Baharak, Kasm and I did a nice 14 km walk this morning on the Sentier de Littoral (coastal trail) in the Basque region of France. We’re staying a few days in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a very quaint, slow-paced town, and decided to get in a little exercise. We hoped on the bus 816 in front of the train station and headed for Bidart, a coastal village half way between Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Biarritz. The Bidart beach was our starting point. One tip – don’t do this when the weather folks call for 34 degrees and nothing but sun, oy.
Here’s the path, stunning views of the surf all along the way.
The waves were rockin’, surfers must have been in heaven. Is Kasm daydreaming about joining them?
There was a lot of little things to appreciate along the way. The views of course, took center stage but the Basque countryside & homes were quite nice as well.
Think these gentlemen were chatting about the budget report due by end of week?
Following the trail is a simple matter, you just look for little yellow triangles marking the way. They put them on lampposts and little metal signs. They also place a few yellow Xs to show the wrong way. It was quite easy to follow and the trail is very well maintained. Recommended for sure.
Is this a road or a coffee-shop? Both apparently.
The trail was one stunning view after the next with the bonus being watching some pretty terrific surfers in action – the only time so far that I miss having a telephoto lens.
The trail itself wasn’t overly difficult. Some steep stairs coming up from a couple of the beaches were a little tough but a lot of it was gentle slopes on well-marked trails as seen below. Overall I would call it medium to easy – except for the blistering sun today, exceptional for mid-September.
To finish up we were treated to yet another fine view, this time our home base this week – Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, not far from the Spanish border. Kasm soaking it in and probably a little relieved that we’ll soon be done. 13 plus kilometers, in the heat and barely a complaint. He was a trooper!
