End of Bike Across France, Rest day and Travel to Irun

BAF Day 8 : Peyrehorade -> Bayonne 

35km no climbing

Today was the final day in the saddle. After 200km yesterday my sitbones are thanking me. We rolled into town by 10am with lots of chores to accomplish. 

First task was to find two bike boxes and all the packing materials needed. Once accomplished, we had until 3pm to check in to the apartment so we went to a city park and set up our own little area. We washed and worked on bikes for hours while taking turns running errands and getting food and supplies. The bikes had gotten pretty grimey after 1000km in the past week and needed the love. They are now mostly packed up with our clothing to be shipped home on Monday. 

Walking bikes in the park looking for a place to set up shop. 

Day 9 : Rest Day

My whole body says "YAY!"

Laundry in the morning. Then eating good food and grocery shopping for our hike. Overall a combo of super busy with small tasks and chill as we sat around the hotel. Got the bikes 100% packed up and ate ice cream. 

GR 11 

Day 0 : Irun

First thing in the morning we dropped off the bikes at La Poste. Only 50€ per bike to ship within France. Good deal and we felt quite successful to get rid of the bulk of what we were carrying. Now only 36L backpacks. 

On the way home I got a haircut... Photos to come later. 

Took the train to Hendaye (40min) and walked 20min into Spain and the town of Irun. We arrived a bit confused as everybody was wearing the same white, red and black outfits with red bérets. Apparently June 30th each year is a huge festival of Alarde de San Marcial. This is a festival where the troops of Irun held off the French in 1522. There were thousands of people on the streets and a big parade happening. Pretty fun to watch for a bit. 

We then headed to our pension (like a hotel) to get checked in. We then took a bus 8km towards the Ocean to get in our first 10km on the GR11. This was hard to even call a hike. We swam in the sea and walked through the old town. Found some food and cold drinks. Then people watched and relaxed. 

On the Atlantic Ocean at the start of the GR11