Trail Tales is an original project from Orbea that was mainly produced by our friends from Steel City Media. The project showcases different stories and people around the globe and links those stories with trail riding and mountain biking in different locations where those stories take place. Due to its variety of locations and content we were assigned to film one of the episodes and produced entirely another one.

From Oak to Anchor

The first assignment we had was to film, under the direction of Steel City Media, “From Oak to Anchor”. A journey into ancient boat builders, sailors and iron workers in Basque Country who used their forests, natural resources and coast to build the boats that navigate and fish all along the Atlantic to UK and even to Norway, Iceland or Canada.

Trail Tales - From Oak to Anchor

In “From Oak to Anchor” we were in charge of getting the riding footage and images that will illustrate this story. During 3 days we filmed along the Basque coast and forests where Igor, Lierni and Dough put the flow on the trails.

Also we filmed and documented Albaola´s director Xavier Agote and his team during a rowing session at Bahía de Pasaia in one of the ancient boats they are re-building.

From Oak to Anchor - Photo Gallery

You can read the full story of “From Oak to Anchor” at https://experience.orbea.com/en/trail-tales

Shepherds of the Trashumancia

Our second assignment inside Trail Tales, was to develop the whole production around the story of a family of shepherds who live in the heart of one of the most iconic mountain ranges of the Basque Country, Aizkorri-Aratz natural park.

The story of Santi, Idoia, Anne and Mikel, had been in Koldo’s mind (Head of TT project) for a while and the idea was to find a moment when the family could have some time to show us around their daily life and tell us their story and way of living. In June 2021, that ideal moment came and we headed to Urbia, to get to know and film them during one of the calmest moments of the shepherd’s season.

The family opened up their doors to us, and we all got immersed in their lifestyle and traditions. Life there was simple, waking up early, going to check the pack up the mountain, enjoying the midday and doing the same in the evening. We got to know almost every bit of the area and the trails they used for transhumance their sheeps from down into the valley to the high fields in Urbia before summer comes.

We documented their way of living, we heard their view about sharing the paths with hikers and cyclists, and their vision about the future of shepherds. Also we linked the stories of those trails used by sheeps and horses with the riding options the area has to offer for those who are fit enough to reach the top of Aizkorri - Aratz pedaling.

It was for sure one the most beautiful projects of 2021. That leads us to amplify our vision of what a sustainable environment should look like. A place where we all can live and share, respecting traditions and other ways of living far from an urban-centric vision.