Trail running & hiking in Biscay 2

Continuing hikes/running in my hometown...

One of the main and easy spots for hiking "around" Bilbao is Gorbea. Buses going back and forth from the city to different areas below the mountain. In my case I decided to start in Murgia, just to revisit the places where we used to go camping when we were teens.

Murgia-Gorbea-Itxina-Ceanuri

Really good memories of those camps, river, little pools and waterfalls.

The ascent is quite steady although not the most beautiful. Grassland with cows and horses grazing.

Almost no trees in this side. Up to the cross on the very top of the mountain. Completely inside the fog this time, therefore with no views...

The descent is bit more technical, rocky, but way more beautiful too.

Light forest.

And more grassland with sheep and horses (local breed: big bellied, short legged and with funny fringes).

The main path goes downwards but instead turned westwards to Itxina.

A really nice and dense forest area that I remembered from those camping and hiking days when we were fifteen years old. Through rocks.

To bit muddy path, where you need to carefully follow the paint marks on the rocks. Or just get bit lost and every now and then check the GPS.

Still foggy and with special rock formations. A "door" which the path crosses.

And back

to the main path down to the village of Ceanuri where to take bus back home.

The very next day I met Niko, one of my best friends since university time, and we hiked Anboto. Quite close to Gorbea too.

Anboto bigger map

Drive till the starting point and the peak waiting for us up there.

There are different routes but we decided to ascend the steepest, just following the path marked in my phone GPS.

Walking poles and up we go.

The views behind.

And down again, this time through the Southern mountainside.

We both thought that this way, which supposedly was easier, was more technical in some areas instead. Only difference is that there are some flat areas too.

Anboto is the place where according to Basque folklore Mari, goddess/witch, used to live. Her home was a cave there, which might be this one (?) with views to the lands below.

It was getting late, we rushed down...

But we arrived after sunset, which is pretty late in summer, bit dark.

There are a lot of magnificent hikes around. In my previous visit Niko also took me to somewhere close.

Alluitz bigger map

Just start under Atxarte mountain, up through light forest.

Soon tree line passed.

Up we went.

The views (in this case the way behind) are really impressive.

You walk here through the "Devil's way" or "Hell Crossing", in Spanish el Paso del Infierno (video the hard way, we did it bit easier).

Walking on the "crest" of the mountains up and down. For sure not for those with bit of vertigo, but pretty safe hiking carefully. Up again with paint marks on the rocks to guide you.

We could see how the fog was building up down there.

And although our initial plan was to continue hiking and connect all this Alluitz area with Anboto (up there behind in the pic),

we decided to be cautious and went down back to the car in the fog surrounded by horses.

Nice route in any case.