Into France

After such a harrowing evening last night, we had a great meal in the hotel and a really good nights sleep. We were up, breakfasted and raring to go at 8.50am, but then the heavens opened which delayed us for another hour!

We started the day with a mean hill climb from Lezo to Mt Jaizkibel on the way to Hondarribia which was 9km up to 455m above sea level and 9km down, during which time it lashed down again and we took shelter under some trees for a while. It was freezing at the summit and the descent was bitterly cold, with the wind starting to pick up.

We stopped for a great lunch in Hondarribia, lasting 2 hours in all, due to manyana service and more rain. Our next destination was across the French border to Hendaye and then onto St Jean De Luz, which was another climb, we thought we had seen it all on the weather front until we were hit by phenominal wind, very challenging to control the bikes on the busy road descent, Anne was blown off her bike, we decided walking with bikes was a better option, this was also amazingly tough going as the wind was side on. Shirley also lost control just walking the bike. This slowed us down enormously so after St Jean De Luz we switched from the coast road to a busier road with but much less wind.

We were delighted to reach Biarritz and then started hunting for a hotel. It was too cold, wet and windy to camp.

Biarritz is lovely, lots of very expensive shops and a nice beach, another one for a future visit.

We have since had a fabby meal in a Basque restaurant, 3 excellent courses for 20 euros a head, and are now tucked up in bed ready for another good nights sleep.

We do hope the sun shows its face soon, if only to justify the transportation of the sun tan cream up and down umpteen mountains. It is the only flavour of weather we have not had yet