28.12 Day 103 . . . Mountains Of Pau

Up showered and dressed we finally left the hotel at Bordeaux late morning. Bags thrown into Roxvanne and sat nav set for south avoiding the toll roads. Mr Annals has taught me so much about penny pinching whilst travelling 😂
Tre had decided she wanted to drive today, as hadn’t for a while - and so we set off. Away from the hotel we left the airport roads and immediately got onto the A63 generally south west. After about 20 minutes we stopped to get fuel for the journey south. We also decided to have a late breakfast / early lunch to save stopping again. We both had a baguette with Cantal cheese, salami and cornichons crammed within. Tre also bought a Canele which we had seen often - a lot in Bordeaux but had not tried before. A canelé is a small French pastry, flavored with rum and vanilla with a soft and tender custard center and a dark, thick caramelized crust. It takes the shape of a small, striated cylinder up to five centimeters in height with a depression at the top. A specialty of the Bordeaux region of France apparently. The texture was similar to a Yorkshire pudding. Tre was not a fan but surprisingly it grew on me, so I finished Tre’s as well 😎
Back onto the A63 we headed for Pau. Still generally south west we passed Saugnac-et-Muret and then onto Castets. At Castets we then headed south east to Dax and on through to Orthez. Continuing on south east we finally arrived in Pau, which immediately seemed a lot bigger than either of us had expected.
We navigated through the town and then out the other side and north to our accommodation for a couple of nights. The All Suites Apart Hotel (4 Rue des Tiredous, 64000 Pau) is more apartment’s than a hotel it’s fair to say, but it wasn’t really a furnished apartment either. A little strange but a lovely little hold up for a couple of nights, newly furnished and spotlessly clean. The reception staff were really helpful and answered a few questions we had about the town.
We had about half an hour researching some bits and pieces on the phone, where to go and what to see in Pau before heading out to grab some food for the evening. We had decided to eat in tonight and then eat out in Pau town centre tomorrow.
We drove five minutes down the road to a Leclerc which was within a shopping mall and was massive. What I hadn’t anticipated was the jewellery counter situated just outside of Leclerc, allowing Tre to get her own back on me for my time at the vinyl records stops yesterday. To be fair she didn’t take an age and still has time accrued to use somewhere else for pay back.
We spent forever Leclerc trying to find what we wanted and then had hassle with the self service rolls on the way out. Quite possibly won’t be going back.
Back at the apartment we chilled, ate our food and watched some French TV - a guy who invites guests on his programme to eat hot chilli sauces from around the world. I didn’t understand overly much about what was said, but it was easy to follow as you can imagine. Lots of brow sweating and drinking of milk after each sauce.
Then it was sleeps - I’ve not been sleeping brilliantly last feed weeks, probably just a lot on my mind, so Tre suggested a mindfulness app before bed (whilst in bed) to see if that helps. Will update tomorrow.
Pau Day tomorrow.Read more