Toward Euskadi

We haven't had any internet connection but now have a chance to catch up.

From Pau we rode directly west across the (very flat) plains heading for Bayonne.  It was a nice ride through more idyllic rural areas, and it was good to just ride without big hills.  Because we diverted from the Col D'Aubisque, we will be heading down France's southwest coast and getting into Spain that way.  It also gave us an extra day, maybe two.

So we headed north from Bayonne to a fishing village called Capbreton, about 30 km north.  And we passed the Black Pearl moored at the sea wall in Bayonne -- Jonny Depp was not around.

The Black Pearl

Where's the prirates?

We found a campground near the beach and set up our stuff. 

We always laugh when camping in Europe - we have a bike and a tent and are always put between big camper vans (RVs) with all sorts of awnings and tables and chairs, etc.  They really go all out.  But we're comfy and need nothing more.

Our home for the night

We went to the harbor and wandered around the fish monger stalls (there weren't very many, unfortunately) and then rode down to the beach.  The town might have been a fishing town back in the day, but now it is given over to folks on vacation.

Fish mongers in Capbreton

It looked like a good surfing spot

We had a nice sleep at the campground and broke camp fairly early -- but first we rode to a nearby bakery for bread and croissant and coffee.  Much needed.  The bakery was very cool and I watched the baker as he was making dozens of baguettes in his fancy oven with all the slide trays and steam injectors, etc.  I want an oven like that!  He was pulling out enormous boules, and countless other treats.  Too fun!

We now headed south down the Eurovelo 1 -- one of a series of dedicated cycling routes through Europe.  EV1 has about 50% dedicated path, the rest on fairly quiet roads.  But this appears to be a holiday weekend and so there were tons of families riding on the path.  That doesn't work out so good with our big bike with its wide berth, and the fact that on the flat we travel fairly fast, a lot faster than kids on balance bikes.  So we headed out to the roads and enjoyed them.

We rode back through Bayonne and then to the coast at the fancy resort town of Biarritz.  Wow, it is really swanky.  We looked all kinds of out of place there with its huge hotels, fancy restaurants and swarms of visitors.  The town is beautiful but not really to our liking, except the views are stunning and the coastline gorgeous.  And there is the counterpoint added by all the surfer dudes hanging around.  This is apparently a big surf area.

The Atlantic coast at Biarritz

Lots of surfers and hotels

We continued down EV1 to Saint-Jean, which is a charming town a few km north of the Spanish border.  We were going to camp just outside of town, but the beach drew us near and we found a (relatively) inexpensive hotel just off the beach.  We went to the beach and had a swim.  And then we had a really nice afternoon wandering around the narrow streets and getting lost.  We capped the day off with a great dinner at a Basque place.  Lorie had paella and I went for the fish soup.  Fantastic.

Basque fish soup

Paella

More paella

We ate too much!

The restaurant also has this fantastic air conditioning system: periodically the louvers that hang from the ceiling are simultaneously activated to swing back and forth.  Ingenious.  I'm not sure that this video will upload, but hopefully

Tomorrow we're off to Donastia and are looking forward to pintxos and tkokola!

Cheers!