Elorrio sits not-very-far-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things inland from the north coast of Spain, in the Basque Country, in between San Sebastián and Bilbao. It's not on the tourist trail, but, when abroad, we tend to choose the places we visit based on where there is somewhere good to stay, rather than choosing a place and then looking for somewhere to stay. As I mentioned in my last post, Elorrio has provided a motorhome parking area, complete with service point (both free), and so we came here.
The star marked 1 is San Sebastián, 2 is Elorrio, 3 is Bilbao.
It was a bonus, on our approach to see big lumps of limestone in front of us:
With no prior knowledge of the area and with the Tourist Office only open on the weekend, we lacked information about the surrounding hills, and thus started (based on a search for the name of the town on wikiloc.com, which gave me some routes recommended by the Tourist Office) with a low level route to the east of the town.
We set off to walk it on Wednesday morning, but after almost two weeks of blue skies, our luck had run out and the forecast came true with rain starting the moment we had locked Bertie's door behind us.
We set out regardless and after about ten minutes declared that we needed to break out the waterproof jackets. Being warm, we didn't bother with overtrousers.
The views of the nearby hills which had been so good the day before were marred by the rain
Through some woods we went...
A very pongy sulphur spring in the woods
...during which time the rain started to come down hard. Our exit from the shelter of the trees also marked the point where we needed to cross a road. A road that offered a direct route back to town and the comfort of a bar for coffee. What to do? No contest - we cut short and our shorts steamed gently in the bar for an hour or so. We had walked just 2.4 miles.
Yesterday was a day of much better weather. so we took the opportunity to try again with the circuit around the town, although, for a bit of variety, we tackled it in the opposite direction.
It was pleasant, with some good opportunities to oggle the nearby hills and the local architecture...
...but it wasn't anything spectacular, with over half of the distance being on tarmac (albeit small, quiet lanes) and most of the rest being in woodland.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, my mind turned to ponder whether there were any routes up the nearest hill, and on completing the circuit we repaired to the bar for coffee and I set about asking wikiloc that very question...
The star marked 1 is San Sebastián, 2 is Elorrio, 3 is Bilbao.
It was a bonus, on our approach to see big lumps of limestone in front of us:
With no prior knowledge of the area and with the Tourist Office only open on the weekend, we lacked information about the surrounding hills, and thus started (based on a search for the name of the town on wikiloc.com, which gave me some routes recommended by the Tourist Office) with a low level route to the east of the town.
We set off to walk it on Wednesday morning, but after almost two weeks of blue skies, our luck had run out and the forecast came true with rain starting the moment we had locked Bertie's door behind us.
We set out regardless and after about ten minutes declared that we needed to break out the waterproof jackets. Being warm, we didn't bother with overtrousers.
The views of the nearby hills which had been so good the day before were marred by the rain
Through some woods we went...
A very pongy sulphur spring in the woods
...during which time the rain started to come down hard. Our exit from the shelter of the trees also marked the point where we needed to cross a road. A road that offered a direct route back to town and the comfort of a bar for coffee. What to do? No contest - we cut short and our shorts steamed gently in the bar for an hour or so. We had walked just 2.4 miles.
Yesterday was a day of much better weather. so we took the opportunity to try again with the circuit around the town, although, for a bit of variety, we tackled it in the opposite direction.
It was pleasant, with some good opportunities to oggle the nearby hills and the local architecture...
...but it wasn't anything spectacular, with over half of the distance being on tarmac (albeit small, quiet lanes) and most of the rest being in woodland.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, my mind turned to ponder whether there were any routes up the nearest hill, and on completing the circuit we repaired to the bar for coffee and I set about asking wikiloc that very question...
The hills look spectacular. I hope you can get a bit closer.
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