Grant Cameron-Smith
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.