L'aventure Commence Sun 7/7/2002   This is where it all starts, my first long distance bike trip, my sabbatical year and the return to Bordeaux. After having totally stressed out about painting my former living room, and doing some last minute office work, I finally dropped everything, took a mega quick shower, power packed the last few things and then cycled to the station, where I realized that I had forgotten the carefully prepared sandwiches in the fridge, so bought a pizza instead. Felt excellent when I heaved my bike onto the train and took the first picture of my trip. Now it started to feel like to felt the start of an adventure. Paris to the South-West Mon 8/7/2002   Did not get any sleep that night so arrived a little tired at the Gare de l'Est at 8am in brilliant sunshine! Luckily I had brought the Lonely Planet "Cycling France", as I used the route and map of Paris extensively, looking at Notre Dame, the Louvre, Palace de la Republique, Tour Eiffel and Jardin des Invalides. (among other things) After a small and expensive breakfast I cycled to the Gare Austerlitz where I found out that the first train I would be taking went all the way to Royan. Hence decided to start in Royan, cross the Gironde by ferry (to Soulac) and then cycle south towards Montalivet. I had been to this area several times before and was hoping to have dinner at the Cousteyre, a fabulous country restaurant near Vendays Montalivet which serves duck menus. On the ferry I talked to a somewhat friendly but very uncool German guy who was also travelling by bike in the area. The guy turned out to be totally weird and luckily decided to split after about 30 minutes of intensive cycling. (At about 30km/h whilst he was spitting and snorting behind me - Yahoo) Checked into the Hotel de France and headed off to La Custeyre, only to find that since the season had not started I was the only guest of the evening! During the course of the gorgeous menu for EUR 266,50 I asked Lucille, who was serving that evening, if I could take a picture of all of the people working there in front of the restaurant. After having done that I found out that the 6 people there were 2 sons and a daughter of the owner as well as their friends. I moved to the kitchen for the cheese and coffee, rather than sitting in the restaurant by myself, trying to practice some of my long forgotten French. There I had a terrific time listening to stories about the whole restaurant being filled with Germans spare one French person, or the German group that had already booked a table 2 months in advance, which had never occurred before, so everyone was quite amused by this typical German behaviour. Had a brilliant time talking to the whole family in the kitchen of La Cousteyre, to where I will no doubt return. By the time I left it was past midnight and I was pretty drunk and extremely happy that the trip had started off in such an amazing way.	0m ca 75km La Cousteyre 4km de Vendays Montalivet Ph: 05 56 41 73 77 GPS: N 45 20.150 - W 01 05.509 Hotel de France Centre Vendays Montalivet 35 EUR (not incl. B) GPS: N 45 21.423 W 01 03.611
Night Train Nuremberg Pyrenees from Above Notre Dame Louvre Louvre Eglise du Dome Tour Eiffel La Cousteyre - Groupe La Cousteyre - Interior La Cousteyre - Cuisine avec Maman Montalivet Centre Hotel de France
Long Day in the Rain Tue 9/7/2002   Tried to get up early but did not succeed until 8:30. Started to play around with the panorama software I had downloaded earlier this week but ended up giving up and reverting to the manual Photoshop edit. This was after I had been downstairs to find out that the EUR 5 for the petit dejeuner was not a great deal. Took me ages to get ready and I didn't get going till 11 o'clock which seemed to coincide with the beginning of a persistent rain which was going to accompany me for the whole day. Hence today proved an important lesson: never try to save on outdoor equipment, my Arcteryx jacket kept me warm and fairly dry and more importantly the Ortlieb panniers kept all my electronics stuff safe and dry despite some mean stretches of intense downpour. Unfortunately I had opted not to put on my Goretex trousers and boots so I ended up cycling with completely drenched feet all day. Had a short lunch-break in Lacanaux Ocean which was full of young people and surfers and definitely seems to be on of the nicer and cooler spots in the region. I must also mention the last stretch of cycle path from Hourtin Plage to Lacanaux Ocean which was a new variant not known to me, consisting of slabs of cement about 40cm wide and about 1m long each, which reminded me of a single trail except for those head encounters with families and small kids etc. Continued on for 2.5 hours to Cap Ferret where I crossed the Arcachon basin on a small passenger boat for an outrageous EUR 9 (including bike). Cycled about 100 km today and hence felt pretty beat, so opted to stay in a hotel in Arcachon which seems to be a good decision as it is pouring down outside while I am writing this. The hotel I ended up staying is called "Le Saint Christaud" and is really very friendly and the rooms are small but have a good atmosphere. Would like to try to make it at least half way to Biarriz tomorrow and will aim for a campsite, providing the weather improves, at Lit et Mix.	~ 500m ca 100km Le Saint Christaud 8, Allee de la Chapelle 38 EUR - Ph: 05 56 83 38 53 GPS: N 44 39.730 W 01 10.862
Hotel Le Saint Christaud
South of Arcachon Wed 10/7/2002   The next morning brought a short streak of bad luck, as I noticed after about 12.5km that I had forgotten my wallet at the hotel. I had to cycle back to get the damn thing (25km extra) which ended up making this day way more difficult and strenuous than I had hoped and planned for. By the time I re-started from the hotel it was 11:15 and my left knee was really hurting, ( i guess from the cold and rain yesterday) improving only slightly along the way, probably being helped by the sunshine in the afternoon. Cycled past the Dune de Pyla, and south towards Biscarosse Plage and on to Biscarosse, where i had a pretty decent pizza for lunch. Continued along the D652 to Parentis and on to Gastes, on the Etang de Biscarrosse which seemed to be a very nice place. Then on through Sainte Eulalie-en-Born on to Mimizan, which was dominated by a huge factory using wood chips to produce paper or alcohol. By now I was cursing myself for the extra 25km feeling quite worn out - Couldn't stop thinking that I could now be sitting at the campsite relaxing with a bottle of wine by now. Turned south in Mimzan Plage and stopped for an hour or so 5km south of Mimizan-Plage. After break continued on for the last 15km to the campsite at Cap de l'Homy 6km west of Lit-et-Mixe with sites located right in the dunes and which had been recommended to me by Christian "Gogo" Goetz. After my arrival there at 6pm, immediately proceeded to pitch my tent as it was looking like rain, however apart from a few drops the weather held and I FINALLY got to get rid of some of the food I was carrying. Made spaghetti with pesto and gruyere cheese, very yummy actually. :-) The evening brought another stretch of bad luck when I managed to sit on the Oakley sunglasses which I had only purchased 4 days earlier. F.... great, so now I've decided I will no longer buy expensive stuff without a visa card purchase protection! (Later I would find out that Oakley has a 1 year fool proof warranty so I got a replacement pair). Also decided to put the sunscreen into the daypack from now on as I wasn't applying the stuff very carefully in the morning and hence got sunburnt on the leg and the back of my arms! Lessons Learned   - Always pack sunscreen in daypack - Never put anything breakable on the tent floor or Thermarest - Make sure to keep track of the location of the most important valuables (wallet,camera etc), and make sure they are all there when you pack up to leave!	911m 127km / Avg: 19.8km/h Camping du Cap de l'Homy 40170 Lit et Mixe 8.77 EUR - Ph: 05 58 42 83 47 GPS: N44 02.348 W01 20.028
Camping Lit et Mixe
Cruising to Biarriz Thu 11/7/02   Despite having gone to bed at 10pm I still feel completely shagged out and decided to not get up until 8:30 or so. Yesterday was no fun - hopefully today will be better. Went and got some Nutella at the store and had an excellent breakfast. Decided to go for a swim in the Atlantic (water: 18 degrees) and swam with the 2m waves which was pretty cool, reminded me of Hawaii. In terms of scenic attractions today's route was probably the prettiest in the Atlantic coastal region, initially covering some very nice pine forrest followed by the very pretty Moliets-et-Maa (picture) with its typical Gasconian architecture which i find very enticing. On my way into Bayonne found a cool place selling discounted surf gear and since I had destroyed my sunglasses the day earlier I bought a new pair (this time for only 30 EUR ) and a pair of Billabong shorts. Here the deails about the store: Le Hangar de la plage, Avenue du Ler Mai, 40220 Tarnos Carried on towards Biarriz with no major problems, except that my chain is still squeaking when I put pressure on it. This was fixed however by a few nice fishermen near Bayonne who were cleaning their boat and lent me a hand with my chain - Oiled and cleaned the thing and now works fine. Cycled on towards the centre of Biarriz, but had to give up on finding any usable cyclepath so followed the GPS and hit some very nice private mansions the names I have already forgotten (See pictures). Really like the feeling of Biarriz as it combines the French and in particular Gasconian or south-western style of buildings with Spanish aspects (tiles etc). Also has a young feeling to it and seems to be a good surfing spot, yet very expensive. Although the map did not show a camping municipal came across the private and expensive Camping Biarriz whilst cycling towards St. Jean de Luz. Lessons Learned   - Came by a wine store "paradis de vins" and didn't get any for dinner so had to buy expensive bottle at campsite, next time follow intuition.	557m 88.5km / Avg: 19.8km/h Camping Biarriz Biarriz 19.70 EUR !!! - Ph: whatever GPS: N43 27.774 W01 34.080
Centre Moliets et Maa Maison en Biarriz Maison en Biarriz Camping Biarriz
Beginning of the Traverse Fri 12/7/02   Took me almost 2 hours to get everything packed up and ready, as I got up at 8am and started making breakfast etc. and by the time I actually got going it was 10:15. Wow camping stuff does add up and getting it all into four small plastic bags does take a while. Yet whilst doing so I found out from my talkative English neighbors about a rave party on the beach which I had apparently missed, ce la vie. Cycled south to St Jean de Luz wich has a beatuiful city centre and lots of nice and interesting shops, looked round and took some pictures which did not manage to do the city justice. After having carried on to Hendaye along the coastal road, I said my goodbyes to the Atlantic Ocean, and hopefully will say hello to the Mediterranean in about 10 days. Just outside of Hendaye crossed into Spain and cycled up the N121 along the Bidassoa river, which is a pretty scenic route yet the lorries make it a real pain to cyclists (on the 18 km or so I took the road I was overtaken by about 25 lorries, one about every 1.5 minutes). Branched off to Etxalar, going uphill for about 4km and ending up in this beautiful village, where I had lunch in a very friendly bar/cafe opposite from the town church (huge portion and a great deal for the price). After some troubles finding the backroad I was hoping to take I finally succeeded and was confronted with a huge steep climb, which continued for the best part of the following 8km and gave me the first tiny impression of what would be ahead of me. The road was very quiet and had terrific scenery of the countryside with small farms and woods scattered about. After the climb I took a wrong turn and had to re-ascend almost 200m altitude (shit). Went downhill and had to go up to 570m again, which by the end of the climb had me completely exhausted especially as I had ran out of water as well. On the way down I stopped at a bar to get some more water, but had two glasses of San Miguel instead, and as a bonus got the water bottle for free, yep! Luckily the guy in the pub pointed out that there was a campsite in the valley on my intended route back to France and I was mightily happy when I pulled into there about 30 minutes later! If I hadn't found this site I would have had to continue to St. Etienne de Baigorry which would have meant another 400m ascent! - aarrgh. The campsite turned out to be one of the prettiest I had stayed at so far - I couldn't belive my incredible luck! Went for a swim in the pool and lied down on a deckchair to relax in the evening sun. Got some dinner at the bar and went to bed early since I felt worn out - however at this point I thought my fitness was improving. Lessons Learned   - Always double check the route before descending a hill! - France has no internet cafes. - Distance in the mountains is a different thing altogehter.	1687m 87km / Avg: 15.3km/h Camping Baztan Erratzu (ES) 7.70 EUR - Ph: GPS: N43 10.797 W01 27.049
St. Jean de Luz Panorama Etxalar Panorama Etxalar Camping Baztan Continue with part II