Day 14 - Sheep in the Tunnel

Today we had a magical 30 km cycle ride to Leitza and back.

We woke to rain again, but it soon passed and we set off after breakfast in warm sunshine along the Via Verde north toward Leitza. After 400 metres we stopped for coffee and sponge. Reinvigorated, we continued on our northward journey.

As this is an old railway line, and as this is mountainous territory, there are many curves and not a few tunnels; some of these tunnels are short, some are longer and have a light switch at each end so that you can illuminate your journey (no kidding). The big daddy tunnel, however, is nearly three kilometres long, and has a series of movement sensors on the ceiling that activate 100 metre sections of lighting, so that as you cycle forward into the pitch black, your way is lit; it reminded me of computer games where each level is loaded into memory as you go forward. It took no little faith to keep cycling into that darkness, I can tell you.

The countryside was stunning and I wish I could post more than one picture, but I eventually decided on one of the market place at Leitza, a town very proud of its Basque heritage (see blip of Mrs BrB admiring the grafitti; it was siesta time, so the place was deserted). As we have now adapted to the Spanish custom, we had lunch here - three delicious courses including cold meats, cheese, trout, gammon, ice cream, and a bottle of wine for 20 euros including tax and tip!

Reinvigorated (again) we set off back along the track, and were detained only briefly by sheep in a tunnel.

Posted at Camping Aralar, Lekunberri