Today I had one last long drive, and had to finally say goodbye to Penelope, the Mazda M3 with the British GPS lady, after 2,536 miles through France. Countless roundabouts, many toll booths, narrow lanes and high speed autoroutes, through many of France’s most beautiful regions: Normandy, Brittany, the Loire Atlantique and the Loire valley, Dordogne, Provence, Cotes de Rhone, Occitanie, and finally the Nouvelle-Aquitaine. I won’t miss the search for parking and the constant reminders to “go over the roundabout”, although we were perplexed about the difference between that and “enter the roundabout”. Back to some public transport and someone else doing the driving.
I have been to Biarritz before, and even stayed in this same hotel. It was almost exactly 3 years ago when I landed here to get over jet lag before heading out on the Camino de Santiago. (I started walking on September 8, 2014, so Happy Camino Anniversary to me!) This is the Basque Coast, on the Atlantic Ocean, quite a change from the warm and mild Mediterranean. The waves were crashing today, and the swimming area on the Grand Plage was pretty narrow so that the 5 lifeguards could keep watch. It is a typical seaside surf town, with Quicksilver and Roxy stores interspersed among the tonier spots for the higher end crowd that make this their playground. I continue to be amazed at the French way of dressing and undressing on the beach — in the absence of changing rooms a towel and a corner seems to do just fine. I’ve never met a beach I didn’t want to comb, so an evening walk turned up a few lucky stones and some sea glass, and I wasn’t quick enough for the tide which caught my pant legs in salt water! I was also impressed with some incredible sand art.
While it wasn’t my intention, it’s been interesting to me how many spots along the way are related to the various caminos, or chemins in French, which lead to Santiago de Compostela. When in Arles I found the church that begins the Arles route. In Carcassone, my hotel was across from the church that is on the Pyrenean Foothills route. And just about 40km from Biarritz I stopped for gas at the Aire d’Hastingues (rest stops are called Aires, some of which has gas and food, others just picnic tables and toilets), and there was a little museum/exhibition about Les Chemins de Santiago. It was fairly corny, with wax sculptures re-creating moments from the history of St. James and the centuries of pilgrimages, but it was the only place I’ve seen that is dedicated to explaining what these journeys are about. It seems to me that the universe might be telling me that it’s time for another long walk.
Dinner was at a cafe on the square and after 4+ hours driving today, I’m ready to rest my head early tonight. So that was Friday.
Bye Bye, Penelope!!! She was a good companion!
Ahhh…walking the beach.