F61 Way of St. James (Camino) Bayonne to Bidart

We travelled back to Bayonne in the Autumn of 2022 to continue from where we'd left off in the spring. Initially, we set up a base in an AirBnB in Bayonne, travelling back and forwards with the excellent public transport (mainly the number 3 bus) until we got to Irun on the border with Spain. This first day, we set off on foot from Bayonne, where the signpost offered us three possible ways: - to St. Jean Pied de Port to join the way from Roncevaux - to Pampalona to join the Baztan way - to Irun by the Coastal Way (later to be the Camino del Norte), which was our plan. We had a mixed route as we skirted Angelet, Biarritz (with its airport) and various outlying suburbs. After leaving the Nive river bank by an uphill turning that was difficult to find, we went through relatively new housing estates before reaching industrial areas along main roads. In one commercial centre we did find a good café for second breakfast, so it wasn't all bad. From there we alternated between expensive suburbs, wasteland and shopping complexes, before finally seeing the sea as we got closer to Bidart. A cliff top path then led us to the quaint Basque town itself, with our first view of the traditional style of coastal church, with two or in this case three layers of galleries round the sides, and a model of a sailing ship hanging from the roof. A statue of Saint James was also to be found here. We finished the day by taking the 3 bus back to our base.

For more photos see Angus&Sue's website