by Liz

It felt good to reach the border with Spain yesterday. We were a bit hot and bothered due to the weather and the day’s hilly terrain, and today we are glad of the opportunity to rest up. It was my turn to get dinner last night and I chose a paella to mark our arrival. Tomorrow morning bright and early we say a fond farewell to France which has treated us to fine weather, fine food and 883 enjoyable miles of pretty countryside. The best of France, as our friend Ray said last year when he recommended La Vélodyssée to us. 

We are definitely in the Basque region here. Road names and signs are in two languages, one French and the other totally incomprehensible. Basque is Europe’s only language isolate, meaning it is in no way related to any other known tongue. The architecture is also distinctive, colourful timber framed buildings dominate, in place of the more usual French streets with homes in an array of different designs, sizes, orientation, colour and location on their plot. 

Our Airbnb in Hendaye is a 19th-century home in the Chênes area with high ceilings, its original doors and windows, chickens clucking under a fig tree in the back garden and a view of the Pyrenees from the kitchen window. The owner provided us with orange and ginger marmalade and butter for breakfast so instead of going out to eat, we bought a baguette and ate at the house. There’s a chicken theme going on here; besides the clucking ones under the fig tree, there are hens on the front doormat and on a charming plaque above the kitchen sink. 

We walked through a gloomy industrial estate on the way to the bakery this morning. An artist photographer asked our permission to publish a photo he took of us from behind, our luminous yellow jackets glowing in the gloom. He explained he likes to ask because if he makes €20,000 on the photo and it appears on thousands of tee shirts and we recognise it’s of us, we might be put out. We gave our full permission and look forward to the tee shirts. We also investigated the old church which has unusual multiple galleries. 

It’s drizzling today for the first time in just over three weeks. The Pyrenees are looking a bit foreboding on the other side of the river. We have 40 miles to ride tomorrow with 4,000 feet of ascent and we will need to watch our battery use carefully. My Spanish is rusty and my Basque non-existent. It’s going to rain. We are leaving our trusty friend EV1, which heads south, and will rely on Komoot for a sensible route west. What can possibly go wrong?