moderate
Distance: 86km Unevenness: 2000m
Artzaiak... Shepherds... it is a simple recognition, homage would be saying much, to this social group which during thousands of years has been interacting with the environment, creating the landscape we now see. Past and present, be taken into account, as for bikers (who is those to whom these routes are directed), this present can materialize in form of a white Citroen C15 followed by a dog (sheepdog, of course) suddenly emerging in any travel curve. For all that, Artzaiak (which means shepherds in basque).
We have included under the name of Artzaiak a series of routes that are developed in the same geographic space and that in a nutshell are modifications of the same idea so in this way it is possible to choose the difficulty of each different route.
For a better understanding of the possibilities, we have used the diagram of clothing sizes that more or less everyone understands; S, M, L and XL.
In general, the aim is to go over the Arbailles massif, which we will ascend by Ahüski, and the northern slopes of the Irati forest where we will place ourselves either ascending by Burdinkurutzeta or Artaburu. The closing will be through the ramps that touring the Valley of Sainte Engrace will end up leading us to Arette by Issarbe.
Itinerarie: Arette D918 - Tardets-Sorholus D247 - Altzai D117 - Ahuski - road without nº - Bagargi - Larrau (village) D26 - Athérey D759 - Montory - D918 Arette
If you want to see the route on wikiloc website click on the green icon on the map.
Alrededores de Arette. El campo base perfecto para practicar cicloturismo en el Pirineo Atlántico.
Albergue de Auski, a medio camino en nuestro ascenso a Bagargi.
El pelotón de La Vuelta a España 2016 desciende el puerto de Inharpu/Ahuski hacia Altzai. Artzaiak continua por la carretera que se visualiza por el cordal buscando Bagargi.
Casas de Irati, practicamente en la cima de Bagargi.
Puerto de Bagargi en su vertiente hacia Larrau. Al fondo, el Pico de Ori con el paso de Erroimendi a su izquierda.
Pueblo de Larrau, bien integrado en la montaña pirenaica.
Rampas entre el puente de Laugibar y el pueblo de Larrau. En nuestra ruta nos tocará bajarlas. -Cicloturista Larra-Larrau 2016-
We are where we are, in the Atlantic Pyrenees, with a plain to the North with localities at very low altitude and ports that are close to the 2000m range.
The southern slope is more "human", towns are in a higher altitude and the slopes are not so important.
The vast majority of the routes cover the ports of the "greats": Issarbe, La Piedra de St Martin, Laberouat, Bagargi, Artaburu, Arnostegi, Ahuski, Larrau...with slopes ranging between 1000 and 1700 meters. Some routes ascent one of these ports, others 2 or 3 and even more.
We anticipated this so the criteria are clear for each 6 levels that we have chosen for the ranking of the routes.