This may be my last blog entry for a while. For some reason I don't understand from my mobile phone I can do everything with the blog except edit and create posts.
I had intended to buy packaging stuff in Bordeaux so I could securely attach a label to my suitcase - no such luck because France is closed on Sundays. My trip from Bordeaux to Bayonne was roughly following the Atlantic coast. First stop was Dune du Pilat which at over 100m tall claims to be the world's largest sand dune. I went in at the north end. Awfully commercial - charges for parking and commercial stands all around the place - the big plus though is that they have erected a set of plastic steps up the dune. If I had gone further south where you can just wander through the forest and then climb the dune I don't know if i would have managed. A few people were climbing not on the steps and it was clearly hard work with each step slipping back most of the way. I also stopped for about 5min at a pretty lake just north of Biscarrosse.
I picked up a hitch hiker - a teenage boy. The only one I've seen in France going my way. I gave him a ride for about 45km. Once past Mimizan the roads became straight, with pine forest each side, rather boring for about 60km. The road then gets close to the coast again. These are really wild surf beaches. I stopped at a beach called L'Escargot near Hossegor and wathed the waves pounding in - suddenly found that sitting in the sun I was asleep.
Bayonne is a very pretty little town. The hotel (Hotel Cote Basque) is rather old but the rooms have been done up and are rather nice - only draw back is no parking. I need to shift the car in the morning before 8:30 when the free parking stops.
I've done the job of packing my pack for the camino. I need to repack and lose one or two things as I am really squeezing to get everything in and I'm sure I will never get the sleeping bag rolled as tight as the did in the factory. Weight wise everything is fine but the bag is absolutely crammed full.
Went to dinner at La Chistera which is recommended by Lonely Planet and not ridiculously expensive. I had a trout tartare salad and a dish whose name I can't recall that is a hake fillet and cockles served in a vegetable soup - so you need knife fork and spoon to eat it. Finished up with Gateau de Basque which is a sweet flan but not much idea of the components.
Internet is playing up - I haven't had hassle free internet since St Nazaire I think.
I met a group of Koreans at the station who were heading to St Jean Pied de Port to start the camino. I don't know if they were misinformed about the services or if they had misses a connection but they were going to take a taxi (at 120euro) to St Jean Pied de Port. I discovered myself today that the trains have been replaced by buses and there are only 3 a day. Breakfast at the hotel starts at 7am and the bus is 7:45 so it will need to be a quick breakfast on Tuesday or wait until midday.
I had intended to buy packaging stuff in Bordeaux so I could securely attach a label to my suitcase - no such luck because France is closed on Sundays. My trip from Bordeaux to Bayonne was roughly following the Atlantic coast. First stop was Dune du Pilat which at over 100m tall claims to be the world's largest sand dune. I went in at the north end. Awfully commercial - charges for parking and commercial stands all around the place - the big plus though is that they have erected a set of plastic steps up the dune. If I had gone further south where you can just wander through the forest and then climb the dune I don't know if i would have managed. A few people were climbing not on the steps and it was clearly hard work with each step slipping back most of the way. I also stopped for about 5min at a pretty lake just north of Biscarrosse.
I picked up a hitch hiker - a teenage boy. The only one I've seen in France going my way. I gave him a ride for about 45km. Once past Mimizan the roads became straight, with pine forest each side, rather boring for about 60km. The road then gets close to the coast again. These are really wild surf beaches. I stopped at a beach called L'Escargot near Hossegor and wathed the waves pounding in - suddenly found that sitting in the sun I was asleep.
Bayonne is a very pretty little town. The hotel (Hotel Cote Basque) is rather old but the rooms have been done up and are rather nice - only draw back is no parking. I need to shift the car in the morning before 8:30 when the free parking stops.
I've done the job of packing my pack for the camino. I need to repack and lose one or two things as I am really squeezing to get everything in and I'm sure I will never get the sleeping bag rolled as tight as the did in the factory. Weight wise everything is fine but the bag is absolutely crammed full.
Went to dinner at La Chistera which is recommended by Lonely Planet and not ridiculously expensive. I had a trout tartare salad and a dish whose name I can't recall that is a hake fillet and cockles served in a vegetable soup - so you need knife fork and spoon to eat it. Finished up with Gateau de Basque which is a sweet flan but not much idea of the components.
Internet is playing up - I haven't had hassle free internet since St Nazaire I think.
I met a group of Koreans at the station who were heading to St Jean Pied de Port to start the camino. I don't know if they were misinformed about the services or if they had misses a connection but they were going to take a taxi (at 120euro) to St Jean Pied de Port. I discovered myself today that the trains have been replaced by buses and there are only 3 a day. Breakfast at the hotel starts at 7am and the bus is 7:45 so it will need to be a quick breakfast on Tuesday or wait until midday.
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