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Published: July 13th 2022
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After a warm & restless night, we were a little groggy getting up to a 6am alarm but, remembering where we were and what we had planned, quickly got ourselves together and headed out!
First stop?…the cafe open down the road of course! Coffee and croissants to start the day, yummy!
Second stop?…Irun bus/train station where we had scoped the taxi rank yesterday. After a relatively painless communication with three drivers using (well practised) phrases and good old technology to show a map of where we wanted to go, we were soon driving away and, 15euro and 20mins later, we were there!
Cabo Higuer, with the lighthouse standing tall and a little map and makeshift starting post tucked behind it to mark the start of the GR11, we were buzzing to get going. We had also decided, seeing as we had the room at the hostal, to leave our bags there, only carrying water for this short first section. Save the weight for tomorrow right?!? Anyways, it was 7:45am, with the sun just lifting higher, red and white markers clearly signalling the path, and we were ready. Here we go!
The trail instantly takes you round and down
past the lighthouse, on a dirt path, under trees and past sandstone rocks, heading towards the beach of Hondarribia (with Hendaye, France, just across the estuary on the left). With a small breeze and the early not-so-hot-yet sun, it was a beautiful start. Admiring the beach with plenty of showers and water taps, we dipped our hands into the Atlantic and headed inland (dipping toes or even a swim was tempting but then we might end up staying there all day!) The trail then follows pavements along the waterfront and through the towns streets. We made a slight detour (purposefully I might add…yee of little faith) to check out an outside public elevator and old church in the quaint area of Hondarribia. That was very pretty and offset the next section past the airport, which ran right beside (basically on) a busy road. Thankfully it was only a short section and we were soon back along side streets, passing increasing amounts of bakeries and shops as we returned to the centre of Irun around 10am, in 26c heat.
Just over 2 hours and 8.8km done, which is almost like 1% right?! Just 99 to go then! ?
As
it was still early we decided to keep roaming and as it got hotter (above 30c) found a lovely cafe for lunch, followed by diving into the Roman museum (despite it displaying three languages none of which were English) to cool off. Then of course, in true Spanish style, we joined in with siesta time. A little shop and dinner later, before an early night for our first proper hiking day tomorrow; we’ve decided on the game plan of starting really early to get most of the miles done by midday, siesta in the heat somewhere shady hopefully, then finish off the hike early evening. Fingers crossed ?
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