Bilbao to Podena - City to Surf

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Always wanted to do the City to Surf. Well I made it back to the beach at Podena today around 6pm after leaving Bilbao just before 9am. It was a long day - varied, beautiful in parts, ugly and bleak in others, lots of pavement, and an extended drift through the urban landscape north west of Bilbao through satellite suburbs which morphed into beachy retirement villages and surf spots,
I walked solo the whole day which I enjoyed -  until I met ‘Joe from NYC’ (where else😂) - then we sort of shuffled in together. 
I’m pleased I did it because most others caught the train to Portugalete (the pikers!). 
I saw lots of city life as people went to work 

Well not really- - people only started showing up around 10am, and I was so busy watching for arrows and my phone and pedestrian crossings - and traffic - that I forgot to take pictures 🙄 
Then the path veared to the left which I always like and then climbed and climbed which I don’t like 

And I saw where I’d been 

Then pavement again and riverside towns

Industrial wasteland 

And fascinating engineering wirh the suspended carriage river crossing at Portugalete which is much better than a bridge because it can just stop when big ships come through 

I had a joy ride across and back. Then it was uphill and pavement walking for another 3 hours or so 


As I drew closer to the coast again I felt supported by friendly house signs - I was getting tired 😪 

Then after sampling some passion fruit, I made it to the beach 


And headed to the albergue and the local bar where there were some familiar faces- and a pintxos dinner 

A big day! I’ll sleep well tonight 💤 









Comments

  1. Anonymous19 October 2023 at 23:27

    What you can do this in a suspended carriage?? That's ridiculous Man!!
    Pikers, yes! But not you. There's something significant about being with all of it - the good, the bad and the ugly! BC Neils

    ReplyDelete

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