Thursday, September 26, 2024

Day 13, Bayonne to Mimizan.

Well, I've finally had some British weather today. It was raining when I got up and I mean raining, like proper Welsh rain. I put on all my waterproofs before I stepped out of the door and I was already soaked by the time I got to the bakery, and that was only 50 metres away! They didn't seem worried as I sat there and dripped as I ate my breakfast of coffee, pain au raisins and pan au chocolate. I took a croque monsieur for the road.
I cut a bit off the route by not going in to the centre of Bayonne (it felt a bit like one of those short cuts in IKEA - you'll miss bathroom accessories), all I wanted to do was get this over with.
Once I'd navigated the suburbs, I was out on to forest track. Perfectly paved forest tracks, mind you, nobody does bike paths like the French. Except the Dutch. I did get a bit lost at one point where the route was closed for repair, but I arrived in Capbreton just in time for coffee and a crepe. I didn't stop long though, as I was starting to get cold. I carried on along the forest paths, passing through villages and towns, stopping only at a Super-U market I saw to top up on Pan au chocolate.
It started to brighten up at about 2pm and it even stopped raining for a while but by this stage I was just soaked, so much so my fingers were wrinkly.
I saw a few people heading in the opposite direction today and stopped to talk briefly to a German guy who'd taken a year off to go somewhere, although he wasn't quite sure where that would be. 
Before I left in the morning, I booked a room 75 miles along the route so I knew I'd have somewhere to go. That place was Mimizan and so it is that I'm here in my room with clothes in different stages of wetness, trying to dry everything out. The forecast tomorrow doesn't look much better unfortunately, so dryness might only be short-lived.

#abitofabikeride 
Amicii Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation UK 
Amicii Dog Rescue Romania 
https://justgiving.com/campaign/a-bit-of-a-bike-ride


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