We leave Edinburgh at 6:20am to maximise our time in France and Spain.
This is a Camino for beginners so it involves more food and drink than walking but there will be a few steps.
We arrive in Biarrritz at 10am local time. Customs is usually good for us getting the #3 @11am for €1.30 down to Bidart. Happily 11am becomes 10am and we are walking by 10:30.
We walk from there to St Jean de Luz and have lunch at Chez Pablo.
Those who can't do the walking go straight to st jean de Luz, a walk around the market from 11-12 then go to Chez Pablo.
Nobody's watching so you can go down to the beach and do what you like.
We aim to rendezvous at 1:30 for lunch. We will try to avoid staying too long at the beach bar.
About 3.30pm we get the €1.30 bus to Hendaye grand plage and walk the 500m along the beach to the market area of Hendaye. We will stop for a beer and some tapas then get the €2.50 boat to Hondarribia. The 10 minute crossing takes us around the many moored catamarans and scooners, across the bay and into the town centre.
We arrive in Hondarribia and go over to Gran Sol. We will get served the most amazing food at 7:30pm but for now we will accept a beer or a glass of wine. We may even stop en route and go to another bar for a nibble without spoiling our appetite. It is worth waiting for.
For those who want to check in the hotel is 6 minutes walking unless you can't walk in a straight line. If you are a bit wobbly after the wee ferry I suggest 8 minutes is wise. If you are staying in the albergues at Irun I suggest you jump a #25 check in, dump your bag, get yourself a pilgrims passport, decline dinner, accept breakfast, then dump your bag on your bed and get the 5 mins bus back down. It is a donativo so your donation can be €5, €10 or €20 whatever you want.
If we check into an even more local hotel than the Onyarbi I will revise the times. Hard to believe but never say never.
The Onyarbi was superb and did family rooms.
Our first room was a twin but when we moved downstairs, on the entrance level our room had 2 settees, aka sofa beds as well as twin beds. It also had 10m from one end to the sofas so we quietly drifted apart.
On Monday morning you'll feel like you have already done loads and it's just beginning. Our cafe tip stop is Gaxen. There are many and we recommend it. A mixture of continental through to ham and eggs. Lots to love about the People here as they look after you.
We will walkout the far end of Hondarribia.
There are two routes and this is slightly more gentle up the hill.
It will take 2 gentle hours and the views get better with every step.....
When we get to our new base camp we have two options. Around Jaizkibel or up and over.
Up and over is my preference if it's dry and you have sticks. Importantly follow the arrows.
I've done two around and one over. It's all good and my preference is over as long as it's dry.
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