Hugging the cliffs

Playa de Brazomar was the only place we had missed from our ChatGPT tour and it was lovely and calm as we cycled past it to pick up the Via Verde Castro Urdiales to Traslavina trail out of town, which had its own dedicated tunnel.   

Soon we were tackling one of two long climbs that would take us the next hour to complete before reaching the Via Verde del Piquillo – a stunning bike path that hugged the sides of the cliff and we followed that for the next five kilometres. 

Simon startled some goats that bounded across in front of me, making me stop in a hurry. We stopped for morning tea at a park with views back along the coast.  It was an old iron ore mining area and some relics were dotted along the trail.  

Whilst the view to Playa la Arena made it look inviting, the steep stairs down to the beach were challenging with fully-laden bikes.  Even more difficult was pushing the heavy bikes through the sand.  It was a relief to be back on another lovely bike path, the Via Verde Montes de Hierro which took us Portugalete, where we detoured off to find a restaurant with a Menu del Dia for lunch. 

Leaving town, we were waiting for the lights to change, when a group of school children gathered calling “bip, bip” and making horn pressing signs, to encourage the cars to beep.  Each time a car responded, they cheered.  We obliged by ringing our bells, which resulted in resounding cheers.  

There was a bike path all the way along the river into Bilbao and we passed the Guggenheim museum and almost all the way to our apartment.  It was in a fabulous location, right on the river.  

We had a dinner of pintxos in the old town, stopping at two separate bars to try some different dishes, accompanied by a glass of Amstel lemon lager, a low alcohol beer that was most refreshing. As a reward for the climbs today, we treated ourselves to gelato which we ate on our little balcony overlooking the river. 

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