with our friends Atsuto and Rieko, we took the train to Deba, a small town about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of San Sebastian. We then hiked about 14 kilometers (8.5 miles) east to Zumaia, another small town. This route allowed us to experience the Flysch.
What is Flysch? Flysch formations are sedimentary structures in which there are alternate hard
layers of limestone and sandstone and soft layers of clay and rocks. The protected coastline between Deba and Zumaia is one of the few places in the world where the strata show over 60 million years of geological history written in the successive rocky strata, which due to marine erosion, have been exposed and now show various events in the earth’s history, including the extinction of the dinosaurs! The area has been designated as a “Geopark.”
Words really cannot describe the Flysch. It some places it looks like the pages of a book, in
others it looks like almost like rows and layers of shark teeth. Sometimes it is vertical:
and sometimes it is horizontal:
Notice the different colors of the Flysch. The first picture is looking towards the Zumaia beach and San Telmo Chapel. The second is just oustide of Zumaia. The third is from the middle of the hike near Sakoneta Point. As you will see below, we were able to climb down and walk on the Flysch in the third picture.
Most of the hike was along the coast above the water, but at some points we were at sea level, where there were beaches. The views were spectacular:
We also saw a great many animals on the hike including cows (many cows), chickens, horses, sheep and donkeys. At several locations along the route there are gates that required us to climb over a small structure. Jeff surmised that they were designed to keep the cows (and other animals) from wandering off and noted that they acted as intelligence tests: you had to be smarter than a cow to walk the route. Fortunately, we were able to pass all of these tests.
At Sakoneta Point we were able to “rapel” down using a rope to descend to the Flysch where we could walk on and along it at sea level:
This was the route back up – note the surfers are climbing up with their surfboards:
The hike was moderately difficult, but mostly manageable. We were very proud of ourselves for
completing it in about 4.5 hours and enjoyed a cerveza and pinxto upon arriving in Zumaia:
While we were very proud ourselves for having walked 14 kilometers, our bubble was burst on Monday morning when we learned that one of our classmates, a Taiwanese-nun, hiked 24
kilometers (14.5 miles) the same day! And I suspect she didn't even need a beer at the end...
Hasta Luego,
Shana and Jeff
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