it had to be downhill from here and it was! We arrived in San Sebastian at the hostel with all the others welcoming us. Most of us had never stopped in a hostel before and this one was certainly an example of one of the better places. We all stayed in the same dormatory except Mr Winfield who tried to book into his own room to get away from Mr Hall snoring, only to find that Mr Hall invited himself into that room aswell. Mr Winfield was cracking up from sleep deprivation by the end of the week and now he is back at home we all wish him a speedy recovery and a good nights sleep away from Mr Hall. After settling into the hostel and negotiating use of the kitchen with some Italians, we headed towards the beach. We finished the day with some sun bathing and fun in the sea. We then all headed to a nearby caravan park where the van was set up and we had a selection of paellas on display for us, including ham and seafood. It was a wonderful way to end another day.