Day 75 – at Larrau

Another very warm morning with storms forecast later in the day, but there were no rapid starts, as I tempted myself to a second coffee and lay reading Charles Willeford’s High Priest of California for an hour or so.

Then we took on a longer circuit than yesterday, up through the beech forests at the back of Larrau to the Col de Jauregibberi, a mountain pass at 880 metres.

Up at the Col the views across to Spain, just a few kilometres away, are exceptional.

This derelict house up at the pass attracted my attention. It would be a wonderful place to live.

Larrau is a bit of a gem. Even today, a fine Saturday, it has few visitors. The reason is that there isn’t much infrastructure for the tourist here. There is the small campsite, and the fine dining hotel in the village, but no cafe, no bar, no shop, or even bakery for 17 kilometres, at the village of Tardets.

We were out for just over three hours, back at the van at just after 2 pm for a late lunch, and an afternoon of sport, with the last round of Premiership rugby at 5 pm.

That was followed by a twenty minute stroll with Roja, and a beer with the campsite owner’s father-in-law who was singing the praises of the Brittany Atlantic coast. I’ll get there at some stage..