Day 32

“Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.” – Frank Herbert

It was a must to enjoy the last day by the Atlantic to the fullest. In the morning I woke up a little bit earlier and went straight to the beach. It was almost empty, only few surfers and other morning birds could be seen around. I enjoyed this sheer morning bliss. It was amazing just to walk along the beach, have my feet washed by the sea and make footprint in sand. Only few things can be more peaceful and romantic than this! I also had a little run by the beach and later a little swim despite the fact that the sea was awfully cold. It is interesting to see in retrospective how I tried to grasp the moment and prolong my experience. Maybe the awareness of a near end of something intensifies the desire to enjoy it until one still can. Refreshed and elated I took Eva and we left for the biking route that stretched some more dozens kilometers along the sea before going inland.

By trying to find the correct route I was advised by another cyclist that the road I was going to take leads nowhere. His name was Benjamin, came from Glasgow and in his 23 years he did a 6-weeks trip through Norwegian, Netherlands, France, and was heading to San Sebastian, just with his bike, tent, sleeping bag, few clothes and something to eat. Well, as you can see, I am not the only crazy person around. There are more people thirsty for adventure like me. We talked by cycling for about an hour before we took separate ways. I wanted to finally have my brunch and he was trying to run away from the upcoming rain.

My eating habits were typical for these days near the Pacific – a little snack in the morning, branch at 11 am, lunch at 15 am, and dinner around 8 pm. For lunch I had today some cheap potato salad with ham from Carrefour with 2 baguettes. That proved not to be an ideal meal for my digestion and I took the most of the offline map by looking for the toilets the whole evening.

In the afternoon I could not pass the chance to have a last bath in the Atlantic before heading to the Pyrenees. Today it was cloudy with occasional rain and the Atlantic let me experience its relentless power. The flag on the beach was still blue, but I, a good swimmer, but still not used to big waves, was quite surprised by the sheer power of the ocean. I felt totally defendless for several times as the waves splashed me from one place to another, until I learned how to go about it. I did it deliberately, of course, but still, I had never experience such powerful waves before. It was definitely a lot of fun for me and I enjoyed it until I almost froze in the water. Before leaving the place, I took the advantage of public toilets where I washed my clothes to the utmost surprise of the nearby standing tourists. I desperately needed to do that and when the right opportunity arose, I jump at it, regardless whatever the other people would think of that.

I biked through other small towns until I reached Bayonne, the last big French city I was about to visit. However, I needed to do shopping before I could do any sightseeing. Frolicking in the waves put me quite behind the schedule and as a consequence, I did not manage to arrive in Lidl before it was closed. That totally screwed my plans because I had been planning to do big shopping for several days ahead. Furthermore, I had no more food and this was the last big city with supermarkets. I was pondering on the next step and then I came up with the idea of finding other supermarkets on the map, even though those might be more expensive. Luckily enough, I found Supermarché 2 kilometers from my location, but it had a small catch: The store was supposed to close in 30 minutes. Now you can imagine how I felt – I could not pass up this last opportunity to prepare for the Camino. However, exhausted and hungry, I could not make it on time. This was exactly the emergency situation in which I had to fell back to my iron ration, the power bar. That proved very effective. Eventually I made it in on time.

The city itself did not impress me much. I had the same eerie feeling as when I arrived in Basel. Maybe it is just because I feel bewildered when arriving in big cities in the evening. I could not enjoy any sightseeing because I was short of time. Therefore, I took only few pictures in the city centre and speeded away.

As usually, I got lost few times before I found the right route out of the city. Then I was confronted with something I did not really count on. Obviously, I was heading to the mountains, but I kind of had forgotten that and the uphill road surprised me to such an extent that it has become impossible to reach my planned finish. I saw some thunder in the far distance; the maps did not show anything else but woods so I decided to call it a day and to put my tent in the last civilized area behind some bushes at 11 pm. I was to wake up earlier anyway and it actually does not matter whether I have a luxurious bench for sitting before I go to sleep or not. I drank a little bit of my rose wine and was full of excitement that soon I will start the Camino. 

Link to photos