St Etienne
Kms 45
Vertical metres 570
Mechanicals :Lawrie slipped chain, John (virtual - to cancel hotel booking)
Medicals nil
Misadventures nil
Cup : Sal for agreeing to go from 5 star to cell
Wine

It is hot ! Real dry Spanish heat but Simon says we 'ain't seen nothing yet'.. Windy and drying. Staying at a gite...boys on bunks in  one room...John and Sal on bunks in the other. Showing real restraint as the other possible choice was a 4 1/2 star hotel with pool and top restaurant. A bit of a shock to the system for some after last night's luxury and the 5 star breakfast this morning...home made yoghurt, homemade yoghurt cake , fig jam ..to name just a few of the breakfast goodies. Others ( guess who )more comfortable.
Semi-alpine countryside... Some good hills in the morning but as soon as you got to the top huge downhills ...ended up only 150m higher than when we started.
Good coffee stops....some delicious Basque almond and cherry tarts from the boulangerie and a salad lunch in St Etienne.
Geoff gazed wistfully at the little local train as it zipped by .
The gite is a bit like camping with shared facilities but has a washing machine so can catch up on the domestics. In this heat the first load will be dry by the time the second is finished.
We have cycled down to a bar for dinner..7pm and still hot as.
Psyching ourselves up for the ascent over the Pyrenees tomorrow. Gazing at BIG hills as we dine.

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Posted by greatgraperide at 10:30 AM BST

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La Bastide Clairence
127.5 Kms
Vertical metres 597
Mechanicals nil
Medicals nil
Misadventures nIl
Cup : Simon and Tony for gite,restarant and taxi organisation
Wine : 5

On a fast smooth cycle trail through pine forest out of Mimizan . Very impressive! A lot of it near the coast.
First cork trees . 78 Kms by lunchtime. Lunch at Alice's Restaurant at Seignosse...huge salads...thankfully we had a decent lunch as the day was longer than planned . Cycled through places like Capbreton which are pretty trendy and upmarket.
Got to Urt where we planned to stay and found all accommodation full ...just after 5 pm and 115 Kms by then. The Office de Tourisme was shut but there was a list of gites  and chambre d'hôtes . Simon (assisted by Tony did some phoning) and off we headed for another 9kms ( which turned out to be 12.5 Kms) to our gite.This of course was part way up a steep drive too ! All was forgotten when we got inside. Tastefully redecorated 18th century home with big rooms, nice bath rooms and a pool. We can recommend the gite Le Clos Gaxen 0033559291644.
We have learnt that restaurants in villages often aren't open at night so had checked out the dinner situation in the village on the way through. A lovely woman agreed to cook for us even though her restaurant would normally be closed.We think this may have been because the young guy working for her is a keen cyclist and had passed us on his bike while out for a long ride. La Table Gourmande de Ghislaire Potentier is the name of the restaurant .Our lovely young hosts at the gite ferried us by car to and from the village. We have been on the receiving end of some incredible French generosity today including the two lovely old French women who were in their garden and refilled our water bottles .( They reminded Tony of the Baradene nuns).
Not sure what our legs will be like as we tackle the Pyrenees on day 18!

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Posted by greatgraperide at 3:30 PM BST

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