Ride Day 35 – San Sebastián to Bayonne – 72 km

A quick few photos of San Sebastián. Loved it but Julie could have done a night less. It’s the beach and fabulous food that people go for. When the sun did come out it was madness at the beach. Apparently, according to our hotel manager, we were lucky with the weather as two years ago in July they had 24 days of rain in a row. Note to selves. We are not taking anymore trips on the Atlantic coast and if we do it will be by car and in September.

The photo below reminded us of a Mel Brigg painting, only his have a few hundred less people in them.

For our long last ride, we wouldn’t expect anything other than the full Monty. We started with thunderstorms and heavy rain in San Sebastián so waited for the worse to be over. We wrapped absolutely everything in plastic inside Julie’s bag. We also wrapped the bags themselves in plastic and taped that on. During the course of the ride we wore shower caps on our helmets and Julie wore her bin liner skirt. Duncan carries the cash in a plastic sanitary bag. The difference between us and much younger people, is that we are old and our care factor is zero.

Here is the last long route, with just over 1000 m climbing involved.

The start from our hotel to the 17.5km mark was on a well signposted, linked cycle path. The Spanish do it well when needed. It winds through the beach, the old town, out through the suburbs, over its own bridges, just brilliant.

We then headed out into the countryside which was a relief after the noise and non stop activity of San Sebastián.

The hills were at times sectioned concrete and very slippery and pushing the bikes up a couple were hard work. As usual, the views stunning, despite the occasional heavy downpours. We stopped for coffee at the border Irun. The sun came out the minute we arrived in Hendaye (France) but the winds were fierce and there were more storms to come.

We left the country that opened at 2pm for lunch and entered the country where nowhere was open! We cycled through Saint-Jean de Luz which looked worthy of a day or two and onto Bidart for lunch where we were brought back to normal pricing with a bang. San Sebastián and northern Spain had been very cheap. A glass of good wine was €2.20 and service was exceptionally speedy. A glass of wine was now €5.50 and we had to wait 30 minutes. However, a salad with cheese was super and Duncan had a terrine which was equally delicious.

We barely stopped in Biarritz. It was chaotically busy with tourists. The wind was howling on the beach with everyone looking for shelter, waves crashing on what was left of the sand. We didn’t reach Bayonne until 6.20, so a journey of almost 9 hours. Our hotel was opposite the station and across the bridge from the old town, where we had a delightful supper chatting to a French couple about wine, the World Cup and how good it would be if national service was reintroduced (they had three children and opted for the 12 month sign up!).

The sun came out, all was OK again. Paris tomorrow when we clearly hope the crowds celebrating the World Cup victory have gone home. The country is in a very happy mood!