Thursday
11th October Navarrenx France, side trip to St Jean Pied de Port
Fine
morning. overcast but some sunny patches. Did large wash and spent much of the
morning moving it around on rack to get it dry.
Lyndsay
did the huge repack of her suitcase today ready for flight to Singapore and
throw out of things no longer needed.
Usual
lunch of fresh baguette, cheese, tomato and usual siesta with lots of book
reading-the laundry here is the repository of dozens of paperbacks, just like
an old kiwi bach, and difficult to resist.
After
siesta when beautiful clear skies and sunshine we jumped in the car and headed
off south west from Navarennx towards St Jean Pied de Port, another major town
up a valley well into the Pyrenees about an hour’s drive away. We went cross
country down D roads (D2, D918 and D933) through some stunningly beautiful
wooded valleys, many with farms much more like kiwi farms than we have seen before,
with fenced fields containing lots of cows and sheep, over the Col d’Osquich at
500 metres. Great views from here in all directions, looming black clouds and
sun shining through and on them.
Arrived
in St Jean just before the great black clouds above opened and torrential rain
started pouring down. Busy town, lots of tourists around and lots of farm
trucks. It is one of the points that Camino walk passes through, and is often a
starting point as roads and track (GR65) lead directly up through a pass and
over the border to Spain.
Sat out
the initial, very impressive, thunder and lightning and heavy rain with a
coffee and very expensive tart tartine under café awning, bought some vacuumed
packed cheese of the region to take to Ruth and Marco in Singapore next week
and then headed off home again, heavy rain all the way back to Navarrenx and
getting dark by the time we arrived. The sun we had left there earlier in the
afternoon had been replaced by the same storm and apparently a house in the
area had been struck by lightning.
Rest of
the rabbit terrine for dinner.
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