1st Night off the Ferry

Peak

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I could do with a nice place to stay for the 1st night of our trip. We get into Bilbao at 12:45 and the plan is to head south through the Pyrenees. Normally I'd just wing it and either wild camp or stop when I find somewhere nice, however my partner is traveling on a Schengen visa and part of the visa requirement is we have accommodation booked. Can anyone think of a nice place to stop (preferably campsite) for the first night? I'd like to get around 4 hours in before calling it a day. Cheers :beerjug:
 
Not a campsite, but there’s a good and inexpensive inn in Larrau called Arozapidia and it’s reachable in 4 hours - if you go direct to St Jean de Luz and then strike inland.

R
 
Not a campsite, but there’s a good and inexpensive inn in Larrau called Arozapidia and it’s reachable in 4 hours - if you go direct to St Jean de Luz and then strike inland.

R

Sorry, forgot to add, it needs to be on the Spanish side of the boarder. But thanks anyway
 
our ferry didn't get in till around tea time ,so we stayed in Pamplona…it was just over an hours ride from The ferry port. We wanted to see the city and its history so id say this will be a good first stop over. you could head there the longer way round ,but it was ideal for planning our route down to Andorra and over the top
 
A couple of friends and I stayed here http://www.jesuskoa.net/ last year. It's not far from Bilbao but if you take the winding coast road via Bermeo and Lekeitio, it makes for a very pleasant ride on nice roads.

The hotel itself was ideal for bikers and the hosts were great. We went the next day to Larrau, dumped our stuff (Hotel Etchemaite - pretty good) and then spent the afternoon exploring the roads around there.
 
There's a municipal campsite at Sanguesa that we used a couple of years ago. From memory you can book online. Not the biggest site but well kept and reasonably priced. It's got a bar and restaurant on site. The food was superb and ridiculously cheap. So cheap we all agreed to tip far more than normal rates. There's also a decent cafe in the town for breakfast.
 
No problem if you don't mind cracking on:

!) aim for the camping at Ochagavia - it's high up in the Navarre Pyrenees but without too much twisties to get there. Once you've had a good night's rest you are right in the middle of some of the best rides of the Pyrenees - I use it as a base for several day's riding . . .

They also have cheap hostel type accommodation if you arrive in the pouring rain - and the food is great too!

2) if you're late, delayed/dismayed by weather, etc, you can cut your trip shorter by stopping at Lumbier. Quite a nice camp site but just outside the Pyrenees so the weather is more reliable and it's just off the end of the Autovia - but well away from it.

3) otherwise, just run up the coast a bit to Mundaka: like most campings along that coast it is expensive, but it has 3* facilities.

I read your stuff about the need for registration -

my partner is traveling on a Schengen visa and part of the visa requirement is we have accommodation booked.

In Spain all campings have to record people's details, passports, etc. so no problem there. But of you have to book then go for Ochagavia and if there is a problem just don't turn up. Ochagavia is a municipal camping so will take bookings, especially for the hostel.

I imagine that once you are in Spain you are footloose and fancy free - Spain being in the Schengen zone . . .

Regs

Simon
 
Thanks for the info Simon, plenty to go at there.

I think we've got what we need for the start of the trip. Roll on May :beerjug:
 
We stayed at a lovely cheap(ish) hotel in Jaca a couple of years back. I ll dig it out and revert.

Best iberico ham ever... And the last 100km of the road there was epic too...
 


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