2nd October (sunny and mild, misty morning) 50 km

Woke at 7am and Pete said he’d had a terrible night’s sleep.  “We’re sleeping downhill aren’t we?” he said and immediately I noticed that yes, we were indeed sleeping downhill.  It hadn’t bothered me but it made his head feel woozy.  He snuggled down a bit more to try and get a bit more rest, which was a complete waste of time as everybody in the world knows that 7am is the universal time for the rubbish truck’s arrival.  I don’t know how they manage to synchronise their watches and be at every household, business and campsite at the exact same time, but they do.  They say Father Christmas learned all his time management skills from rubbish collectors and I can believe it.  In fact you think of all the rubbish that is created from the silly season and you start to believe they could well be in cahoots with each other.

So I made us a cup of tea and uploaded yesterday’s photos.  Thank goodness for digital photography – we have seen so much and would forget so much if we didn’t have our photos to help us remember.  Took our time packing up as the office didn’t open until 9am.  Pete was not in a good mood.  Obviously sleeping on his head was not a great start to the day, but anybody who knows Pete, knows how much he likes order (how we ended up together, I don’t know!) and also how much he like dry washing.  I’m talking line dried washing here, nothing wasteful like the stuff from the dryer – that’s just cheating in his eyes.  So when he discovered the pair of socks and undies and the small towel he had left dangling from his bike overnight were completely sodden from a heavy dew, he was not a happy camper.  Even less so when he discovered the flysheet had suffered the same fate, because you know what that means…….he has to pack the fly and the inner separately.  That means no neat, tidy tent in it’s blue dry bag sitting obediently across his back panniers.  Only the tent inner will be in there and the flysheet will be packed away as neatly as humanly possible into an unceremonious shopping bag - and–to cap things off, he has to try and arrange his wet washing on top of this ugly pile.  While he struggled to arrange things to his satisfaction he declared he was over camping and we trudged up the driveway to pay for our last night of living in a tent, as the office had been closed when we arrived last night.  Unfortunately at 10am when we left, the office was still closed.  Suddenly Pete thought camping was a great idea as we left the damp shade of the trees and cycled off into the sunshine.

Pete here: Oh how the world mocks me…. Just like they mocked Leonardo with his “man will someday fly” theories. But I will revolutionise the world of washing and drying, whilst camping and yes, there are those who will laugh….ha ha ha….. and there are those who will call me crazy and talk behind my back, but it is I who will be remembered, as cycle tourers around the world with their undies dangling freely from their handlebars, and their socks swinging in the breeze on the ends, ride along appreciatively and nod knowingly.

Out of Sea Green campsite and off to the hilly but picturesque village of Bidart. What a lovely way to begin a day, cycling through beautiful places. The tree pruners were on a mission here and were well down the track getting rid of the year’s growth in preparation for winter. Cruised into the fabulous town of St. Jean de Luz. This would have to be one of our picks in France. It has a lovely feel to it and although there were plenty of tourists about, even at this time of year, they weren’t taking over. 

One of the first shops we see in St Jean du Luz

A beautiful big old church in the middle of town

Lunchtime viewing

This quaint town has a beach and a harbour. It also has some very high quality shopping on offer. For us it had a relaxed and pretty town square. Oh and I forgot to mention…free wifi. Whilst Julia started on the blog, I wandered the small lanes and alleyways, searching for good shots. After picking up some lunch, it was back to Ju and we moved off to a little parklike area, just off the seaside prom, where we were able to lay the tent fly and groundsheet out to dry whilst we ate lunch.

On the lookout for a toilet and Maps.Me tells us there is one 23 metres from our lunch spot.  It was so discreetly hidden behind well cut hedges, I am sure we would have missed it if MapsMe hadn’t told us it was there.  This app is awesome!

Decided that because the sun was shining, although it wasn’t really that warm, we would pop over the other side of the prom for a sunbathe and a swim. The bay was gorgeous, with only a few people out, but considering the amount, most were having a dip of some kind. Ju and I lay out for about an hour and decided that even though the wind was a little cool, that we couldn’t let the southern hemisphere down, so, in for a swim. Actually, the water was warmer than it has been for a while and as I ventured further out into the bay, it got warmer.

Fort at Socoa

An amazing piece of coastline

That's Spain in the distance

A huge hotel at Hendaye

Gear packed, we rode away heading for Spain, passing through the coastal village of Socoa and around the hilly bay into Hendaye, more of a resort town, with huge bay and beach. Enjoyed an ice cream on the front and paid a visit to the Tourism Office to find out about campsites. The nice young lady told us the only campground in town that was still open was 2 kms back the way we had come, uphill (of course) only when we get there we find they were in fact closed for the season. Checked out two other options, but they too were shut.  Now we had a problem in that it was 5.30pm and our nearest campsites according to MapsMe were 23 km away, with no guarantee of being open.

Crossed the border into Spain at Irun, a big sprawling mass, which we then had to negotiate a path through, in order to get out the other side and find a camp. The afternoon was drawing to a close and the light fades here now at 7.30pm. With the attempted help of a couple of locals, we made our way through this very busy town to the other side, where we ended up on one of the busiest roads we have ever travelled on. It was busy, fast and very dangerous and not an experience that we want to remember Spain by.  We were literally riding on four lane roads, two each side, however, you are able to ride them as they have cycle lanes. Why anyone would choose to do so is purely out of necessity I would think. We were losing light and the situation was dire as there wasn’t even a freecamp option close at hand, just busy freeway.

Finally closed in on the first of two campgrounds that MapsMe told us were in this area on the outskirts of Errenteria.  Our first option was up the top of a steep hill (what else?) and when we got there a woman coming out of the locked gate told us it was a private camp.  Damn MapsMe, you didn’t tell us that!  She directed us to the other camp only about a km away but over quite busy roads.  At one off-ramp where we were taking a breather and getting our bearings, we asked a couple of road workers in a van if there was a camp and they directed us to Oliden. Crossed this horrendous road only to find ourselves stuck in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, the guys had been watching and came in their truck, put their hazards on and the four yellow flashing lights on top of their truck and told us to follow them around this bend to an off ramp that we couldn’t see. It was like having our own personal police escort to the door and we waved them off with a lot of Muchos gracias!

Pulled into camp, mentally shot, set up tent, managed to get the owner to charge our power bank overnight, otherwise….no blog and ate some much needed food, after showers. Tomorrow, it’s vital that we find smaller roads on our way to San Sebastian.

Aaah, sanctuary at last!