Day 42: Bayonne

Sunny then Cloudy 25°

From Walker, To Traveler!

Haha! As I suggested yesterday I’m not quite finished blogging this travel. The walk is over, but the trip continues. As I said to a good friend I have to gently wean a few people including myself off the blog, and this is a nice way to do so.😊

Last evening we went out for a celebratory dinner like we do at the end of each distance walk. We found a nice place right on the river and we were given a riverside table.

I find it really interesting how at the end of each distance walk, no matter how long it is, that when I finally decide to stop, I feel drained. Just like someone pulled the plug! That usually lasts for about a half day. Interestingly, if I had planned to walk onwards from here it wouldn’t have happened. I would still be totally engaged and energized. This was our conversation topic at breakfast.😂 See what I mean?

We were both feeling surprisingly done. Walking a couple of blocks to and from breakfast almost felt like a chore, and we weren’t even carrying our packs!

As we sat having breakfast, it was interesting to watch the pilgrims setting off for their climb over the Napoleon Pass. We reminisced about that September day 11 years ago.

A wander along the river was just what we needed. It fixed our low energy and sort of got us going. We stopped at a grocery store to buy some fruit and peanuts which also provided an energy boost.

We now feel like we’ve seen quite a bit of SJPDP though we never hiked up to the citadel. We were ok with that!😊. It was very fortunate that there was nice weather as it added to our experience.

Now sitting and writing at the iconic SJPDP train station. I had to wake a younger woman who was taking the whole bench sleeping. She was somewhat upset with me, but I didn’t really care because there were other people sitting on the ground while she took a whole bench. I knew that she had been on the Le Puy, but I saw that her bag was one of those that had been shipped ahead each day by small truck so that she could walk with just a day pack. That’s just fine, but I figured that she probably wasn’t as tired as she thought. 😎

A few snaps from the train as we slipped by.

First thing needed was lunch! Tapas!

Then into old town in an effort to find our hotel. We’ve never seen so many people out in the streets here. The first time we came it was on a Sunday and the second time we came here it was late fall and fairly late in the day. Today on a Saturday it was quite busy and lots of fun.

We went to see the cathedral because I didn’t think that we’d actually been able to get in there during our prior to visits.

It’s actually quite an impressive place with amazing Stainglass windows and ceilings that are quite unusual.

A confirmation ceremony was about to begin so we finished having a look and slipped outside to see what else we could find. We found plenty of colour!

And then we found a party!

A band was preparing to walk through the centre core. It was lots of fun, and everybody suddenly started gathering.

It seemed that a fellow was getting married and his friends arranged for the band to play a whole series of songs in the centre of town while he beat a tiny drum and they fed him a few drinks!🍺

Everyone got into it and suddenly people were dancing and singing along with well known tunes. Clearly people were having a good time! We were too!

Eventually we decided that we’d had enough. Time to return to our room and repack our bags for travel tomorrow, write a little bit of blog stuff and get ready to go back out for dinner.

So I’ll sign off for now and go and repack my bag. Tomorrow we take the train north for two hours to Bordeaux and then catch our flight to Lisbon. Next post will come from Lisbon!

Geoff🎉🍻🥳