Part 4. Irun to Porto, Portugal

Leaving Irun near the Spanish border, I travel west across the top coast of Spain. The countryside is anything but flat, but I am trying to balance, places I want to see with distance.

The towns and cities I expect to travel through include:

• San Sebastian, Spain

• Zaurautz, Spain

• Laredo, Spain

• Santander, Spain

• Vilalba, Spain

• Lugo, Spain

• Sobrado, Spain

• Santiago de Compostela, Spain

• Pontevedra, Spain

• Redondela, Spain

• Vigo, Spain

• Caminha, Portugal

The contour map here gives a bit of an indication of the climbing in this section - a total of about 14,640m of vertical climbing over 1,061km. This segment of the trip will really test my legs and mental strength, lugging a heavy bike with all my provisions.

To quote another cyclist who has traveled part of this segment before: "This is a very mountainous route with lots of ups and downs - but mainly ups!"

The road surfaces I will encounter are indicated below. I have one small 4km ferry crossing during this segment.

All in all, mountainous and hopefully the views and scenery will be worth the climbing.

After completing this segment I hope to meet my family for a rest in Porto for a week to 10 days, before heading from Portugal towards Spain over some very mountainous terrain.

Porto is a wonderful city, and the blog will keep going during my down-time.