Getaria to Markina-Xemein (By Bike)

This stage links the seafaring town of Getaria with Markina-Xemein, already in the interior of Bizkaia, over some 42 kilometres and a cumulative ascent of around 800 metres. It is the hardest day of the Basque section for the cyclist: although there are no major passes, the succession of short, steep ramps between one river valley and the next punishes the legs more than a single long, steady climb.

The first kilometres skirt the sea as far as Zumaia, where the rivers Urola and Narrondo reach the coast. It is worth a short detour to the Algorri viewpoint to look out over the flysch, that sequence of vertical strata recording millions of years of geological history, which has served as a location for more than one film production. The route continues along the N-634 towards Deba, alternating stretches beside the coast with brief inland sections.

From Deba begins the most broken sector. The road climbs towards Mutriku, a village of steep streets hanging above the Cantabrian sea, and then strings together a series of ramps before dropping to Ondarroa, whose harbour is wedged into the mouth of the Artibai. The walking itinerary, which here heads inland over the Arno pass and the farmstead of Olatz on the most solitary stretch of the whole Camino del Norte, is impassable on a loaded bicycle.

Beyond Ondarroa the route leaves the coast for good and works up the Artibai valley through Berriatua, among farmsteads, meadows and oak woods. Markina-Xemein is reached along the river flats, with the Uriarte fronton, one of the temples of cesta punta, as a landmark in the centre of town. Close by stands the chapel of San Miguel de Arretxinaga, remarkable for housing three enormous blocks of rock leaning against one another, which popular tradition wraps in legend. Markina-Xemein offers the cyclist every service and a first taste of the rural Bizkaia that will accompany him as far as Bilbao.