Had a slow start today but got some housekeeping done. The AirBnb I have is a small studio, but has a Murphy bed and washing machine. Actually works quite well for me and was very economical. After a breakfast of GF bread with ham and sheep’s cheese I headed down to the market. Luckily, Tuesday is a market day and the Market here is a really good one. After that, did a walk around the Harbor and then did a bit of progressive lunch, had a half dozen oysters in one spot and moved elsewhere for a salad and that did the job. I think this is the first day I haven’t changed locations in almost 2 weeks! Anyway, it was a nice feeling to not be packing and running out the door.

After a pleasant dinner last night with the group of 6 French people I’ve been walking with, it was time to call it an early night. Was woken up by an early text that told me my train from SJPP to Bayonne was canceled. After heading to the station a very helpful station master offered to call a taxi at SNCF expense. Went back got my stuff, and of course, that didn’t happen. So they did substitute a bus. But, the bus took about 20 minutes longer thereby missing my connection. Fortunately, another, local train was running an hour later, so ended up just buying a new ticket for that, about 4euros so not breaking the bank. Got to my AirBnB in Saint Jean de Luz and got installed. This is a small studio with a Murphy bed, but it does have a washer, something I definitely will be using! Did a little stroll around town and got some breakfast supplies, ran a load of wash. Found a good seafood place for dinner and had the variety shellfish tower for 25 euros. Bit of rain coming through so glad I wasn’t out walking today. The French group had a hard day as they were going over the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles, which is a long day if you do it in one go.

A nice stay in Larcevau last night at hotel Espellet. Younger people taking over from parents and doing a nice job. Excellent dinner with the French group. And a nice clean comfortable room. Got a nice 8:00am start walking with Eric again whose pace suits me and who has enough blisters going on that he wants the distraction of walking with someone. Very pleasant, slightly moist and cloudy walk up a valley and after a few breaks, arriving in Saint Jean Pied de Port. This is the end of this particular Camino for me, but the starting point for people doing the Camino Frances. Checked into my hotel and when the appointed 3:30pm hour arrived was given an amazing corner room on the top floor with a balcony. So, over my four trips doing this, I have complete 750.8km to 466 miles! That’s a pretty good walk especially carrying a 20lb pack! For those interested in more detail on this particular Camino section: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Podiensis

Very pleasant evening at Hotel de La Paix in Saint Palais. A nice town with a central plaza. Good dinner, shared with Daniel, a physician who has been walking the same route and generally staying at the same places. Got an early start today as it was going to be hot. After about 45 minutes there was a gigantic hill that took most of an hour to climb. Another pilgrim, Eric, joined me for most of it and it was pleasant to have someone walking the same pace and some conversation. Turned out he was a McDonalds Franchisee and had 8 of them in France at one point. Anyway after a solid walk we arrived at our hotel shortly after noon, and tucked into a fairly solid lunch after that, our rooms were ready and by some luck the baggage had been delivered. Nothing like a shower and a nap on crisp white sheets to make for a nice afternoon! Tomorrow to Saint Jean Pied de Port, where most people would be starting the Camino Frances, where I will be ending this walk. 21,000 steps.

Well, the wedding at the gite last night was quite entertaining, and noise level they were able to maintain for hours was nothing short of amazing. Fortunately I was tired enough that I slept anyway. Since the official photographer left right after the ceremony, I took a number of candids and set them up for the bride in a shared album. Today’s walk is a bit of an estimate, the Gite was far enough off the trail that they dropped me at a place near with a short cut of a few Kms down to the trail. From there it was the usual rolling through some miles in beautiful rolling Basque Country. My hotel tonight is also in a town that is 5.1km off of the trail, at 4km/hr walking pace that is a bit of a ways. Today got quite hot, 83degrees, and wow, I don’t understand the people who decide to walk across Spain in July and August, that just seems like insanity to me. Much to my relief, Saint Palais is a “real” town, meaning a nice central plaza with multiple restaurants that will even serve you at 1:30pm. I stupidly put all my chargers accidentally in my transported luggage, but luckily had a battery pack and cord just in case. Suitcase didn’t get picked up till around 4:00pm, so, glad I had the essentials with me. Daniel, who I have run into several times, and is a physician from Croatia, is staying in the same hotel so we will have dinner together. He is moving to London and is an infectious disease specialist. While all of this is going on I am busy booking my unscheduled section between May 13-23. So far, St. Jean de Luz and Pamplona followed by San Sebastián are either planned or confirmed.

Cafe Gourmand.

Navarrenx was a pleasant town with a few cafes and a nice feel to it. Today was the Ascension, so another holiday in France. This resulted in extremely crowded walking, at one point I counted 30 pilgrims! To understand this, it is part of May in France that everyone “faire le Pont” or makes the bridge. If a holiday is on Wednesday and or Thursday you can take the Friday off and end up with 5 days off only using one vacation day. So, I think part of the crowds had to do with that. Lovely weather today but still lots of sucking mud. Got up and just trudged along, beautiful mountains in the background. Eventually after a stop for a snack, got off the trail to Charritte le Bas where the Gite owner picked me up promptly. Spectacular property with a wedding for 40 people this evening, so I’m sure that it is going to be an experience. 23,000 steps.

La Ferme de Bicatou had 15 people for dinner last night and did a good job with duck pate followed by a green salad and some roast chicken. Slept reasonably well in very narrow twin bed, but comfortable room overall. Was out the door at 8:00am for long day today. Pleasant overall and di not get rained on. First day of the trip that I didn’t get rained on, but there was plenty of mud and at one point I diverted off trail to avoid an enormous mud puddle. Today was lots of steep up and downs, fortunately mostly not of long duration, but definitely got the blood flowing. After a few breaks made it in to Navarrenx around 2:45pm. This is a fortified town with many of the walls still intact. A few cafes and restaurants and I’m in a modest chain hotel room. All good, but was definitely ready for a shower and a break on arrival. 33,000 steps.

The Gite at Boulangerie Brousse in Arthez did not disappoint. Bertrand put on a great meal for 18 hungry pilgrims including a heart vegetable soup. A fish and lasagna combo over vegetables and an ice cream cake for desert. He is a true character and has the hospitality gene in a big way. My plan had been to have him drop me back in Pomp, but on rising it was raining quite hard, so I decided to split the difference and have him take my only 5km back to Castillon which would still result in a solid day. Luckily the rain abated a bit and an hour and a bit later I was back at the bakery having a second cup of coffee. Then headed out after dire warnings that tomorrow is a national holiday and NOTHING will be open. (Not much of a contrast to my daily experience of rural France, but I keep hoping). Anyway, bought part of a sausage at the butcher, who did happen to be open. Then a lovely walk on a forest road with no cars. Joined a local walking his Border Collie and we walked and chatted for a good half hour or so before he turned back. The promised bakery towards the end of the walk was of course closed. Anyway, arrived tired but reasonably dry at the La Ferme de Bicatou in Maslacq, the local deli being closed from 12:30pm-3:30pm because who would possibly want to buy food at lunchtime? The owners gave me my room a nice little room at the end of the courtyard. Did some clean up and now awaiting the 3:30pm opening of the deli to venture forth and stock up on something for tomorrow. Off and on rain all day today but thankfully mostly not too heavy. You know how Charley Brown always fall for Lucy pulling the football away at the last minute? That’s how I feel about finding a store, cafe, restaurant or anything else open on any day at anytime in Rural France. I keep expecting that something will be open, and I keep getting suckered. Someone actually explained it to me the other day, here’s why it is so bad: In France in the country most of the people own the premises, eg. They are not paying rent. So, it is cheaper for them to close than to hire an employee to remain open. Ergo, they only work when they want to and close the rest of the time. In the USA most businesses are paying rent and any time there are closed represents lost revenue that can never be recovered. 24,000 steps.

An excellent night in a comfortable room! Was glad I was safely back as a pretty solid storm came through. Nice having a lot of space. Had an amazing breakfast including GF bread and then walking in the light rain. Eventually, about 2 hrs in there was a little place for coffee run by some Argentines. They were very pleasant. Continued walking until about 2:00pm and then arrived in Pomp and made a beeline for the epicerie, which managed some cheese and some ham. My lodging for tonight was booked considerably further, so a phone call produced the owner, Bertrand in a bakery van, who turned out to be a true character. He gave me a quick, and I mean that in the sense of speed, tour of the area before taking me to his sprawling Gite. This place was a bakery and still does some of that but seems to have a dormitory, private rooms, and I was given a little studio apt thing. Not terribly fancy but all amusing and many pilgrims around. A quick walk in to the town of Arthez de Bearn produced pretty much nothing with no bar, cafe or anything open. Many cars jetting around at top speed. Did find a working ATM on the second try. Still, it is looking like it will be an entertaining evening with at least a dozen people here if not more. 31,649 steps.

Here is a piece that I wrote yesterday since I had a short day:

Grit

Some thoughts about grit. At its simplest, grit could be defined as the willingness to stick to something when the going gets tough. Obviously for many things in life, including long distance walking, this is a useful thing to have. You need to be able to tough it out when your pack is feeling too heavy, there’s a big hill, it’s cold and your getting rained on. But, looking at it from another perspective, it is obviously possible to have either too little grit and/or too much grit. Many of us have one or the other of these depending on the situation. Sometimes we give up when we shouldn’t and sometimes we stick things out when we shouldn’t, both inappropriate uses of grit. In my own life I can think of plenty of examples of both types of grit application, deficient and excess. In either case, there is regret. How do you decide what is the right amount of grit to apply? I’m not sure I know the answer to that, but I can think of an example where I feel that I did apply just the right amount. I was walking across Spain on the Camino Frances, and had come towards the end of the Meseta, the table lands an incredibly flat and long section across the middle of Spain. I done a week of very long days. As I got to Sahagun, I had a pronounced limp and a golf ball sized lump on my right Achilles tendon. After consulting Dr. Google, I was convinced that it was probably Calcaneal Bursitis. I opted to take a few rest days in Leon. It was cold and rainy and after two days I was not showing huge improvement. I decided that while I could continue to limp along, I didn’t want to risk permanent damage in pursuit of a short term goal. So, that was the end of that camino, and I took the train down to Seville where it was Easter week, Semana Santa. An absolutely amazing annual occurrence in Seville. No regrets on that decision. Likewise, I could give some examples where I stuck it out too long and some examples where I undoubtedly quite too early. This may be one of those things that is always in play, but probably evaluating short term versus long term consequences and results may provide a better way to decide whether or not to stick something out.

The switch in lodging ended up in a pleasant evening around a big table with other pilgrims. Interestingly one couple were from St. Jean de Maurienne, where I did classe de Neige two years during my time in French school. The place had numerous rooms and was a working farm. The meal plan was interesting, Madame opened her boutique and we picked out cans of different things and some wine and then all sat and shared things. I had a small can of Duck Rilletes followed by a can of foie Gras and then a jar of pumpkin soup. Worked quite well. Because I walked further than planned yesterday, today was a short one, which was just fine with me. About an hour in there was a town called Pimbo that had a little creperie that even had a GF galette, needless to say it was nice to have something to eat other than the energy bar I had for breakfast. After walking to town, the hotel was able to give me. Room right away, a rare thing. This place is a big Maison de maitre, and my room is palatial! Really nice! Washed my boots of mud, changed shirts and headed to lunch at the one restaurant that was open. Just had a salad, but not having had anything green it a while it hit the spot. 17,600 steps.