A bike trip to San Sebastián
End of September 2020 I was invited to a friends wedding in Biarritz. Yes, it was a Covid period and the wedding has been already postponed several times due to that fact. Nevertheless it was possible to travel and celebrate in a small inner cirle, a few attempts later.
I planned to stay there for a week and arrived already some days earlier than the rest of our group, as I wanted to have some time in order to explore the city in my own rhythm. After all the friends were reunited we had a great time together, whether it was surfing, cooking, exploring the downtown or going out for more food and drinks 😅
I knew that I wanted to take the most of this vacation and had the spontaneous idea to rent a bike and go a place further – to San Sebastián in Spain. It was a personal challenge for me to do it on my own and not to plan everything in detail, as I am usually a person who just overplans everything. In German, there is a saying, which I like a lot: “Machen ist wie wollen, nur krasser.” 😉 So this was my motto to start my first long bike trip in my life. The only thing which was missing at that time was a bike.
So first things first – a bike was needed. I went to a local bike rental, without thinking too long or even making an appointment. I did my best to speak in French, as I hoped to leave a good impression in order to a get a perfect bike match 😅.
At the end it was easy-peasy and didn’t even take 10 minutes. Here I stood with my touring bike, but without any other equipment (no helmet, no repair kit either). I thought to myself: hmmm… maybe not the best way to start something you didn’t do before without being prepared for the worst. But at the end I was like – no risk no fun, right? And if I stay here longer thinking about all the things that could happen, I wouldn’t move forward at all.
So I went on.
The route itself was not so sophisticated. Starting point: Biarritz, France – destination: San Sebastián, Spain. 47,4 km in total should be made in 2,52 h according to Google Maps. So I planned with a day trip duration. Having the Google Maps audio guiding voice in my ears, some snacks and a bottle of water in my bag – I thought I would be sufficiently equipped for this kind of micro-adventure.
But I was wrong. Though, the first half of the route went actually very well. I passed several towns, had a gorgeous route along the coast accompanied with sunshine, ending up this happy segment with a real highlight – by arriving in Saint Jean de Luz, a natural harbor bay in the middle between Biarritz and San Sebastián. Here I made my first stop and enjoyed the view at the beach with all the blue water, yellow sand and colorful sunshades.
Distance in km
47
Money spent
100
Countries
2
After this segment the real adventure began. The type of route has changed and I was mostly on a three track federal road without a helmet. Ok now there was no way back so I just had to push myself. But. Little did I know that this type of road would be topped some 20 minutes later, by changing into a highway 💩.
If you already have been in a situation like this, there are actually only 3 options. Turn back, if the distance is short enough, climb over the fence or just move forward and hope for a soon exit. I went for the third option. And lucky for me the exit came sooner than expected. I than stopped in a McDonald’s at a highway service area where I charged my phone and refreshed myself after this emotional highway (in the truest sense of the word).
There I made the decision to book a room in San Sebastián as I definitely wouldn’t make it back until sunset. And in this case I even would get the chance to explore San Sebastián by night. Best decision ever, because after I left the service station I drove around in circles quite a while as there was no other way without getting back on the highway again. About 1 hour later, I finally found a highway-free track to San Sebastián. What a relief 🥳
Then everything went smoothly again. I was over-happy arriving in San Sebastián. My guest room was in a pension straight in the downtown, where I even got some towels and could lock my bike in the room. Of course I didn’t have extra clothes with me, nor toothbrush either or anything like that. I didn’t plan to go for 2 days. But this was no problem with me, staying flexible is the key. I just went shopping. Luckily, I didn’t arrive that late, so the shops still were open.
