The Zubieta vega (plain)

An excursion into the Oria Valley

Details

Location:

Donostialdea. Donostia-San Sebastián, Usurbil, Zubieta and Lasarte-Oria

Route type:

Routes by bike

Feasible 19-kilometre route between Donostia-San Sebastián and Lasarte-Oria. The entire itinerary will be on asphalt, except for Donostia’s urban area where we will use the cycle lane.

We begin at the cycle lane access between the Town Hall and the Yacht Club. We go through La Concha Promenade towards Ondarreta, up to the Wind Comb (1), a work by Eduardo Chillida. We go back and turn right through the Infanta María Cristina Street, crossing the properties. Then we reach the University Campus. In the Ibaeta roundabout, we go towards the Igara Industrial Estate. In the first junction, we turn left in the bend itself, lining up with the old Igara path. Once we get to the municipal car fleet, we turn left towards the Errotaberri area. We follow the main road and cross a small bridge, after which we will face a steep slope a thousand metres long, approximately. Just before starting the ascent of this slope, we can stop to observe, to our right, the pond inhabited by the stripeless tree frog (2), a local protected species that is now being recovered.
At the height, we pass below the motorway and go ahead. Then, after a hundred metres, we begin the long ascent towards Usurbil. We pass by the Hermitage of Our Lady of El Socorro (3), from which we go down to the town?s centre. We go towards the N-634 road and, after crossing the flyover, we turn towards the industrial estate. From here, we go to Usurbil?s halt and cross the flyover. We get to a bridge through a road surrounded by pavilions and we cross it towards Santuenea, from which we will get to Zubieta, one of Donostia?s quarters. Here we can visit the fronton of ‘rebote’ (4), court with two opposite walls to play this kind of Basque pelota. Very near, we will find the Aizpurua Farmhouse (5), where San Sebastián Council met, after the 1813 fire, and decided to reconstruct the city.
We go out of Zubieta, leaving the San Sebastián Racecourse to our right, and we get to Lasarte-Oria’s centre crossing a bridge. About 500 metres far, there is the Euskotren station, from which we can take the train to come back to Donostia-San Sebastián or come back retracing our steps.

Observations:

Difficulty level: 2. It has a one-kilometre steep slope. Those who are not experienced may an get off the bike.