Hiking in Gorbeia 16.-18.5.08

Gorbeia, the highest peak of The Basque Country, is a 1482 meters high round shaped mountain which have certain importance to the Basque people and there are lots of stories and legends abount the mountain. At the moment there is a natural park that is visited by large numbers of local mountaineers every weekend. It combines lush forests up to the contour of 900 meters and relaxing, open pasteurs of the highlands. And what about our hike with Tuomas... well, it ended up to be a quite adventurous.

We started the trip taking a bus from Bilbao to the countryside. After one bus change and one hour of travelling we were in our starting point, in the village of Zeanuri, 175 meters above the sea level. It was already 16:30 so we had to hurry up to climb to 900 meters where we though it would be possible to sleep in some shelters.

[below 2] At first, the climb passed through pasteurs and farmhouses but few hundered meters higher started lush quiet forests and it seemed that we were the only persons to be there. Finally, after 4,5 hours of climbing we reached Pagomakurre which is a kind of starting point of the hiking routes in 900 meters where all week-end warriors come by car and hike rest of the trail.


It was getting dark but there wasn't any shelters or open cottages as we have espected...! We were already prepared to spend the night under the stars, as we didn't have even a tent, but then we were hit by an unbeliveable luck. We started to chat with a Basque hiker and we ended up to a situation that we were eating dinner, drinking and playing card with five super-friendly men in their cottage in Arraba in 1100 meters.

[below 2] The cottage and our great hosts (from left): Oscar, Eduardo, Pedro, Iniaki and Jose Luis. Eskerrik asko, Muchas Gracias!



Next morning we headed to the highest peak, to Gorbeia, which was still 400 meters above us. Our hosts were coming also up there so we continued together. In the beginning the weather was very good but step by step it got more cloudy. Finally in the top of the mountain the visiblity was poor... It was a pity because in good circumstances it would have been possible to see almost all the Basque Country.

[below 5] The green open pasteurs of the highlands were pastured by a big number of horses, cows and goats. The views were absolutely relaxing...






[below] On the top of Gorbeia it was the time to shoot a group foto with all possible flags... They never leave their country or football team!


After descending from Gorbeia and climbing to an another peak (Aldamin 1375m) we were finally back in the cottage. After the lunch it was time to say goodbay to our friendy hosts and make our own way with Tuomas. We have decided to go through the area of Itxina which is like a seperate highland area surrounded by relatively sharp peaks. Our hosts have warned us many times that it's easy to get lost in Itxina because everything looks the same and most of the time you can't see far. It was also gettin cloudy and rainy so it was obligatory to follow the marks painted to the rocks. Anyhow, we wanted to go there because it's said to be a very beatiful place and there is a cave that we wanted to see.

[below 2] In Itxina. After finding finally the marked path and when clouds rised little bit, it was easy to stay on the path.



[below 3] As we reached the cave Supelegor and it started to rain quite heavily. Fortunately in cave the rain doesn't bother much. As we didn't have to hurry up we prepared a meal and we did some cave exploring too.




[below] This is Atxulaur Atea, the way out of the highlands of Itxina. Down there it was completely cloudy... As our map was too inaccurate and we assumed distances badly so it was finally time to get absolutely lost. We just knew roughly that our goal Pagomakurre, in 900 meters, was somewhere down there. It started to rain even more and therefore the visiblity was very poor. During 2,5 hours we didn't know exactly where we were... but finally after all wandering we luckily found Pagomakurre.


Litle bit lower than Pagomakurre, there should exist a free shelter, so we went to looking for that. It should have been easy but anyhow we never found it. After walking a lot of extra distance we decided to climb back to Pagomakurre and sleep somewhere. It was getting dark and raining a bit.

[below] Beautiful views from 700 meters while searching for the shelter.


[below 4] In Pagomakurre we were hit by an idea: what about the small chapel that is next to the parking area? We went to inspect that and it seemed that it was used very rarely. The portal was locked but, yes, the another window was just a open hole without bars! As it was already dark and raining we climbed into the chapel, and we found it a perfect place to sleep. Next morning we woke up early to get out of the chapel before all the Sunday-hikers come to the parking area.





[below 2] The way down was straightforward and most of the time we walked on a small gravel road. Therefore, we decided to do some shortcutting adventures when we were quite down there... Not a good idea. We ended up grawling down a steep hill in wet brambles (bushes with spikes) and had to cross many barbed-wire fences. After a lot of "Ramboing" we found the road again.



[below] Finally we got all the way down to the village of Areatza in 145 meters. It was time to sit down, have something to eat and enjoy the relaxed life of the Basque village.