Summit cheat.

Early start to get to Bilbao, get checked in & find a stream of the match. Again something of a chilly start & again something of a worry about elements of the journey - the main one being that there seemed no way over the river other than on motorways - so unlike the Spanish. There was a routing but it looked dodgy at best - gravel track for 3 miles. Turned out to be a great little cycle way - of which Vitoria was well blessed - admittedly it did turn to gravel in the last few miles but that compared to some of the horrendously busy roads I've 'enjoyed' over the last week - I'd take any day. May not have said that if I'd had a puncture. It's a while since I've seen so many cyclists & not just because it was Saturday. Has to be said the friendliest havw been around Bilbao - elsewhere I've been studiously ignored. Steady & easy climbing for the next few miles to Barazar Pass - just over 600m. It was a bit of a fraud - Vitoria was at about 500m so not a huge amount of climbing. I like to think of it being banked from the ride to Pamplona - loads of climbing & no descent. All that descent was today - yay. From there it was pretty much downhill all the way to the hotel, who thankfully were ok with me having an early check-in & threw in a free drink. The less said about the footie the better. By the time that was over the restaurant had closed so headed into town for a little explore & hopefully loosen up my knee - the airport bus was dead handy for town. Strictly speaking explore isn't correct having been before but it was good to be off the bike for a while. Wandered & snacks consumed headed back past a workers protest against H&M (noisy) and claimed my free beer.Read more