Hopped over the border again...

Back in October I bought a little book named "Le Pays Basque dans la poche: Voies Vertes" which included 40 hiking and biking paths within the Pays Basque worth checking out. Thomas and I have slowly been going through the book and picking different hikes and rides to do on our days off. Most of the Pays Basque is located in Spain which means that any trail we decide to try usually results in a day trip into Spain.

Last weekend we finally got to go see the Bardenas Reales. We left a little after 8 in the morning and arrived around 11 in Arguedas, a small town just outside the park, to rent bikes in order to explore the park. While we could have driven through the park like most of other tourists do, we decided we wanted to bike as our guide book suggested. We rented bikes for 20 euros each for the day from Ciclos Marton bike shop which is owned by a friendly local who gave us maps and advice about mountain biking through some of the hills on hidden paths.

Below is a map of the park. In the center of the park is a military base.

We biked a total of 32 miles (50km) around the park and through the mountains. It was an absolutely amazing experience. The first rock we saw is the most famous and is where the three roads meet in the upper left side of the map. We traveled clockwise through the park and took the road heading up the the right side corner of the map in order to ride the hidden paths that were suggested to us. The mountains are covered in trails for walkers and bikers and span the entire top right side of the loop!

It was incredible to see such a beautiful and different landscape only 3 hours from where we live and we hope to be able to visit another part of the park before we leave Bayonne in May! Stay tuned!!