To Ainhoa

September 30, 2000

(Another day with a log of just bullet points. It’s near the end of the trip, I’ve obviously gotten behind. Too bad to fade out at the end like this, but better than I’ve often done).

We had an odd start to the morning. We came down to breakfast at 8:15, apparently too early, creating some confusion. The other hotel was better.
Weather was even greyer and less conducive to hiking, so we abandoned the plan to hike to Bidarray and set off for Ainhoa instead.
The climb to the summit (Col d’Ispeguy, at 840 meters) was not too bad - a steady 7% grade for 9 kilometers.
We took an excellent two hour hike, walking east from the pass to a neighboring summit with great views: wonderful green, patchwork ridges; beech trees; and Pottok herds. One came up behind us to within about 15 feet. (This brazen Pottok has been the subject of frequent reminiscences. We were completely startled by him when he came up behind our backs as we were sitting on the grass eating lunch).
Hunters in abundance, and what appeared to be a boar hunt with hounds.
Descent from the pass in intermittent rain, which we waited out huddled under roadside sycamores. The descent was very steep with many acute switchbacks. We waited for a bus and the train of cars behind it to pass us, and then lined up behind them waiting for the bus ahead as it struggled around each hairpin bend.
The remaining 30 km to Ainhoa: 15 up, 15 down on a reasonably quiet secondary highway (over the Puerto Otxando). We enjoyed a cloudy but beautiful view to the west and the coast from the summit.
We passed up our originally intended hotel at the Spanish/French border and stayed in town at Hotel Oppoca instead. It’s a wonderful place, across the street from the church, with a good view of the town and the fields to the south.
We enjoyed a terrific basque meal at the hotel’s gourmet restaurant.

A Pottok, this one probably a half-breed because of its coloration. The Pottok is a semi-feral breed of pony native to the Basque Pyrenees.

A herd of Pottoks, showing their variability.

This is the little guy that startled us by silently walking up behind us while we were eating lunch. This is another of those favorite photos that we framed and hung on the wall. It cheered us up every time we looked at it,

Image not found :( — The view from Puerto Otxando.

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