A day of many ups and downs, six climbs and descents, with a long descent into the pretty Basque village of Louhossoa with is characteristic red and white houses. All in all 36km and almost 1.000m in elevation. At Saint-Palais other walkers walk to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and the Camino Frances, whilst I will follow a so called transfer route to the Camino del Norte.
It’s been a mostly cloudy day with some sun and a little rain. The paths have generally been muddy and two descents were taken along roads instead of the official paths.
I left the hotel after breakfast, still in shorts, but with both my fleece tops. The temperature peaked below 20C today, so it wasn’t very warm.
The morning started primarily on roads towards Beyrie-sur-Joyeuse which at one point stuck up above the low lying cloud cover. Downhill from the village was initially on the road, with beautiful views across the green landscape. The path continued downhill along a very muddy path. A man was standing at the start of the path looking out over the landscape. He advised me not to go down the path as it was more a stream than path. He pointed out an alternative route across a field joining another path that was muddy, but OK.
The rest of the morning was a mixture of road and path, up and down. Around lunch time the path went across another field and disappeared. It was heavy going through overgrown bushes, with no sign of the path. I doubled back and took the road. A light rain started and a I sheltered under a tree whilst the shower passed and continued towards Armendarits, passing an old derelict chateau on the way.
I had hoped that there was somewhere to stop for a coffee, but no such luck. It’s been one of the challenges of this trip, that there is nowhere to stop during the day to eat or purchase food, as the small villages no longer have bars, bakers or convenience stores.
The rest of the afternoon was along roads, not busy, through farmland. It was a beautiful walk, green hilly and with great views across the countryside – which the pictures don’t do justice. Even the sun came out. I passed south of Hélette, and contemplated taking a detour into town to see if there was a bar, but the one that showed up on Google Maps, didn’t have opening times, so I didn’t take a chance. I did however see an automatic Pizza machine on the road, something I have never seen before, but wasn’t tempted to try.
I passed a cheese museum, which being Sunday was closed, otherwise I may well have visited as I love cheese. I also passed a sports centre with paragliding and watched as the paragliders “floated” down in front of me. It must be a great experience, but I’m not sure I’d have the nerve to do it.
I am in no doubt that I’m walking through Basque country – the characteristic houses, the signs in two languages, the pelota walls and the number of men wearing the Basque beret.
I arrived at the hotel at 6pm, only to find the restaurant at the hotel was closed, and there wasn’t anywhere else that offered food. Luckily I had a small ration of 2 pieces of baguette, an egg, an apple and a packet of biscuits to get me through the night.
Despite the occasional rain, and an extra 3km due to the detours, it was a great days walking. I met a Dutch couple at the hotel who were going to walk for a week in an area I walked during spring. We had a nice chat.