More from the Pyrenees

Friday 31^st May

Today we had a late morning start due to the heavy rain we’d had overnight and into the morning.  I hesitate to mention the dreaded ‘r’ word as it seems as though I’m harping on it but it has impacted greatly on what we do and where we go.  We travelled a huge 2 kms to the picturesque town of Espalette,

famous for its chillies, where we spent a pleasant hour or two roaming through the streets, and having bought a few little knick knacks and an f.a. cream cake…and taken the obligatory photos…we moved on another 7kms to Itxassou-Laxia.  This was a nostalgic visit as we’d spent a memorable weekend in the youth hostel there 44 years ago.  As we weren’t able to take Boris along the narrow winding road alongside the raging river we left him at the start of the road and walked the 1.5kms into Laxia and decided to have a celebratory two course lunch and a sangria at the restaurant. 

Across the bridge and up the hill was the youth hostel, long closed and looking sadly run down but we were very happy to be there again and find that little else had changed. We took a photo from the same spot that took a photo in 1969. It was a great moment for us.

Sat.1^st June

After leaving our overnight camp we headed into nearby Cambo les Bains for a wander around, then off to St Jean Pied de Port via a couple of little villages.  St J P de P is a walled medieval fortress town and on our climb to the citadel overlooking the town, we met a young American couple who’d just completed a 790km walk from Santiago and a little while later, a young lady from Melbourne who had walked 800kms in the opposite direction!  On walking down the cobbled lane from the citadel, through a crowd of backpackers, we noticed a group of local children entering the church with flutes, so followed them in to find 6 teenaged girls and their music teacher, on stage playing classical guitars…fabulous!  They were followed several groups playing flutes, then accordions, oboes, clarinets and drums.  It was wonderful and we happily sat to watch and listen for and hour or so. It sounded great in a 17^th century church. Some of the children then strolled up the lane playing their instruments…we were rapt! A stop in a pub for a cherry flavoured Grimbergen Rouge beer before dinner concluded a very happy day.

Sunday 2^nd June
Our Americans Donna and Jamie joined us for the drive to Oloron Sainte Marie on their way to Lourdes and Cauterets.  We made a couple of stops along the way and we are now on the outskirts of Pau.  Last night, we reluctantly decided to give the High Pyrenees a miss, at least for this trip, as the dreaded weather is not clearing and we see no point in going into the mountains at this time…so, we are heading east today towards the Mediterranean coast where according to the weather man, it is warm and sunny!

Monday 3rd June
The Sun is out!
Posting this from Maccas free wifi and having trouble with adding photos.