we get up fashionably late and have breakfast from the buffet, with local cheese and of course smoked ham. after some advice from Fernando, we decide to take the bikes to the Embalso Ullibarri-Gamboa, which is a reservoir lake near Vitoria-Gasteiz. there’s supposed to be a bicycle path all around the lake of about 45 km.
We park at Landa (again difficult to find if you have only the car GPS for information) and start off counter clockwise. Until right after the dam itself we have a good path near to the shore, with nice views of the lake and the surrounding hills. There’s lots of birds, going nuts and making a lot of noise, not too many people so it’s quite a nice ride.
After the dam the gravel path turns into a rocky muddy trail only suitable for tractors and hard core mountain bikes. We plow through until Langara Ganboa in a bad mood, where we have our prepped sandwiches and then decide to take a shortcut on the tarmac road directly to the bridge, after the advice of a cigar smoking local, who assures us that the path after the bridge is again gravel. While cycling to the bridge, Arne spots a deer in the distance. Far enough that it’s not bothered by us, but close enough to observe.
The mood improved and our confidence restored, we cycle on. The path after the bridge is indeed suitable for normal bikes and we finish the tour in good spirits. The day is sunny, but not too warm, we see a lot of water birds and the path is very quiet. We only meet a couple of walkers, until we get back to Landa. Back at the B&B we take a hot shower and go down to the lake to have dinner in a local bar.
Febe writes 