Scotland in the Snow
It was with a mixture of sadness and excitement that I packed my Hustler into it’s travelling bag this month and boarded a plane for Scotland. Obviously I’m excited to see my friends and family, many of whom I haven’t seen for a year, however, the Basque Country has come to be a place I don’t care much to leave.
As I boarded the plane in Biarritz, (comfortably warm in only a t-shirt), the sun was setting and throwing up a beautiful backdrop to Larrun, Mantale, Aikao Harriak and even Ernio in the distance. I subconsciously stopped at the top of the boarding ladders and set off a chain reaction of people bumping into the person in front of them!
This weekend I was lucky enough to be invited, by my friend Carlos, to a gathering of a group of Spanish bikers called La Vieja Tronca; “The Old Trunk”. The first stop was a canteen in a gym, on the outskirts of Pamplona, for a screening of their anual mountain bike film along with drinks and food. Eating and drinking local delights we were treated to a fantastically well produced video from Peio, a local photographer who’s work I think is incredible. After the second screening we headed back to Antonio’s place for a comfy bed and an early night because the next morning we needed to have an early start and be fresh for the drove to Riglos, east of Pamplona which would take us through some spectacular countryside. Coming from the UK, where each part shares a roughly similar climate, it is still hard for me to believe that we can drive from the green Basque country to the desert in less than an hour but the mediteranian vegitation and dusty, rocky soil kept reminding me of that fact.
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The Basque Country has been buffetted by storms this week that have dusted the Pyrenees with snow and swamped San Sebastian’s front streets with waves. It’s fantastic! This is expected in winter and is the reason we close mid-October until March. I normally love cycling our cliff-top singletrack when a big storm hits; blasting along with the crashing of the waves and the taste of salt in the air is really life affirming for me. Sadly I have a cold so had to make do with seeing the waves in San Sebastian followed by some pintxos!
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