OFF WE GO

basque countryside

5 AM, the wind blows strongly and loudly in long gusts, it feels nice to be in the warmth of our bed, even though moving one's legs quickly brings up the fact that yesterday was a longer and steeper walk than anticipated. Before falling back to sleep I ruminate over the beginning of our experience. I am still trying to realize what our new life is all about and that it will probably be a routine for the next two-hundred days or so, courtesy of our knees. l am also impatient to discover what I will learn from this journey.
My brain plays some snippets, in loops, from a piece by Debussy, the prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. It matches the waves of the wind hurling through the window panes. Images from the past thirty six hours surface from my memory. For example, the image of a heavily pregnant woman on beach in Hendaye, who had a more sun-tanned bump than the rest of her body and was playing on the beach in bikini with her husband and their young toddler, reflecting on the simple joys of life and humanity. Timeout from work and more time to be in contact with everyday life might teach something about life and human nature? Then I recall the majestic trees between the pass of Ibardin and Olhette. They were magnificent, standing up for so many years that they owned the forest and were just benevolently looking at the few wanderers traversing their territory. They had a different scale than the human one and it felt like we could have met, around the corner, Obelix and Asterix hunting for wild boars.
I fell again asleep after having measured the size of the way yet to walk that would definitely require humility in front of the almighty nature and perseverance to continue on a daily routine - walking, bathing, washing clothes, eating, sleeping - yet in an ever changing environment.
7AM, time to wake-up for breakfast in a small pension for travellers in Olhette, called Trapeiro Baita and run by a retired sport teacher, André Desbordes, who is found of travelling and has been doing so as soon as he could with his camping-car that he unwillingly had to sell recently. André is also a retired director of the local rugby school, in which his young kids play - he re-married late with a much younger nurse. His next dream is to bring his wife and three kids for a two months holiday in South America later this year. He had cooked for us a simple but tasty dinner during which he shared with us his project and told us how he had been prosecuted for a cock singing too early and too loud and was fined several hundred euros in a first court judgement following a complaint by his neighbour who had a doctor's certificate that her fragile nerves couldn't cope with the cock's early singing! Finally André appealed the court decision and won the right to keep his cock singing after he had gathered numerous signatures from fellow villagers who thought it appropriate to have roosters in a rural environment like Olhette!

The day before, our first hiking had taken us out of Hendaye, leaving behind the gentle shores of the Bidassoa river as we climbed the first hills North East of the town. The Basque country is very green and very hilly. Houses and farms are usually painted in white with brick-red wooden windows and balconies. The roofs are red and tiled in A-shape but with a gentle slope. Older constructions have stone in their structure, as frame for windows and doors, but also in the corners of buildings. Seen from the top of a hill, the typical Basque landscape looks like a patchwork of green meadows in which white buildings, isolated or clustered, look like flowers amidst the grass.
We hiked up the pass of Ibardin, which is actually in Spain and enjoys a tax-free regime which means that shopping malls have proliferated as well as restaurant around the pass. Tourist buses go there for a bargain with a view. However there are two decent restaurants at the top that are worth a visit. We had a late lunch at one of them which saved my day ( slow-cooked codfish with tomato creme and a piquillo filled with crème de cèpe, the whole thing with a glass of white wine and a lot of mineral water to recover from the exhausting and longer than expected hike).
After this excellent break, we crossed a forest with large oaks, among other species, growing in the deep valley around the river leading to Olhette.
At dinner, we sat at the same table as a couple walking across the Pyrénées from West to East on the GR10. He was a solid enthusiast, a former french marine special forces, and she was a keen and experienced trekker. They told us how once they had to walk 58km in a single day because they couldn't find a place to stay as they walked along the Canal du Midi. She also said that for the crossing of Pyrénées she had insisted on packing snowshoes for both of them as it would be unavoidable to meet snow on the peaks at this time of the year. Asked why they did these long treks together, she said it was for the pleasure of being together and away from society.

images
1/ Basque countryside
2/ Spring is coming
3/ Slow cooked codfish at the Ibardin pass
4/ Trees in forest near Olhette

spring is coming

slow-cooked cod fish and its piquillo

trees near Olhette