Hello France, No Coffee, & Donkey Candy

Day 32: San Sebastián → Espelette (53 miles / 5365 ft.)

We ate our usual touring breakfast in the hotel room: yogurt, banana, muesli, baguette, jam, juice, and whatever else remained in our food bags. We even had instant coffee, but the electric kettle looked like a small science experiment. For possibly the first time on this trip, we decided that no coffee was better than questionable coffee.

Starting a cycling day completely uncaffeinated felt strange, and we continued joking about it for the next several hours.

We took our time leaving San Sebastián, roaming around the city on our loaded bicycles and finding one more postcard to send to a friend. Even in the busier areas, riding felt safe as long as we paid attention. Eventually, we left the city and continued east along the coast toward Pasaia.

Coastal riding is not always our favorite. The views are beautiful, but bicycle lanes, intersections, traffic, pedestrians, and constant navigation require much more concentration than a quiet mountain road. Still, the harbor at Pasaia and the rugged shoreline beyond it were worth the effort.

The real work began with the climb over Jaizkibel, the green mountain ridge separating Pasaia from Hondarribia. This is one of the famous cycling roads of the Basque Country and has often played an important role in the Clásica San Sebastián. Near the crest, we stopped at the stone Santa Bárbara tower, one of several 19th-century defensive towers scattered across the ridge. From up there, we could look across the coastline toward Hondarribia, the mouth of the Bidasoa River, and France.

After descending through Hondarribia and Irún, we crossed the Bidasoa into Hendaye. Just like our crossing from Portugal into Spain, there was no checkpoint, no dramatic welcome sign, and no real indication that we had entered another country, although we could feel a difference. After all those miles through Spain, entering France felt surprisingly anticlimactic.

We were sad to leave behind the pintxos and a language that I can navigate much more easily than French.

France quickly began to feel different. The coastal area was far more touristy, camper vans seemed to be parked everywhere, and traffic increased dramatically. We also had to adjust to French drivers. They gave us plenty of space, but often passed sooner than Spanish drivers, who tended to wait patiently until they could move almost completely into the other lane.

The coarse surface of some of the departmental roads made approaching cars sound much faster than they really were, which is taking a little getting used to.

We climbed above Hendaye and stopped at Château d’Abbadia, the striking neo-Gothic château and observatory built for explorer, geographer, and astronomer Antoine d’Abbadie. From there, our route followed the Corniche Basque along the cliffs before passing through Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

Eventually, we turned inland and followed the Nivelle River valley through Ascain and Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle. Somehow, the countryside seemed to become even greener after crossing into France. The roads also became smoother and more flowing, and despite the traffic, we enjoyed the rolling ride toward Espelette. We were especially motivated because we had Warmshowers hosts waiting and hoped to arrive before 5:00.

Espelette immediately looked like the village we had imagined. White Basque houses with deep red shutters lined the streets, while strings of brilliant red peppers decorated shops and façades. These are Piments d’Espelette, or Ezpeletako biperra in Basque. The variety is called Gorria, meaning “red,” and the peppers are traditionally hung on buildings to ripen and dry before being ground into the famous mildly spicy powder.

We stopped for photographs, a cold drink, and a look around the Château des Barons d’Ezpeleta, which now houses the town hall, library, tourism office, and exhibitions. Behind it, we found a small arboretum honoring Espelette native Father Armand David, the missionary and naturalist who helped introduce thousands of Chinese plant and animal species, including the giant panda, to Western science.

Then the day became even more special. Our Warmshowers hosts, Frederique and Vincent, are both 59 and have traveled together throughout the world. They had lived in many different parts of France before finally deciding that this was the best place in the country to settle. Two years ago they bought an old farm and have been remodeling it with ideas from both of them. Vincent is a master carpenter and has completed much of the newer woodwork himself, using wood he harvested from their own forest.

Their beautiful home and property were absolutely amazing, but our sleeping arrangements were yet to be seen. Vincent led us down several little lanes through their land until we reached our own bungalow beside the river.

In the adjoining pasture lived two female donkeys, a mother and daughter, along with a horse and a miniature horse. Vincent gave us a bag of chestnuts to feed them and explained that chestnuts are like candy to the animals. They certainly seemed to agree.

Our quiet little bungalow had everything we needed: a shower, washing machine, comfortable bed, and complete silence. After cleaning up and settling in, we walked back to the main house for a magnificent dinner of pasta with a creamy white sauce, ham and mushrooms, bread, and four French cheeses: Comté, Bleu d’Auvergne, Morbier, and Camembert. Fresh fruit and white wine completed the meal.

The food was wonderful, but once again, the conversation made the evening. Frederique and Vincent shared stories from their travels and their life together, and we kept talking until about 10:30, when Lisa and I were nearly falling asleep at the table. We did not want the evening to end.

After saying bonne nuit, we switched on our headlamp and followed the dark lanes back to our bungalow. The donkeys were sleeping in the woods, but sometime during the night, one of them must have awakened craving more “candy.” She gave us a loud reminder that she was still out there.

I was asleep again within about a minute.

We say this often, but this truly felt like a place we could return to someday and stay much longer.

Portugal 🇵🇹: 14 Days / 594 Miles / 57,120 ft climbing

Spain 🇪🇸: 17 Days / 780 Miles / 59,520 ft climbingRead more