Saint Jean Pied de Port to Hendaye

July 7, 2019

Straight shot for the coast.

Heading to the coast along busy D918

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Not all cycling days can be magnificent. Today was one of those days. A day where you put your head down and pedal. To tell you the truth, I am glad there is not much to write about today because trying to keep a blog moving along at the end of the day, in addition to tending to the needs of setting up and tearing down camp, can be tedious. Don’t get me wrong. I love working on the blog, but a break from it is also nice.

So. Today. What to say? We left St. Jean Pied de Port under drizzling skies forcing us to bring out our rain gear for the first time on this trip. The rain didn’t amount to much of anything and the rain gear went back into the panniers within an hour. We followed busy D918 on a generally downhill trajectory all the way to the coast. It was strange following basically the same route we did on our previous year’s tour of the Pyrenees. Except this time we were headed West instead of East.

Along the way I heard the unmistakable ping of one of my spokes go. I had the same thing happen to me last year as I approached St. Jean de Luz. Weird. The slight wobble of my rim didn’t hurt our progress, but I definitely have to get it looked after sooner rather than later. I didn’t bring a cassette chain, nor did I bring extra spokes. So, I need to find a bike mechanic.

It was nice to see the coast again and the short ride we had along it today will continue for many more days to come. Tomorrow we look forward to climbing Mount Jaizkibel; a coastal mountain ridge that tops out at 455m.

Until tomorrow.

Pepper house. Espelette. The red stands of peppers hanging from the fronts of many houses here.

The master of finding fruit. These small plums were a delicious treat along the way.

I bought this delicious chocolate pastry, but for some reason one end of it looked like old man's toes.

Using this outdoor urinal in Espelette was a little weird.

Have a baguette craving at 4am? The baguette is so important, they even have vending machines.

Editing in process.....

Beach tents that you can rent for the day at Hendaye.

Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 249 km (155 miles)

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