Day 3:
San Sebastian
to Oviedo
Today Mum and I woke up in San Sebastian. Gone was yesterday’s unrelenting sunshine. The sky was now a pale steely grey and the streets looked damp. I had heard rain hammering on the window in the small hours so the storm that was forecast must have passed by overnight. I pulled on my rain jacket and met Mum in the lobby.
There are several beaches in San Sebastian, all pointing in different directions, as San Sebastian occupies a couple of peninsula headlands. We walked to the western beach, which turned out to be an absolutely perfect arc of dark yellow sand, enclosed by symmetrical headlands. It was Monday morning, so commuters were bustling to work along the wide pavements, but dog walkers and a detectorist were out on the wet sand. Behind the beach we hit a grid of neatly organised, wide leafy avenues of towering cream and pale yellow apartment blocks, all Belle Epoque curves: pretty scalloped roofs, sculpted dots and rounded roof corners, lit up in spots of watery sunshine.
They expect the race to be won inside the next 24 hours
San Sebastian/Donestia
After a gentle stroll around the old town we settled down in a nice pastry shop. I started with a check of the WhatsApp group to see what was happening. Apparently the “Island Hoppers” had a meetup on a ferry overnight! Others have been affected by the weather. The rain seems to have been particularly heavy overnight in Biarritz, just across the border in France. I think of the two ladies we met at Bayonne station yesterday; they were headed to Biarritz. I hope they have not been delayed. The storm had then moved across the mountains towards Andorra – where many of the “Mountain Goat” Racers are going (there has been much WhatsApp discussion overnight about Andorra passport stamps). After that, intense rain had damaged a key rail line in France in the early hours. Cancellations and delays were now hitting French trains, and the Mountain Goat route.
However, at least one countrycounter is planning to swing through Serbia this morning. On the way to Marrakech. These country-counters are nuts, although I bet it’s a lot of fun. I was starting to enjoy the chat now – I’ve been following along enough to start getting the in-jokes. Someone posted a Deutsche Bahn joke. It turns out I am not the only one who watches JetLag: The Game! We exchanged Deutsche Bahn puns.
Finally, there’s an official announcement from James, the Race Director, letting us know that the Lupine Travel team are travelling today, so that they can greet the winners at the finish line in Marrakech. They expect the race to be won inside the next 24 hours. The idea that some have almost finished seems very unreal from our sleepy cafe in northern Spain. Mum and I had decided not to compete for most countries, nor for fastest finish time.
View from the bus window
At 10am I refresh our coffees. “Look Mum, it’s started raining.” Outside the café window a light drizzle had appeared and passers-by were putting up umbrellas and hoods.
Meanwhile Mum is getting jittery. She hates to be late and all this talk of people finishing soon, and delayed travel plans, has alarmed her somewhat. “We said we’d cross over to Tangiers on Friday,” she says, picking up our scribbled paper itinerary. “But what if we also get cancellations? Why don’t we aim to cross into Morocco on Thursday? That gives us a bit of safety margin.”
“OK”, I agree. We can certainly enjoy ourselves in Morocco if we arrive early.
Checkpoint 2 to Checkpoint 3
I am not worried about missing the deadline. But meanwhile we have a bus to catch: an Alsa bus to Bilbao. The rain soon petered out, leaving us with great views from the bus windows despite the clouds. I had no idea northern Spain was so green. The coastline was plump with lush meadows and forests. Steep hillsides careered right down to the seashore.
Just as we arrived at Bilbao, the Daily Challenge from Lupine Travel arrives: be the first team to return a selfie photo featuring an analogue clock. Finally! This is the first time we have had an opportunity to try and win the Daily Challenge! We were inside an enormous bus station, filled with giant clocks. But they were all digital, not analogue. We spent the next few minutes running around the streets like madwomen. Finally we spied a clock on the front of a public building in the distance and managed to get a selfie with it. Despite that, we did not win the challenge – an American team had been standing right below an analogue clock on a train platform somewhere! We were never going to beat that, so we weren’t too disappointed.
Bilbao was a much bigger city than I had expected. It felt bustling and modern after yesterday’s village setting. The crisp modern football stadium was a hive of activity, workers putting up crowd control barriers for a major international match scheduled tomorrow. We had the menu del dia at a lovely bar for EUR 15. It was fabulous. Wonderfully juicy tuna steaks and salads of succulent green vegetables and olive oil. Absolutely superb. We are certainly doing a good job on the foodie front.
Our next bus was fitted with all leather seats, deep reclines, seat back TVs pre-loaded with movies, and with only three seats abreast, instead of four. Apparently, we have booked a “Business class” bus. No wonder it was a little more expensive! Totally worth it. We spent the afternoon comfortably enjoying more views of hilly, wet, green northern Spain, wrapped in low grey cloud. I looked out for the Picos de Europa mountains on the left, but they were not visible in the gloom. Mum and I settled into our comfortable seats 1000km away from the fastest finishers now closing in on Marrakech, watching the curled bay of Santander slide past the window, and booked an incredibly cheap ibis in Oviedo.
I didn’t know what to expect from Oviedo. Apart from its cider and cheeses, I knew very little about Oviedo specifically. Well, part of the reason to join the Race was to find off-the-beaten-track new places. I spent some of the bus trip reading about Oviedo city.
We arrived at Oviedo’s quite big bus station in later afternoon. Mum headed off to find the hotel for a rest, while I took my backpack and walked into town to see the city before it got dark. The grey clouds we had seen all day were just starting to clear somewhat and a watery sunshine appeared.
I made for the city park first. It was lovely, deeply shaded with mature trees and the odd Roman ruin. But I really wanted to see Oviedo’s famed medieval centre. I followed a tangle of paved streets, looking up details and histories as I went. The cathedral is home to the oldest bell in Europe! The cathedral building itself anchors a smashing traffic-free square of elegant townhouses, medieval colleges and 15th century university, all in well-worn, amber-coloured stone. A curled sweep of tall shop fronts led me away from the cathedral through increasingly narrow lanes, generously provisioned with cider tasting cellars and blackened woodwork, though a series of stone-lined plazas from the 1700s which are now home to the court. The streets were increasingly colourful - tall skinny townhouses and shop fronts, painted in pale blue, sunflower yellow, olive green and dark red. Judging from the number of pavements tucked under columnades and overhanging eaves, it must rain here a lot – although the sun had joined us, the streets were still damp and black clouds were visible over the rooftops.
I didn’t see many other people who were obviously tourists, nor any tourist-oriented shops. Although this is beautiful, it feels off the well-trodden tourist route. A real treat.
Finally, I emerged in front of the most stunning plaza yet. Deeply-worn pedestrian pavements sheltered below overhanging eaves. My favourite building - in Plaza del Fontán – is painted in buttercup yellow and brilliant cobalt blue.
By now the sun was setting. It was Monday, but it was busy in Oviedo’s restaurant quarter and we had to ask at several restaurants before we found one with a spare table. We sat under a spray of lamps and fairy lights in the slightly cool evening air. Asturias does not produce wine, but it is famous for mountain cuisine: cheeses and hearty dishes of meat and vegetables – a contrast to Bilbao’s seafood. I chose wild boar rice and Mum roasted artichokes, and it was just as superb as the lunch in Bilbao.
We’d had an excellent day, and we were both a lot more positive than we had been yesterday evening. And although we had spent nearly 6 hours on buses today, we had both enjoyed ourselves. The views along the coast were spectacular, there was a good break for lunch, the bus had been comfortable, and we had stopped in several cities without Mum having to walk too far. I could start to see how we could put together the remaining trip in a way that we both found fun and enjoyable - the secret is to make stopovers, and not to be afraid of longer sectors, I think. We might have to revisit Unwritten Guideline 3? Buses seem more comfortable than we had expected.
We had tickets for Santiago de Compostela (Checkpoint 3) tomorrow (Tuesday). But how to reach Valencia (Checkpoint 4)? A fast train connection from Santiago to Valencia will do it - but arriving at nearly 10pm. I am more okay with this than Mum is.
In order to make that connection, we should aim to be in Santiago as early as possible tomorrow. We reluctantly booked a very (very) early bus connection to Santiago, committing ourselves to a 5:00am alarm. Mum is more okay with this than I am.
However, a very important problem occurs to me.
“Wait – if we are boarding the bus before 6am tomorrow – what will we have for breakfast? Hotel breakfast doesn’t start ‘til 6am…” - I check my phone – “… and it looks like none of the local cafes open before 6am.”
We asked the restaurant if they could pack up their cheeseboard, to take away? Yes, they could! We carried it off as a packed breakfast to eat on the bus tomorrow. This feels like a good decision. Asturias is famous for its regional cheeses, and this way we get to sample them.
One last check of the WhatsApp group before bed. Mum and I have had light rain in northern Spain for most of the day today. But it looks like there are still major travel problems in France and Andorra. At least one country-counter is in Zagreb. At this stage I’m really wondering whether it’s even possible to visit Zagreb and Sweden and still make the end cutoff in Marrakech without a flight. It sounds like a bit of an adventure to find out. The WhatsApp community is super helpful and supportive to each other - those in front posting advice and suggestions, and everyone pitching in to crowd answer questions. There are also now plenty of running jokes.
I posted a few comments in the group about our plans for tomorrow – we’ll be in Santiago - and went to sleep.
Our (eventual) route through Spain