Off at short notice to walk sections of the Tours route. 3 days south from the centre of Bordeaux as far as Labouheyre, a break of a couple of days, finishing off with a 2-day section south from Saintes to Mirambeau. The Saintes-Mirambeau section has long been waymarked by the departement (Charente Maritime), but now also forms part of the GR655. A topoguide for the GR655 from Tours to Mirambeau was published after my return, so was not available, but the route was marked on IGN maps.
Decided on trip at short notice looking at sections of the Tours route. Thought about flying to Paris, but the timings were poor, so to Bordeaux instead, flying bmibaby from Manchester.
Cloud pretty well whole flight, so no views. Flight 40 minutes late and slow getting through customs, but still just in time for 16.00 bus into city centre. To tourist office for list of hotels (which also includes a reasonable map of the city centre), and then headed south for Gradignan and Cayac.
The city council had recently waymarked a Compostelan route along the rue St James (see Wednesday), but I was unaware of this and just headed south along the main rue Ste Catherine, now one of the main shopping thoroughfares, though my progress was impeded somewhat by a small ‘manifestation’ by a group of Kurds. Once past the pedestrianised area, the obvious route is straight along the main road, but I detoured along parallel side-streets, roughly following the route of bus line G. This was quieter but still not very interesting or attractive: town centres can be attractive walking, but suburbs rarely are. There are no waymarks here.
I passed a restaurant called the Relais de Compostelle, and at Gradignan there is also a Clos St Jacques old folks home. It was getting dark when I got to Cayac (where there is supposed to be a pilgrim refuge) and there was no sign of life, so I returned to the centre of Gradignan and took a room in a hotel there.
Dinner in a Spanish restaurant up the road: tapas and lamb - which seemed vaguely appropriate.
12km
Dawn chorus through open window, and another grey cloudy day but clouds high. Had thought I was the only person in the hotel, but there was also a minibus-load of Belgians.
Off again to Cayac, where examined what remains of the medieval priory plus the modern pilgrim sculpture, but again there was no sign of life at what was supposed to be the accueil pèlerin - I have to admit I did not really expect anything else at 8.30 on Easter Sunday morning. [Update 2005: the refuge has now reverted to the municipality, so may now be available again.]
I was however very pleased to discover waymarks here: our old friends, yellow arrows. So I followed them. They led firstly along a cycle-path by the side of the main road, then off at Beausoleil (where there is another hotel) into the classic Landes country: pine-trees, sand, bracken, more pine-trees, more sand, more pine-trees . . .
The waymarking deteriorated after a bit but it’s easy enough to find an off-road route along the many tracks which run largely straight through the endless pine forests. Some people dislike the Landes scenery, the monotony of walking on wide straight tracks for mile after mile, but I quite like it as long as I’m not walking on tarmac.
After the hamlet of Peyon I took a short break sitting on a log and heard barking dogs and hunting horns in the distance, though didn’t actually see any huntsmen. Warblers were tuning up, as were cuckoos, and I even saw a swallow.
On a tarmac road stretch further on, where the pine trees gave way to enormous fields of tulips, the sun came out and it even became warm. This did not last though, as it later started to drizzle and there was even a bit of hail, and I decided to stop for the night at the nice little hotel in Le Barp, even though it was still only 14.30. One of the problems with the Landes (apart from the monotonous scenery) is that there are few settlements, most of those are small, and so there is little accommodation. There are a few hotels, and some chambres d’hôte dotted about, but you have to tailor your stops to what is available, which may not be optimal from the distance point of view.
After taking a shower, I went out to look at the sights of Le Barp - which didn’t take very long, as it’s basically just a linear settlement along the main road - now largely bypassed by the autoroute further west. Quite a good selection of shops, but all closed of course on Easter Sunday. I did find a small bar open, with the usual gaggle of bored teenagers making desultory conversation and staring vacantly into their coca-cola. I stared vacantly into my beer, but soon left, deciding my hotel room was more interesting.
The hotel’s restaurant was closed in the evening, but fortunately there was a pizzeria nearby with a very friendly proprietress. So, 2 meals in France: 1 Spanish, 1 pizza - hmmm.
29km
Weather forecast for cloud, but woke to clear skies which remained for most of the day.
Had breakfast in the hotel - good but expensive, and quite a few other guests around. Not until 9 on this jour de fête. Then over the road to the newsagent to buy maps for the trip, which I had not been able to find in Gradignan. Curious: the 1:25000 and 1:100000 IGN maps used to be easy to distinguish by colour; now they are both blue, which seems an odd piece of marketing by the IGN, though no doubt they have their reasons.
The marked route starts along a lane but soon converts to nice sandy tracks through, yes, pine forest more of less the whole way to Belin. I met 3 cyclists out for a spin, though they seemed to be having difficulty spinning on the sandy surface. Jacket on to start, but soon off as the sun got going. Just before Belin, a lady in one of the attractive villas shouted ‘Vous faîtes le sentier de St-Jacques? N’êtes pas trop fatigué?’ so the route appears to be well-known to the locals.
Belin is, of course, mentioned in LSJ as a must-visit where the bodies of many of Charlemagne’s companions were buried. Not a very convincing story and there is nothing to see nowadays anyway.
By now it was time for a little something and, though there are a couple of chambres d’hôte in Belin, no bar was open. So I opted to leave the waymarked route, which goes to the west of the village, and head for the other half of this dual village, Belier, along the main road. This meant I also did not make the detour to the old church of Lugo. Rather a tedious 2km with no bars until I got to Belier, where there was a substantial brasserie, where I had a ham sandwich - marred by a throat-grabbing smoky atmosphere.
I then followed the lanes to the attractive C11 church of Mons, which was, as I half expected, closed, as was the ‘exposition’ next door. Swallows nesting in the porch fled in panic at my approach - maybe not such a good place to nest. A quiet, peaceful place on this Easter weekend.
Just south of Mons is the border between the departments of Gironde and Landes, and at Mons the yellow arrows of the Gironde give way to the stylised scallop-shell markings of the Landes Amis. Unfortunately the route to the next settlement, Le Muret, is very tedious, first along the N10 (wide with little traffic, but still tarmac), then along a lane by the side of the motorway.
Le Muret has a nice Landes chapel of St Roch on entry. A circular churchyard, a holy well at the back, set in an oak grove: in Wales, I would say this was an ancient site, but in the Landes? None of the oaks is particularly old. Butterflies fluttering around here: brimstones and even an orange-tip.
Opposite the church is a manoir with chambres d’hôte, and there are a couple of hotels, in one of which I stopped. Good dinner in the hotel, French for a change.
26km
Clouds back today, even if high again.
The historical route would have gone along the main road via Liposthey, but the marked route takes a much longer but more attractive route to the east via Moustey and Pissos. This starts by heading E under the motorway via a waterlogged underpass and then more sandy tracks and lanes with wide verges via Saugnacq to Moustey. Again, the knowledge of the route among the locals illustrated by a sign for a chambre d’hôte with not only a waymark but also a scallop shell.
Moustey has the oddity of 2 churches next to each other, one of which now contains an ‘exposition’, closed at this time of year, of course. There is also a plinth outside inscribed ‘1000km to Santiago’ - though of course that depends rather on which route you take. Again, warming up and jacket off.
More verges to the next village, Pissos, though I cut a corner off the official route. Route into P. through a leisure park sort of thing with lots of chalets. Rest in the square in front of the not very interesting church.
Back to typical Landes sandy track through the forest to Escoursolles, a picturesque scattered hamlet of maisons landaises. 10km straight stretch into Labouheyre, which I envisaged as another sandy track, but really disappointed to find the IGN map out-of-date, as much of this is now a road: very tedious, the tedium only relieved by a passing cyclist waving and calling ’salut St Jacques’.
Train out of L. for interlude in La Rochelle. See May 2005 trip for continuation of this route.
36km
Spent time in Bordeaux en route to La Rochelle, where discovered that the city council have marked a route through the city centre by adding the scallop motif to the street signs, and setting bronze plaques into the pavement. Followed a lengthy section of this, not only along the obvious rue St James (which name apparently comes not from English but from a Gascon form of Latin ‘Jacomus’) through the Grosse Horloge and past the site of the former Hôpital St Jacques, but also from the Porte Cailhau, and past the church of St-Pierre with a statue of St James in the portal, St-Michel, and the cathedral, which not only has a statue of St James in the portal, but also a chapel with a C14 wall-painting of St J.
Update: the city now publishes a free booklet on this route, and is talking of opening a pilgrim refuge as well.
After nostalgia trip to La Rochelle (where I lived for a while many years ago), arrived in Saintes at 10.30 to sample a section of the route in Charente Maritime. The department produces a very good free map to the route in their area (which I got from the tourist office) and have marked it with concrete plinths with scallop shells, similar to those in Galicia. Although this section is now part of an official GR - GR655 - there were no red/white stripe waymarks that I saw. The Tours-Mirambeau section is however now marked on the IGN maps.
Quite a warm day Thursday in La Rochelle, and still quite warm when I set off from Saintes around lunch time, though it later clouded over and there were even a few spots of rain. River path to start with (the Charente, in fact), and then a short section along the main road, though with wide verges, past a base of the armée de l’air. However, soon off on to grassy field tracks most of the way to Pons, passing the remains of a Gallo-Roman amphitheatre just after the airbase. As a change from the sand of the Landes, this is limestone country, just on the edge of the Cognac wine area. A clear day, with views back to Saintes most of the way; wind got up as over the tops of this undulating country. Lots of birdsong - larks, corn buntings.
To Pons just after 4, an easy walk, 23km officially. The GR takes a wandering course down to the river (Seugne) and up into the old town via some picturesque alleys. I however continued along the road, and into one of the ** hotels in the centre. Later, went for a walk, exploring the GR, marked ‘Chemin de St Jacques’, in the lower town, which has a C12 church, and up little alleyways, past a fountain called the Font-Pissotte, to the centre, which has a medieval dungeon and a rue St Jacques.
Another excellent dinner in the hotel, this time with a large group of Flemings at a neighbouring table.
24km
The interest in Pons for pilgrims lies on the way out of town, where you pass firstly a modern pilgrim sculpture, set rather incongruously on a roundabout, and then the famous C12 pilgrim hostel, where the route passes under the vaulted arch and where the large hall is being restored - perhaps some pilgrim accommodation here in future?
Again, the route shadows the main road, but the tracks aren’t nearly as conveniently placed as the previous section, and the rather zigzagging GR at 32.5km officially is considerably longer than the road at 23km. Also more tarmac than the previous section, but still lots of nice grassy tracks, and one nice bit through woodland with lilies of some sort just coming into bloom. One short section was waymarked as a GR besides the departmental plinths.
Went into the village of St Genis for refreshments, but not a great deal in the way of facilities en route. Not much of historical interest either, apart from the chateau at the former abbey of La Tenaille, which looked unoccupied with the large domaine all overgrown.
Further on, a young couple driving out of their house offered me water if I needed it; as the day was cool, I didn’t, but the offer was appreciated.
Arrived mid-afternoon in Mirambeau, past a very grand (and very expensive) **** hotel in the chateau on the hill, and then pondered where to spend the night. There is a tourist office, but it was closed. There are 2 ** hotels, one of which was closed and the other right on the main road; there are also a couple of chambres d’hôte, and I opted for one in a manoir: not a cheap option at €80 for B&B. A typical old-fashioned large room with high ceiling and antique furniture, but a large modern bathroom. There were also substantial grounds to wander in.
After a bath, took a look at the town, though couldn’t find much of interest. A bar on the main square is run by an English/Scots couple, with a few expats dropping in - though this is not really my scene.
33km
Very civilised breakfast in the library - in fact, a very civilised place all round.
Spent quite some time deciding what to do. Mirambeau is, at least for the moment, the ‘end of the line’ as far as the official route is concerned: once it leaves Charente Maritime, there is no marking, in fact, no official route at all as far as Bordeaux. There is a new cyclepath between Etauliers and Blaye which is an obvious route to use; it is easy enough to follow the lanes from the departmental border to Etauliers. So I did think of continuing on to Blaye, but it was Sunday and I had to get to Bordeaux the next day for my flight back and wasn’t at all confident of there being public transport to get me there, nor of being able to get across the river to catch public transport there. There is no public transport in Mirambeau on Sunday - in fact, not much public transport on any day. So I decided to leave the GR655 at Petit Niort and follow the GR360 to Montendre, where I knew there was a train to Bordeaux.
The forecast of rain in morning, clearing up in early afternoon, turned out to be exactly right, so it was damp when set off around 10 for Petit Niort, all of 1.5km away. Here I headed off in the rain to the SE. Exactly true to the forecast, the rain stopped just as I arrived at Montendre, and I stopped in a bar to dry out before the train arrived.
The Charente Maritime route has been recently extended 5km further S to Pleine-Selve [now included in the new GR655 topoguide] though this is not shown on the IGN map. I did not however walk this, and it will have to wait for another time.
Arranged to combine the opening of the Landes section of the Voie Littorale at Mimizan with a week’s walking in the area, but the opening was postponed at the last minute. Add to this the fact that the weather forecast of warm weather was correct, and the trip was not a 100% success, but I did at least walk a further 140km or so of Chemin de St Jacques - Landes section of Tours route plus coastal route Bayonne-Hendaye - even if not what I’d originally intended.
See blog for Easter 2004 trip for section Bordeaux-Labouheyre.
Flight Southampton-Bordeaux (Flybe) 1 hour late, so rather tedious wait at airport. Seemed to be having aircraft problems, as on Bombardier Dash turboprop instead of jet normally run on that route. Partly cloudy flight, and on wrong side of aircraft to see coastline and work out position. Bus to station, and into one of numerous hotels nearby - cheap rate as weekend, when hotels generally largely empty. Tremendous downpour just minutes after I arrived.
Problem with starting from Labouheyre is that few trains stop there, so had to get up for 6.35. This arrived 7.23. L. being a largish village, I expected there to be at least one cafe open, but though I wandered around for quite some time I failed to find one, though I did find a boulangerie to get something to eat.
The church is dedicated to St Jacques (as is the fountain), and has rather a curious tower (apparently a C19 semaphore tower), though it’s largely a post-medieval reworking of a romanesque building. There is now a pilgrim refuge in L.: a room in someone’s home with space for 6 people.
Having failed to find a coffee, I set off on the road S, and soon went wrong, crossing the autoroute too early - though this may very well have been my fault for not paying attention rather than any problem with the marking. I crossed on the road to Escource, but soon headed off into the forest. Though this was a longer way round than the official route, it was probably more pleasant, as I saw deer and heard woodpeckers and cuckoos rather than the roar of passing traffic.
I rejoined the official route, but detoured off to Cap de Pin for a belated coffee in one of the truckers stops there. Heard Basque there.
Soon after C de P, the route leaves the side of the autoroute (at last), and heads off along a forest track. (See Amis Landais site for route description.) Another walker was ahead of me, whom I soon caught up with and accompanied for a while. He was heading all the way to Santiago, having started from his home in the Vendée.
The track is dead straight for many km, but at the hamlet of Lesbordes the marking heads off to the left along more attractive paths and tracks. Although the skies had been cloudless early on, by now clouds had come up and I even sheltered under a tree for a short shower.
Further along, I went seriously astray by following yellow arrows which turned out to be put up by forestry workers and nothing whatever to do with the route. This led me too far south and probably added some 3-4km, which put me out of sorts. I even had to get out the compass to work out which direction I was supposed to head.
Eventually arrived in the village of Onesse at 12.30 and had a couple of beers sitting in the backyard of a small bar in the sunshine which had now reappeared. Mine host asked me if I was going to St-Jacques; I replied with my usual spiel that I was sur la route de St-Jacques but not en route pour St-Jacques.
The official route makes several detours off the road to Lesperon, and I’d originally planned to ignore these and just continue on the road all the way - there is little traffic on this road. However, I had plenty of time, and dawdled along the official route which follows attractive paths through the forest. I still arrived in Lesperon before 4.
I’d planned to stop in the small hotel next to the late-medieval fortified church (also dedicated to St Jacques), but this was shut up tight with no sign of life, so I went into a neighbouring bar for a drink. I then decided to head for the village’s other hotel, a **, but this turned out to be on the far side of the main road and a good 3km from the village, so I was rather heated and footsore when I eventually got there, to be greeted by a beaming ‘Un pelerin!’ by the owner. He told me a Dutch pilgrim had been there the night before, so I was obviously not the first to make the hike over from the village.
I took a room with a bath (€54) and wallowed in that for a long time, especially as I’d forgotten to trim my toenails before starting and one had cut into the next toe bloodying my sock.
A good dinner in the hotel - just as well, as there was nowhere else to eat! There are a couple of chambres d’hôte in the village, including one on the way in, so this might be an alternative to traipsing over to the hotel.
An advantage of travelling at this time of year is the long daylight, remaining light until after 10.
Despite going astray twice, the marking was generally very good. Because of going astray, and going to the hotel, my total walking for the day was more like 40km than the official 32km.
Although the hotel was not far from the main road, the room was on the other side, so was quiet with only birdsong to disturb the peace, so a good night.
I decided returning to the official route in the village was too much extra walking, so headed S along the tracks, rejoining the official route again past Taller - a very long short-cut. After leaving the main road, I saw no-one apart from one fellow in a lonely house who came out to see what his dog was barking at. Skies again cloudless, but route largely in shade of forest.
I had hoped there would be a bar or shop at the small village of Gourbera - there was a bar, but it was closed, in fact, looked the sort of place that only opened occasionally. After Gourbera, the route forks: I took the direct route rather than the longer one via St-Vincent-de-Paul. This continued through the forest, partly in sun, partly in shade, but by now the first slight inclines appear - can’t really call them hills, just slight humps, but no longer completely flat as in the real Landes. The Amis guide warns of a dog in one hamlet, but I had no problems with dogs.
The route into Dax is unfortunately cut off by the bypass and has to make a detour via the main road, which is pretty tedious, especially when the temperature is mounting to 30° as it was by now. The waymarking uses side streets to avoid the main road; unfortunately this does not pass any shops or bars until a small supermarket just before the church of St-Paul-les-Dax, so if you’re looking for this, as I was, sticking to the main road is probably the better bet. I raided the drinks cabinet in said supermarket and sat in the shade of the churchyard recovering my cool. While I was there, a cyclist, probably en route to Santiago, also arrived and left again, but he was a way from me and we did not speak.
The church has some fine romanesque carvings on the outside of the apse at the E end; it also has a massive tower at the W end, but the nave in the middle is a dull relatively modern construction. There is now a pilgrim refuge here, but I headed for the spa town of Dax on the other side of the river and took a hotel room there.
Dax is a hot-water spring developed since Roman times (Aquae Tarbellicae, from which the somewhat odd modern name comes), and is full of thermal hotels where people on cure lounge around in bathrobes. You can sample the water in the main fountain in the town centre, and it really is hot.
33km
Temperatures still warm overnight, so kept window open and was bothered by mosquitoes buzzing around, and woke up with a rather blotched face. Temperatures of 30°+ forecast, and the final hot and sweaty stretch into Dax had given me a small blister on the ball of my left foot, so I decided to (a) have a day off, and (b) go to the coast where it would be slightly cooler. See Saturday’s entry for continuation of this route.
So a lazy morning and a midday train to Bayonne. Lazy lunch in riverside restaurant, and small but not too expensive room in my favourite Bayonne hotel: the Grand. Afternoon really hot - definitely not walking weather. Everyone seeks out the shady side of the street; fortunately, there are plenty of colonnaded streets in the old town. Disappointed to find the sagarno eguna (day of cider, as I’m sure you all know) was the previous weekend, so I missed by 4 days.
Bayonne is one of those towns that I’ve changed my opinion on over the years. When I first visited it, I didn’t like it much - seemed a bit seedy and run-down. Now I like it: it’s not on the coast and has no especial tourist attractions, so it escapes the hordes that descend on Biarritz or St-Jean-de-Luz. On the other hand, it has plenty of history, and is one of those with long links with England. Its cathedral is not one of the best, but has some nice touches; I particularly like the Adam-and-Eve window with the serpent wearing a medieval PhD cap - who says church builders have no sense of humour!
Supper picnic of quiche and large bottle of beer from French Flanders (goudale - literally, good ale - from Douai) in park.
Blister having now gone down, up early and off along Nive towpath. 3 paths created by the Pyrenées-Atlantique Amis run along here: to Hendaye, to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and direct to Pamplona via the Baztan. Officially they start at the cathedral, but the marking does not start until further out. I decided to take the coastal one to Hendaye, on the assumption it would be cooler by the coast. Judging from what I saw, the paths are all well-marked. Sketch maps and descriptions on their website.
The coast path soon leaves the river and heads W towards the airport and Biarritz station. This is largely along roads at first, including a very nasty bit where you have to cross over the main ring road, particularly bad for me as I hit the rush hour. There’s a pleasant bit along the airport perimeter fence (the opposite side of the airport from the terminal buildings), and then some more roadside walking before some quieter lanes. Eventually you get out of the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz conurbation.
Just before Bidart is the only bit that’s actually near the coast - very hazy when I was there because of the heat, starting to build again after the early morning mist had dissipated.
Bidart has a typical Basque church, with 3 wooden galleries and a model ship hanging from the ceiling. It also has a wooden statue of St James, though I suspect this is a later addition. Bidart also has a pilgrimage chapel of St Catherine, though I did not visit this.
The route heads inland at Bidart, and follows a mixture of quiet lanes and tracks past some posh villas. At one point, the marking was absent, but I continued in the general direction and eventually found it again. Heard an oriole here; first time I’ve heard one of those for a long time.
The marked route follows the river estuary into St-Jean, but it might be more ‘authentic’ to arrive on the road and enter the old town via the Rue St Jacques.
Quite a short day by my standards (28km officially) but glad to get out of the heat and into a hotel room for a good soak in a bath. Hotels in St-Jean, a touristy place, rather on the pricey side. Plenty of good restaurants to choose from, and still hot at 10 in the evening.
St Jean too has a typical Basque church, one of the largest, also with galleries and a ship hanging from the ceiling. This is where Louis XIV was married.
Only a short walk to Hendaye (13.2km officially), but off early before heat gets going. Firstly, over the bridge to Ciboure, where the marked route goes past a plaque marking the former Hôpital St Jacques. The route tries hard to avoid the main road, and at one point I lost the marking and made a lengthy loop before arriving back where I started, which didn’t please me, especially as the heat was starting to build.
Generally, however, this is a nice stretch through attractive rolling country, past a mixture of Basque farms and villas. The final bit before descending into Hendaye is through a garrigue type of scrub, where the route crosses the GR10 Pyrenean traverse. Very welcome too was the (relatively) cool breeze coming off the sea at Hendaye.
The route descends into the town via the Rue Santiago, passing the Hotel Santiago, which looked ok, and is reasonably priced. It then crosses the Pont St Jacques (which has name plaques you can photograph) into Irún and Spain, where the discrete little markers on the French side give way to Spanish waymarkers who have gone berserk, planting large yellow arrows everywhere. Are the Spanish really not capable of finding the way without such intrusive aids?
I immediately crossed over the old bridge back into France again (so was in Spain for all of 2 minutes), and had a sandwich and a beer in one of the cafes opposite the station before catching the train back to Bayonne. Though I’d not seen any pilgrims on my route, several obvious pilgrims came out of the station while I was there and set off for the Spanish side. There were also quite a few mountain walkers around.
So, would I recommend this short stretch Bayonne-Hendaye? Well, it is a densely populated strip of land with main roads to avoid, and several sections are frankly unattractive. On the other hand there are attractive bits too, and it’s generally well marked, with a free guide available on the Amis’ website. Despite its touristiness, St-Jean-de-Luz is an attractive place with a nice beach if you’re interested in such things (which I’m not). Bayonne is also a much more satisfying and ‘authentic’ place to start than either Hendaye or Irún. So on balance, I vote in favour.
At Bayonne, it was still hot, so I sat on a cafe terrasse for a long time debating where to go next. I thought about booking into a hotel, and trying the first section of the route to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port the next day, but eventually decided to take a train to Pau. Then, if it was still hot the next day, I could take the bus up to the Somport where it would be much cooler.
So, the 16.22 train got me to Pau for 17.32, and I caught the (free!) funicular up to the town just in time to get a list of hotels from the tourist office before it closed. I got a large, reasonably priced room with a bath in a back-street **.
Pau (on the Arles route) is the departmental capital and has a chateau to visit. It also has strong links with England, owing its C19 growth to popularity with wintering English people, who created golf courses and even cricket fields; the golf is still there, but whether they still play cricket? However, its main attraction remains the splendid views of the Pyrenees from the Boulevard des Pyrenées, which I remembered from previous visits many years ago.
I wandered around for quite a while looking for the restaurant quarter and eventually found it near the chateau. A good meal, but rather more than I wanted to pay. I commented to the owner on the heat and how I was glad not to have to work in a kitchen in such weather. She said it was better than the day before, when it had been ‘atroce’.
Very large TV set in the hotel room, showing 16 channels of rubbish.
This morning cloudy and noticeably cooler, so decided not to head up to the Somport, but take the train back to Dax to continue on the route south. This time the Pyrenees were hiding themselves and were not visible from the boulevard.
The markings lead over the river and to the cathedral at Dax; though this is a generally rather dull building, it contains the remains of the C12/C13 portal with sculptures of the Last Judgement and statues of the apostles, including, of course, St James.
I must have been so excited by this that I missed the markings, which apparently take a side route to the next village of St-Pandelon, and ended up batting along the road - easy to follow, but rather tedious.
From St-P, the route follows quiet lanes to the village of Cagnotte, where the church is what’s left of the former C12 Benedictine abbey. In the village is a restaurant/bar called the St Jacques, where I stopped off for a beer and sandwich. The owner is obviously interested in the route, as there is a display on one of the walls, and an invitation to sign a livre d’or. If you prefer to have a picnic, there is a nice little picnic site by the abbey church, which is further on, by a little river; here there is a water tap, and a mapboard showing the chemins de St-Jacques.
From here, the route at last leaves tarmac and takes a nice track through a forest, where the route forks, one fork going the long way round to Sorde, the other direct to Peyrehorade. I picked the latter and arrived in time for the train to, yes, Bayonne again. There is a *** hotel in P. (and a pilgrim refuge in the abbey buildings at Sorde), but I had to get back to Bordeaux for my flight the next day, so sadly could not complete the route to St-Palais.
After Dax, the terrain becomes decidedly hillier, as you leave the Landes and start to approach the mountains. However, the mountains were only just visible in the haze from just before Peyrehorade. No doubt in clearer weather they would be visible considerably before that.
Dinner in one of the many restaurants along the Nive, having a Basque speciality called axoa (the ‘x’ is pronounced like English ’sh’, I was told) of veal. No idea what this means, but it tasted good. For once, I sat inside, as it was getting rather cool for sitting outside.
22km
8.40 TGV to Bordeaux, into centre on the new tram, and wander along part of St-Jacques route didn’t walk last time, i.e. to St-Seurin, where admired the statue of St J on the S portal.
Had intended to do some shopping, but the Virgin Megastore seemed to be the only thing open, so sat around in various places, including the Place Gambetta, where a pilgrim came past. He glanced briefly at me, and then set his eyes firmly on the middle distance.
So flew off from Bordeaux airport again, just as the French were queuing up to vote ‘Non’ to the EU constitution. Cloud all the way back except for the approach into Southampton, where fine views over the Needles and the New Forest.
