Day 9 : 54.44 miles, 4:50 hours, St Jean de Luz
[ MAP ]

Was at the town's supermarket by opening time and stocked up on more fatty sausage and camembert. I must have been famished, the camembert didn't even last until lunchtime.

Took a main road out to the lovely town of St Etienne de Baigorry where I stopped to kick start myself with double espressos. The climb to Col d'Ispéguy, or "Izpegi" as it was called on the summit, was almost relaxing compared to the others on this trip. Another brilliant downhill into Spain, though there was no indication that I was entering another country except for the cheap booze and cigarette shops that littered the border. Wearing a bicycle helmet is compulsory in Spain, so with the temperatures hitting thirty degrees Celsius I could feel every bit of it.

There was a small bump of a Col to conquer, Puerto de Oxtondo, and then it was rolling back across the border into France again. I didn't even spot the last of the Cols, Col de St Ignace, but hundreds of pilgrims' cars lined the road. A railway there takes them to some fountains on the border.

It was easy riding into St Jean but along busy roads. I took the first campsite I could find. I could see the beach, about half a kilometre away, from the front of my tent. A good place to finish.

[The hills:
    18.   Col d'Ispéguy: altitude = 690m
    19.   Puerto de Otxondo: altitude = 602m
    20.   Col de St Ignace: altitude = 169m