I am in the Basque country, eating the best food I've ever had. I'm not yet in fabled foodie heaven of San Sebastián, but sitting, sweating and exhausted, on a lawn chair halfway up a mountain at a pokey food shack, eating what is essentially an omelette sandwich. It is amazing.
Only mountain biking can bring such intense delusions. When you've been through as many ups and downs – literally and metaphorically – as you can be put through on an off-road bike route, you can find yourself totally spent. Nothing tastes better than some well-earned food and drink.
The day begins in mellow fashion in the lovely harbour at Hondarribia, right on the French border east of San Sebastián. My biking buddy Ed and I fuel our bodies with caffeine, breakfasting mainly on powerful but strangely sweet cortados (a kind of mini-cappuccino) in one of many pretty cafes. Our heart rates sufficiently jumpy, we head off to meet Doug, our guide. Doug runs Basque MTB, which typically offers week-long riding holidays here or in the Pyrenees, tailored to individual interests.
We're trying one of his one-day rides, and our goal is San Sebastián, 35km along the coast. Doesn't sound too far, and a coastal path is bound to be pretty flat, eh? No chance: a steep, though blissfully brief road climb starts us off, then we zip and flow along a smooth roller coaster of a path.
Pungent aromas from trailside flowers and bushes waft over us as Doug churns up the air ahead. The surf crashes away down below us. The sea is dotted with little fishing boats. We're instantly immersed in the sights, sounds and aromas of the coast.
The route Doug is taking us on is a version of the Camino del Norte – more usually trodden by hikers. Doug has tweaked it for mountain bikes, following the approximate route but adding some great cycle trails and avoiding some of the worst climbs. Mountain biking is unparalleled in its ability to take you through a landscape. To cover this distance on foot would probably take a couple of days; to do the trip on roads wouldn't be anywhere near as immersive. We ride through bamboo copses and lush meadows, passing wind-sculpted bedrock, craggy clifftops, medieval military roads and more. It's almost draining in its beauty.
At the 20km mark, all this cycling is taking its toll. We reach the top of a particularly stiff peak and Doug points at something in the distance. It is a cafe. According to Doug it will probably be open. And they will give us food and drink in exchange for money.
From nowhere we suddenly find a well of energy and high-tail it down a sinuous sliver of a path. I think there are gorgeous ocean vistas on either side and ancient watchtowers dotted along the ridgeline. I don't really notice. I'm gunning for the food dealer.
It's here I enjoy the aforementioned omelette sandwich. I shall never forget it. The cafe, called Cantina de Jaizkibel, sits above the fishing town of Pasai Donibane. As we wolf down our food, local families are enjoying lunch. Tray after tray of amazing dishes – lamb, ribs and steaks – pass before us.
Duly refuelled we continue our ride, on more fun trails along beautiful coast – though now with a more downhill trend. The trail spits us out in Pasai Donibane, where we board a tiny ferry for a two-minute journey over the Oyarzun river, with the Atlantic beating at the mouth of the estuary.
A lengthy climb through juicy woodland takes us to the final stretch. Suddenly, San Sebastián appears. One second we are hacking through swoopy forest, and the next we are on the beach at Gros, just east of the city, having a caña (beer) with the surfers at Cervecería Monpas (Paseo de José Miguel Barandiarán), flabbergasted that such a wild landscape can sit so close to a big old place like San Sebastián.
We celebrate our mini adventure by visiting some of the city's famous pintxos bars. This is the typical way Doug ends guided rides. He knows his way around the fabulous bars just as well as he knows the trails. No one bats an eyelid as we lean the bikes up against walls or tables. We wander from place to place, down winding alleyways, feasting on different small plates of deliciousness at each one.
And although the omelette sandwich will live long in my memory, what we eat in San Sebastián is even more mind-blowing. We feast on blue cheese and anchovy creations in the family cubby-hole of Bar Irrintz (Calle Pescadería 12); enjoy the drama of lobster with dry-iced rosewater at modern Bar Zeruko (Pescaderia 10); move on to baked cheesecake from Bar La Viña (Calle 31 de Agosto 3), with a snifter of raisin-y Pedro Ximenez wine; and sup real ale at Never Stop (Reyes Catolicos 6). But the solomillo (sirlon steak) at super-busy Gandarías (31 de Agosto 23) ... now that probably is the best meal I've ever had.
• The trip was provided by Basque MTB (basquemtb.com). One-day rides cost €50pp, or €60 with pintxos tour, excluding food and drink. It's also available as part of a week's holiday, from €695. Easyjet flies from Manchester and Stansted to Bilbao and from Gatwick to Biarritz
