St Jean de Luz

I hope that, as you read this, you spare a thought for me. This is my pitch for the next 4 nights. The campsite is lovely, although I had to cycle up a punishing hill to get here.

I pushed the last couple of hundred yards and can’t imagine how anyone without my little helper could manage.

Today has been warm and sunny and it promises to be so for the next couple of days. If it rains I will be into one of the site’s cabins though.

I have just returned from a fine meal with Ally and Jeff, the couple I met on the ferry coming out, and am about to try out my new tent, cot and sleeping bag. A full report will be available tomorrow when I plan to slob around by the camp pool!

The ride today went through some of the iconic towns of the south west of France. Capbreton, Bayonne and Biarritz. The cycling was pretty easy but now and again it was on the road and there were some pretty hilly sections, particularly around Biarritz. I passed my last bit of canal towpath, a rather muddy looking section as I headed towards Bayonne And was delighted to see evidence that France still retains its capacity for interesting ways of passing the time:   The approach to Bayonne was quite difficult. Busy roads with cycle lanes but the rewarding views as I arrived at the town were worth it: My first view of the Pyrennes, followed closely by the grand town bridge where you can just see the mountains in the distance I was keen to get to the camp site so didn’t stop to visit the town, instead I followed the route along the other side of the River Adour to Anglet and then on into into Biarritz.

You approach the town from high above, go down into the centre and then back up towards St Jean de Luz

There were surfers strutting their stuff at the town centre beach:

And, along the way, one or two interesting sights:

I wondered why the guy behind the tree was spying on the bloke dressed up as a nun.

I admired some more views:

and then, prompted by this

Thought that I should introduce a new feature – “Les fesses de jour” The picture above was clearly a front runner till today’s clear winner shimmied into view.

There are only 25 kms to go before I complete the journey. Hendaye is only about 25 kms away. I will do the last leg on Monday and pick up the van on Tuesday to take the bike down to Ceris’

more tales from the campsite tomorrow.