St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to St-Jean-de-Luz

June 13, 2024

I left off yesterday with our arrival just ahead of the rain. It didn’t rain all evening; it ended and we went for a walkabout and to find a meal.

We are staying at La Maison Fleurie, an aptly-named B&B.

Our B&B is less than 5 minutes’ walk from the old town, in a very peaceful new-looking neighborhood (relatively speaking). Actually, the entire town is more peaceful than I remember, except for the big construction project on D933 (the main road through town) where it seems a new traffic circle is being built near the river.

Buildings of the old town of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port from the Rue d’Espagne bridge

Silly us. We had though that there would be plenty of dinner options in a tourism-based town like St-Jean PdP (compared to our last few stops). We were wrong. Many were closed, some were far above our price point (two or three times what we normally spend), and others were fully booked because nobody wanted to sit outside when the rain might start again at any moment.

We finally ate at Chez Dédé, a little place near Port de France. They first asked if we had a reservation. No. Then sit here, indicating a table for 2 below the bar. We kept expecting the place to fill up, but we were the only diners and they seemed to be closing up when we left after a pleasant experience and a decent meal.

As you leave by Port d’Espagne, this is what you see

And this. I didn’t know there was a different winter/bad weather route.

Our lovely outdoor terrasse that we didn’t use.

I wasn’t going to comment about our B&B until we’d had breakfast. It was excellent! I took this just before the coffee and hot milk was brought out. We were also told to take anything we didn’t eat along for lunch and brought bags to put it in. Maison Fleurie, highly recommended!

We did the usual zig-zagging out of town (because I let RWGPS map this part) but eventually we were on D15 towards St-Étienne de Baïgorry. Instead of heading for the rather close Spanish border, we turned north, more or less parallel to the border, until we rejoined D918. I remember not enjoying this busier highway in 2016 and regretting that I’d missed the turnoff to D349 at Bidarray, but this time I had a nice red line to follow on my Garmin and neither of us missed the turn.

D349 is also known and signposted as “Route du Pas de Roland”.

But what exactly is the Pas de Roland? I had thought it was loosely “Roland’s route” with Roland being the nephew of Charlemagne. But then the grammar doesn’t work.

The Route du Pas de Roland is very hilly, with lots of steep ups and downs and sharp corners so you can’t carry any speed gained in a descent to the next ascent. Yet there was a surprising number of cyclists on it.

So what is the “Pas de Roland”? From Guide du Pays Basque (dot com): “According to legend, Roland, Charlemagne's nephew, passed through this site in August 778, riding on horseback towards the pass which will allow him to repel the Saracens (in reality the Basque Vasconne militia) in Spain with the help of his army . However, a large impassable rock blocked his way. A first legend tells that this cavity was dug by a hoof of Roland’s horse. A second relates that unable to continue his path, Roland brandished his sword (named Durandal) and cut a passage himself to cross this obstacle with his soldiers. Legendary myth or natural collapse enlarged by man to pass a mule track? The mystery remains. Unfortunately, legend also tells that the brave Roland died shortly after this episode, on August 12, 778 at the pass known as ‘Col de Roncevaux’ at the feet of Spain, during a confrontation against the Saracens.”

The road takes a sudden dogleg, then there are people, and then we are at the Pas de Roland.

The Pas de Roland. This is what we have been riding toward for the past 10 lumpy km.

It’s the next km that makes riding D349 worth the trouble.

D349 along La Nive, downstream from Le Pas de Roland

We rode through Itxassou without stopping and then looked in Espelette for a place in the shade to sit and eat our sandwiches. We finally found an unoccupied shady bench against the front wall of what we thought might be the Mairie.

View from our lunch bench. It wasn’t a windy day but I caught the flags during a bit of air movement.

Espelette is famous for its eponymous peppers. From the website of the Syndicat du Piment d’Espelette AOP:

“It is in Mexico that the oldest roots of Espelette pepper are found. It was the first great explorers who in just a few years managed to disseminate pepper growing around the world. But how did pepper arrive in the gardens of the Basque province of Labourd? Nobody really knows, but the first traces of pepper appeared in Espelette around 1650.

“It was initially grown by women because they saw it as a good replacement for black pepper which back then was too expensive. Pepper was used as a spice both for seasoning and preserving meat and ham. Every year women selected pepper seeds for future sowing: these gave rise to the GORRIA variety, the only farmhouse seed which gives Espelette Pepper.

“In the autumn, to dry the peppers, the women strung them on a cord and placed them next to a wall on the farm. Once dried, the cords were roasted in the bread oven which was still hot from the day before. When taken out the oven, the peppers were crispy and were ground to make the powder. This know-how has been passed down from generation to generation.

“It was only in 1983, with the setting up of a cooperative, that there was a real will to professionalise the transformation of Espelette Pepper. However, it closed due to a number of difficulties encountered. The cultivation of Espelette Pepper declined dramatically and almost disappeared.

“However, this was not the final word of this exceptional spice. Driven by producers who came together as a syndicate since 1993, it was officially recognised as a CDO in 2000 and PDO in 2002.”

I suspect they aren’t real peppers hanging on this building, but it’s certainly a village theme

Street scene, Espelette. Pepper-coloured trim if no peppers!

It was a hot day for Vancouverites to be riding and we stopped again in Sare for cold drinks. Funny town, Sare. There seemed to be several one-way streets leading into the central square, but only one leading out. Maybe there was a second, but it was going up the hill and we knew our route was below us. So we zigzagged down from Sare only to zigzag back up again to Col de St-Ignace.

As I approached the summit (Al was well ahead as usual), I was amazed by the number of parked cars. What was the big attraction?

A little down from the actual high point, in among a row of parked cars.

It was the Petit Train de la Rhune, a rack railway that will be celebrating a century of operation this year. Today, it appeared that business is booming!

From Col de St-Ignace, it was essentially downhill or flat all the way to our hotel in St-Jean-de-Luz.

The seaside walkway is well above La Grande Plage in St-Jean-de-Luz. Behind me, the street dives down and the walkway on top of the seawall stays the same elevation, as in the panorama photo above.

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Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 1,995 km (1,239 miles)

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Rachael AndersonWhat a great ride with beautiful photos!
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6 months ago