DAY 29 : FRANCE : AIRE SUR L'ADOUR to ARZACQ-ARRAZIGUET - 35 kms - 8 hours

Distance walked so far : 618 kms

Weather : cool morning (5o) but sunny in the afternoon (20o)

Moving towards the Spanish border

Mark has made a momentous decision to expedite the final few days in France. Some of the gites in smaller towns are closing for the season and the distances between the larger towns is great. So he decided that we would walk 3 long days and have our baggage transported to make it possible - 8 euros for each bag delivered door to door. We walked our first long day today - 35 kms - flat and monotonous countryside - mainly corn crops. It proved to be just the right choice as we did it easily - fitness-wise - and it means that we have eliminated more of the less interesting countryside.



Endless paths and long hours along cornfields

 

Suddenly we moved into forest areas -
note no pack (and big smile!)

 

Then late in the afternoon we reached the region
of Pyrenees Atlantiques - close to the foothills of the Pyrenees

 

Tonight we are staying in a small hotel attached to a bar in Arzacq-Arraziguet. Not a particularly attractive town as we have seen in the better preserved medieval villages further north, but it has two large squares with good services (many towns don't even have pharmacies and supermarkets). It is a walled hilltop town or 'bastide', founded by 'les anglais' in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It used to mark the boundary between France and the then independent Bearn country. It is fascinating how quickly the language is beginning to change from French, to more Basque words - the spelling on menus, for example. Each place is very parochial with their own specialities. I can't imagine how they were finally able to decide on national borders in the 19th century, with such conflict of interests.(Of course, being on a hill-top meant that there was a climb this afternoon to get into the town...always seems to be the way.)

Each area is very distinctive

 

Bar/hotel, where we stayed,
 on one of the main squares in Arzacq-Arraziguet

 

One of the sad things about maximising our time is that we are now out-of-step with some of the other walkers that we have grown to know over the weeks - it has been sad to say goodbye to them.

M&M
1/10/12