Last night we reviewed our planned route out of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and recognized that it was on the busy D918 highway. This routing was from the route Raid Pyrenean Randonneur. It was not exactly what we are looking for, so we reconfigured the plan to pass Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry and then head onto a small country road (D349) beyond Bidarray. We had ridden this same route but in the opposite direction last October. Of course, it looked familiar as we rode it but when we mapped it out, much of it looked new to us.
We had breakfast with Catharine, the hostess at Maison Simonenia. She was such a delight to be around. She even packaged up a couple of sandwiches for the road and we said good bye - likely for the last time -but you can never say never.
Part of the new Maison LAURENTZENIA. We stayed in the room on the second floor left side.
Rue d'Espagne in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Walker getting ready to leave town. Day 1 on the Camino Frances from St Jean to Roncesvalles, Spain. It is around 24km and will take 7 to 9 hours if you walk it in one day. It is a tough day.
In Biderray: Pont d’Enfer (Hell’s Bridge). Legend has it that when the Devil realized that he could not learn the Basque language, he threw himself off this bridge into the Nive River.
Scott AndersonIt does look like it’s failing alright. Things looked brighter a decade ago: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/girona2014/saint-jean-de-luz/#3263_1930262_803vo9_image Reply to this comment 5 months ago
Scott FenwickTo Scott AndersonWhat a difference a decade will make. And how time flies - I remember reading that blog. I am thinking that the covid years really took a toll on business that was just on the margins. On this trip we saw a number of hotels, restaurants and stores that looked closed permanently. Reply to this comment 5 months ago
We tried to get a coffee at the Logis hotel beside the highway in Biderray but surprisingly they were not serving coffee on their outside terrace at mid day on Saturday. We certainly wondered why. We rode on through the town and up a steep hill to join the one lane road D349. We began to recognize the road that went up and down through farms on the edge of a hill. But what we did not remember was how steep the short sharp inclines were. They must have been about 15% grade. We would push our bikes to the top of a hill, get on the bikes and ride to the next incline to do it all over again. This was getting physically tiring and a bit frustrating. Soon however, this road connected to a wonderful ride along the Nive River known as the Pas de Roland. We had the pleasure of riding this stretch last year and it is a great road to pedal slowly and take in the sights.
I think that these are Pottok, a breed of pony native to the Pyrenees of the Basque Country in France and Spain.It is considered an ancient breed of horse, particularly well adapted to the harsh mountain areas it traditionally inhabits.
After leaving the Pas de Roland we completed the day in unchartered territory. Our last 10KM to Espelette was a great finish in rolling hills through farmland.
Espelette is famous for the peppers grown in the area. This pepper has a long history and is like a chilli pepper but is considered only mildly hot. The town is a popular tourist area and has many shops full of culinary delights with all things pepper being the highlight. The pepper samples I tried were very good so we picked up a few jars to take home with us.
