Saturday, October 13, 2012


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 The sun we had left there earlier in the afternoon had been replaced by the same storm and apparently a house in the area had been struck by lightning.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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