The unsupported and one-stage gravel challenge through the forests and deserts.
Basajaun is the lord of the forest, an ancient myth of wildlife preservation. It reminds us how fragile nature is and how we must keep it, as we can’t afford to lose such a wild forest into desertification.
The route crosses his domines by the biggest beech forest in south Europe, some desertified areas, the Pyrenees, and some hilly and remote areas.
From the lush forests of Urbasa and Irati (home to Basajun), one descends to the most arid and barren plains through Bardenas Reales, returning to the banks of the Ebro river before facing the Sierra de la Demanda, a mountainous massif in “land of cameros ”of transhumants who face very harsh lands in terms of climate, to culminate around the Pico San Lorenzo and return to the forests of the Basque Country, through the Izki Natural Park.
Basajauns is together with Badlands the ultimate unassisted gravel event in Europe. With a route of 780km and + 15,000m, it shows the most extreme contrasts between the green of the wildest forests in Europe, the plains and the deserts next to huge mountains in both the Pyrenees and the Sierra de la Demanda, with a continental climate and heights above 2,000m.
70% off-road.
