Reencounter

OUR RECONNECTION JOURNEY TO
Cabañas & Estacas.

ESP – ENG

After a long time with it in mind, finally this year María and I have been able to make a first incursion to Cabañas & Estacas, the Cantabrian bikepacker project designed by our friend Israel.

More than two years had passed since our last adventure as a couple. It has not been a time without challenges for Maria, who has been dealing with some health issues that have limited her options to link multi-day rides. However, her willpower, non-conformism, and capacity for hard work have made this long-dreamed journey much more than a bike ride: It’s been a form of expression, a reinforcement of all the learning, research, and effort of her tough road to get here.

In the following paragraphs we’ll share with you our days in Cabañas & Estacas, the story of perseverance behind it all, and the role played by the arrival of a new actress: María’s e-bike.

fog on the trail

As dusk sets in, we cross one of the most remote sections of the route. A dense fog envelops us and we’re pushing the bikes up a short but intense loose gravel climb. For a few kilometres now, the battery indicators on María’s e-bike show that we’re running low: the remaining battery life is the same as the distance to the El Cobijo del Valle eco-lodge, where we want to spend the night. Israel told us that this is an essential spot on the route, a perfect example of the philosophy he wanted to capture in this route. Although the arrival is downhill, we’ve been climbing for several kilometres, so we don’t quite trust the estimated distance provided by the electronics.

Mesmerised by the Cantabrian landscapes on our first riding day, a beginner’s miscalculation caused us to accumulate considerably more elevation gain than expected. For once, I had decided to flow a little more on my rides with her, leaving a little more room for improvisation, since, after all, neither of us knew how her body would react to life on the bike. Apparently this first flow class didn’t go so well, we had got ourselves into a bit of a mess.

I must admit that there were moments of uncertainty, doubt, nerves and even slight tension. We had to draw on all our arsenal of assertiveness, teamwork, empathy, affection and, why hide it, even a joke or two. Almost at night, with the battery on its last breaths, we managed to finally reach our destination for the night. The way we handled the situation felt familiar; over the last few years, life has tested us in all those same skills. Learning to dance as a couple with health challenges also requires a high level in all of them.

«Electric» prejudices

During the copious and repairing dinner that day, together with Rosa and Lolo, owners of the eco-lodge, we talked about the initial doubts we had when we started to consider buying an e-bike. There were some acquired prejudices, an initial reluctance that we both had to overcome. Prejudices can sometimes limit us in an extraordinary way, in any area of life, even when we feel them towards people around us. Keeping an open mind is the perfect supplement to break free from those biases.

For Maria, discovering the wonderful tool of an electric-assisted bike has been a turning point in her recovery, not only for the physical aspect derived from the exercise itself, but also for reconnecting with her dreams, with her hobby, with nature, key elements in the psychological aspect of any journey through illness. It has undoubtedly helped her to reconnect with herself.

Cabañas & Estacas: A Dream Come True

Cabañas & Estacas belongs to that wonderful new generation that is forever changing the panorama of bikepacking in Spain, with much closer approaches to the traveller, sincere, created by and for cyclists, without all that bureaucratic fuss that is often so distant from the traveller’s experience.

Speaking of this type of signature routes, someone once told me that the routes resemble their creators. Israel and Cabañas & Estacas fit perfectly this statement: affection, effort, values, principles and generosity are qualities that define both this person and his project.

You can download the original map of the route, hand-drawn by Israel, here.

In our case, as we were looking for a reconnection journey, we decided to take advice to form a shorter loop, with the idea of completing the entire route on future visits. We opted for the central part of the loop, leaving the eastern and western areas for later.

Despite having only seen a third of the route, the character of the route was evident day after day: the perfect combination of sea and mountains, so characteristic of the Cantabrian region, the rough relief inland, the harshness of the climate, but also the astonishing variety of the gastronomy. Of course, it is worth mentioning the modularity, one of the greatest treasures of this type of route.

What a great privilege it was to immerse ourselves in the different realities of a territory while sharing some miles with Israel, the creator of the project. While the countless riches of this territory are obvious as we travelled through it, during these days of cycling we were also able to witness its challenges, such as the threat of over-tourism in some areas, the urban sprawl putting increasing pressure on its natural surroundings, or the immense and multi-faceted complexity of the environmental management of certain iconic wildlife species in the interior. These are some of the pressing concerns in the area.

Once again, the bicycle proves to be the perfect vehicle for an immersive experience in a reality, allowing us to deepen our knowledge, awareness and conservation. I wonder how many of the conflicts I mentioned above would be solved if the parties involved in them simply went for a bike ride together.

For further information, visit the official website of the route, and don’t miss the beautiful photos on their Instagram profile: @cabanas_y_estacas.