Bikepacking the Basque Country – Bilbao to Pamplona

Ready for our tour—you can see Tologorri in the background—our goal for day 1!

Embalse de Maroño - super calm evening by the shore.

Little shadow break in the tiny town of Salmantón to plan the route and re-fill out water bottles.

First meters on the bike and we can already feel the temperatures rising fast!

Good paved road up to the top of the plateau—only sheperds are allowed to drive here (I believe)—so its pretty quiet. Very steep!

The climb is steep, so if you are carrying weight and not riding with small gears, some stretches might require you to push.

First glimpse to Ungino: our goal for the day!

The climb up to Sierra Salvada was long at tough—especially at 37°—but in good company, the reward once you reach the top is even better!

Pico Ungino in Sierra Salvada - the fog suddenly lifted up reveling this amazing view for sunset

We got a little lost and had to push our bike for a while in search of a bigger path. The sunset over Tologorri was beautiful though!

If you want to lift your bike down: take the route of Senda Negra. Very cool, but barely ridable. Just be aware.

Very nice quiet road curving around the river. Cars barely don't take it since they go on the highway.

Ana and I figuring out what the climb is going to look like. Apparently loads of bike-pushing ahead!

Following a small stretch of the bikepacking.com route: Vuelta de Vasco. Nice gravel roads but also bike-pushing!

The fog pulled in out of nowhere. Be careful since it's easy to get disoriented. Lovely atmospheric riding though!

Little water break whilst we figure out how to carry our bikes up the rocks. Jokes help!

Almost there! Tristan ended up carrying my bike too because I could no longer push.

We did it! We spent the night close to the top: Gorbeia. The sea of clouds was beautiful over sunset.

Team breakfast as we get ready for another day full of adventure.

The descend on this way took us through very tall ferns, make it difficult to ride at times. Almost back on the path!

Heavy rain accompanied us the whole afternoon so we were happy to find shelter by this little church.

Beautiful (but rough) gravel path through a forested area.

When the path and signs suddenly disappear is time to improvise!

We knew we had to make it to the windmills but we didn't know quite how.

Last push through the ferns before reaching the "Iberdrola Highway"

Gotta love good gravel. This is a wonderful road going along the mountain ridge. We only rode a small stretch but super nice!

On the way to our next highlight: Urbasa. Pedaling through lovely sunflower fields.

The mountains we from in the background! Be careful with this curvy road as some random vehicles decide to race here.

Sweet paved road (little cars) on our way to Urbasa.

The ladies of the team. Keeping that early wake up smile going cause... Today there's 'menú del día' awaiting!

Nice paths on our way out of Urbasa. It's kinda confusing, so keep an eye on the map!

Operation Return. Our week long adventure comes to an end as we head down to Pamplona to catch a bus.

The road down to Pamplona.