Today, I wake up to the faint sound of one of the peacocks somewhere further away … and, unlike the last few days, I feel great!
No pain in my joints, no weird feeling – nothing. Back to 100% and ready to take over (and until that happens, to explore) the world.
My hosts have made fresh brioche and offer me other home-made treats.
The place I’m staying is truly stunning and the ease with which my hosts make me feel at home is impressive. With dogs, chicken, cats and peacocks walking in and out of the house and ‘saying hello’ to me whilst I’m eating my breakfast I am contemplating staying another night here, just because I then could take in this serenity a little longer.
But, alas, according to the information I got from the Spanish foreign ministry, I need a valid PCR test to enter Spain. Yes, even if I’m entering by land. And this means that I need to get to Spain until this evening at the latest.
With this I start to pack my TWIKE as one of the hosts casually says: ‘You will need to head north today and make a huge detour because of the Tour de France’. I let them know that I wasn’t aware of that. It turns out that the Tour de France is crossing through the Nouvelle-Aquitaine department and most roads around their property are blocked off already.
Hmmm. I let them explain the route of the Tour to me and then – with Google’s help – quickly map out a route that skirts around the actual route by using my usual single-lane back-roads.
And off we go! I haven’t decided yet, where I’m going to stay for the night today. The only overall goal is to get to Spain which is around 200km from here.
The small roads, combined with the early morning fog make for some very dramatic picture settings.
My strategy works out and I just have to sneak across some blocked-off portions of the road on which the Tour de France will be coming through a few hours later.
Also, finally, coming closer to Biarritz meant that the fog finally faded away to a beautiful day.
And then, finally, in Biarritz, I got to the sea for the first time during this trip.
From Biarritz to Spain, the road takes me along the coast and from one up-scale neighborhood to the next.
Eventually, I spy some first hills – the first glimpse of the hills I’ll be crossing either today or tomorrow – depending on how far I’ll be driving today.
I was very cross with Spain for a short moment: I paid 99 CHF for a PCR test and scrambled across France to make it in time for the certificate to be still valid…only to be greeted at the border with … NOTHING. No checks, no stopping, no border controls when driving from France to Spain.
What added insult to injury was the fact that on the lane crossing into France EVERY traveler had to present either a valid PCR test or a vaccination certificate which lead to a very long line of cars waiting to cross into France.
GRRR! 99 CHF wasted!
But yet again, no need to waste time or energy on this. I quickly went back to enjoying the drive … along the coast … in the sun.
I was still undecided with regards to where I was driving to today until I entered San Sebastian. I immediately decided to stay – a very nice coastal town with an old city centre.
Both having some time here today plus just a very short drive tomorrow appealed to me.
I quickly found a hotel that I liked – it had all the amenities I needed…plus an interesting by-line!
I park my TWIKE in the parking garage and start the charge before leaving out to explore the town which turns out to be a real treat! Plus: I get my first true summer feeling by having an ice cream at the city beach.
The town itself has a beachfront that seems to be very popular with the locals.
And, as always, unicorns seem to follow me everywhere.
As someone interested in languages, Basque is a treat. Not related to any other language in the world, it indeed is very different. What I like is the fact that the language seems to be widely used here and not all signs are in both languages but rather only in Basque.
After getting back to my hotel, I make myself comfortable on my balcony and start uploading yesterday’s and today’s pictures and start writing an entry for this blog.
Later this evening, I will have some tapas at the square close to the hotel – a treat in itself.
Since I only will need to be in Miranda de Ebro later tomorrow evening, I will fully use my 12pm late check-out tomorrow and have a typical Spanish ‘breakfast’ somewhere in town instead of paying 15€ at the hotel.
With this – let’s go to today’s stats:
TW560 is also having a good time recharging at the hotel-provided charging station. I really liked the fact that they not only had a Type2 plug but a normal one too!
Good night!
