An awesome, emotional run....

[Curlygurly2]

This is my favourite run in the whole world, Getara to Zarautz in Northern Spain. I used to come here twice a year to and from my place in France. We had a trip all booked up when Covid struck back in 2020. Obviously we had to cancel...

The ferries didn't start running again, nor did the hotel re open for ages..and in fact we didn't really feel travelling was safe, so I doubted I would ever see this place again. It has a special place in my heart, it was here that I did the first few wobbly runs of C25K back in 2014, giving myself shin splints, but that's another story!!

We decided the time was right to get the ferry over....36 hours and 2 nights on board, thankfully the Bay of Biscay was calm, I am not a good sailor and have been known to spew all the way.. somehow, it's all worth it when we get here.

I'd planned this run for months, and originally it was going to be a ten miler, but I quickly realised that was not going to happen, these days I can't run on empty and eating beforehand was not really practical for a number of reasons. Then I found part of the route was blocked off for some reason...the weather was awful, and I hadn't packed for it...

Last time here, in 2019, I finally achieved my long standing goal of running both directions, it's a challenging, undulating run with a fair bit of elevation. I really didn't think that was feasible in the circumstances this time, so in the end I got my husband to drop me up to Getara, and I ran back down.

It was really chilly, and the rain was absolutely pouring, and I had no jacket. The parapet is about knee high in some stretches, and I'd had to take my specs off, so I was bit nervous of falling over! I could barely see where I was going with the rain in my eyes, and my balance is rubbish due to inner ear problems..still, I thoroughly enjoyed this, and was surprised how easy I found the hills seeing as I have been running in ultra flat Cambridge for 4 years.

It was slightly short of 5K, and I was sad when it was over. Lots of memories flitted through my head of all the times I've run here before, the whole lockdown scenario, and my place in France (which we've had to sell due to Brexit) I hope I get the chance to run here again....

I buzzed all day....still buzzing actually!!

[Frenc Graduate]

How lovely to get back to a place that’s an old friend and to have a run that you’re still buzzing from. I’m not a good sailor either, so I’m really happy that the voyage didn’t make you poorly! Enjoy the rest of your trip. 😊😊😊

[Curlygurly2 Graduate in reply to Frenc]

Thank you. It was a flying visit, almost more time spent on the boat than in the resort. I'm home again now...

[SueAppleRun Graduate]

Oh to run again a place you love. Running does give us time to remember and process and the last few years have been scary for so many. That run sounds a challenge with the rain and cold but just what you needed

[Curlygurly2 Graduate in reply to SueAppleRun]

Yes, it's only really now that I feel Covid is over...hope I'm not speaking too soon.

[PeggySusi Graduate]

A run report with the worst challenges of the past few years, with challenging terrain and weather, but you managed to have fun in spite of that! Glad you got that buzz 😊

[Curlygurly2 Graduate in reply to PeggySusi]

Thank you! I was looking forwards to it so much I was determined to enjoy it!

[PeggySusi Graduate in reply to Curlygurly2]

It’s a good policy to follow in life isn’t it, whenever you can, whatever the circumstances, choose to be happy!

[Runnin-g Graduate]

Well done, glad you didn’t fall! 👏🏽

[Curlygurly2 Graduate in reply to Runnin-g]

Thank you! Me too, it's a bit bonkers that section with parapet, two sections in fact, the rest has that nice fence you can see in the pic.

[backintime Graduate]

sounds like a great run - well apart from worrying about falling over the parapet

I live in France, but I'm lucky to have an Irish dad so I claimed Irish nationality way before Brexit as it was cheaper than my British passport and I didn't have much money. It made my life so much easier now Brexit is here - it's worth considering if you have any Irish relatives you can claim nationality from.

[Curlygurly2 Graduate in reply to backintime]

We looked at various ways to make the best of Brexit, but we don't have any Irish family, and didn't want to do the whole residency/citizenship stuff. Brexit is a pain, it took no time at all to get into Spain, but ages to clear passport control at Portsmouth. They were checking every vehicle very carefully, looking for people smuggling perhaps, though how anyone would last a long journey in a rooftop box is beyond me! They made one chap open his, took ages to untie and resecure it.,

[backintime Graduate in reply to Curlygurly2]

Yeah, I go to the UK once a year in the car, but we have two big dogs in the car, they've never asked us to get them out yet

[Curlygurly2 Graduate in reply to backintime]

Ha ha! I think they were just doing what they're told, I expect it'll settle down at some point. Did you see the big queues at Dover at Easter? Horrendous.

[backintime Graduate in reply to Curlygurly2]

No, but I was in those horrible queues last July - the red cross was handing out water to the cars. Normally takes us an hour from my parents to Dover, it took us 5 instead. Luckily Eurostar were very understanding and were just putting people on trains as they got there and not insisting on the right times, even when we got there, just checking the dogs in took us 30 mins - they were suffering in the heat poor things. We bought cooling blankets and cooling scarves and were pouring water over them - horrible journey. Hopefully this year will be better, but it'll be August so I'm not holding my breath