# Tag 62 ... back in France

We are leaving Bilbao and want to let ourselves be guided along the coast. It is Saturday, April 30th and obviously a popular day for all kinds of activities in this region.

Our journey along the coastal road, which follows the cliff coast perfectly and allows for magnificent views of mountains and sea, has its challenges today. The drive is occasionally interrupted by roadblocks.

Sometimes it is a bicycle race that blocks the road. Other times it is a car rally with pimped-up cars, for which parts of the roads are temporarily closed.

The rowing regattas in the towns only moderately hinder us, except that the towns are full of people and there is a lively hustle and bustle.

Does all of this have something to do with the upcoming May 1st?

At some point, we have had enough and steer towards a parking lot to stay overnight. It is located at a viewpoint 'Baratzazarrak' (how do you pronounce that?) and is a real parking lot at the end of a very narrow road. The upper part is separated by a height restriction of 1.95 m - not for us - but we find a spot below. The picnic benches are well occupied, the Basque with his extended family laughs and shouts into May. Hopefully only until dusk...

Eventually, it becomes emptier and on the upper part, there are only a few VW buses overnight - and we are alone on the lower part.

The Camino del Norte also passes by the parking lot, and some hikers pass by and gladly use the toilet house right by the trail. When I curiously want to see if we can use it, I hear someone gagging from inside. Completely pale and horrified, the last user leaves the toilet and wrinkles his nose - let's better not use it and stay on our camping toilet.

A hike along the coast turns out to be never-ending. It should have been a small circular path around the coastal hill. When we looked around the corner, the path led to nowhere. It's better for the pilgrims to do that, we turn back.

Another path led to a viewpoint 500 m away, from which you could enjoy a beautiful view of the coastal landscape. The cliff coast here consists of the so-called flysch formations. These are stacked layers of rocks that have been exposed by the erosion of the sea. A very impressive view that I haven't seen anywhere else before.

The night was very calm and relaxed, what could make a noise here after the picnickers were gone.

The next morning (May 1st), the journey continued to France.

On the way via San Sebastian on the N 634 along the coastline, they were omnipresent - the Sunday morning road cyclists.

That was painful inside - how much I would have loved to ride along, especially since the scenery and the road were so great in front of us.

But our destination was France, and there was no other stop in between.

The foothills of the Pyrenees dominated the landscape up to the border at Irun. After that, the landscape changed abruptly. On the way to the Atlantic beach resorts of Bayonne and Biarritz, we moved from one urban environment to the next. Eventually, we lost interest and patience and decided to take a 40 km highway, which brought us closer to the destination of the day in Mimizan Plage. The road now led through endless pine forests on straight roads, with no hills or mountains in sight, just straight ahead.

We were in this area with a car about 40 years ago (Peter, that was an adventure 😉). The beach is probably still the same,

but the towns have changed tremendously (we probably have too). While there used to be only a campsite and a few beach stalls, urbanization and tourism development have arrived.

In Mimizan, as a stopover on the way to the Medoc, we are aiming for a campsite with showers for 2 days. The first place was still closed - but there was another one with spacious pitches and a washing machine. Sometimes you need it in between.

Two lazy days, one of them with a road bike on the flat routes, to treat ourselves and process the many impressions.

From now on, it's the final sprint - somehow we are already longing for home.