Day 14. Mont-de-Marsan to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port. 82 miles

A bit of a marathon today but the routes I'd selected for the first half of the day was pretty flat. Getting out of Mont-de-Marsan was slow as my minor road wasn't signposted. It turned into a very rutted road that had clearly been abandoned by the authorities. But, after that, plain sailing.

I met Brendan for my first lunch at Puyoo, which sounds charming and quaint, but is actually a railway and road junction.

The next 10 miles were horrendous - not because of the main road traffic - but due to the switchback gradient profile. Three summits, followed by long downhills. The last climb needed my lowest gears. Got there though.

Second lunch at Sauveterre, a small town with views of the Pyrenees.

The final 25 miles to St Jean were on the main road, but there was a cycle lane, of varying widths, most of them way.

Campsite in town centre.

Currently sitting in a bar watching the world go by and using the bar's wifi. B is having Basque lager called 'Eki' and I'm having une bolee de cider du pays. All the signs and place names are in French and Basque, but haven't heard any Basque spoken so far, and not sure what the. French Basques would want to do if the Spanish Basques got political independence.

In the church at St jean-Pied-de-Port

Tomorrow will be a big day. If all goes well I'll climb over the Pyrenees on the bike. And arrive in Spain!

PS - still haven't quite worked out how to post photos. I managed for one day, but not sure what I actually did to achieve it. [Note - sorted this problem a few days into Spain, but now that I am back home, I am adding in the photos that got missed first time round.]

Day 13. Laperche to Mont-de-Marsan. 68 miles

Day 13. Laperche to Mont-de-Marsan. 68 miles


After breakfast said goodbye to David and Janie and set off down the road about 8.20. It was still quite cool, and I was keen to get as much distance covered as possible before the afternoon. I crossed the River Garonne at Le Mas d'Agenais. From here the road climbs over a low range of hills. Having raised the bike saddle a fraction, I found that me knee coped fine with the gradients, though I confess to choosing a back road to avoid the highest part of the main road. It was quieter too.


Brendan met me at Casteljaloux and gave me a tarte aux pommes as a snack. He went off to have a coffee while I set off for the next place - Houelles - where I had a chicken sandwich and an apple. The road hereabouts is dead straight for miles and virtually flat, and with very little traffic so I was managing a kilometre in 2 minutes. i.e. 30kph.


For a couple of hours I was passing through the western extremity of Les Landes, a vast area of woodland stretching to the horizon. Mostly pine and oak. Very few houses and no villages for the next 25 miles. But partly shaded and it seemed that a cooling breeze was blowing from the trees. Or maybe I was creating the breeze by cycling fast. We had a proper lunch break at Estigarde ( barely a hamlet) and I then turned off the main road to cycle through the villages of La Bastide d'Armagnac and Villeneuve-de-Marsan. The map showed a voie verte along and old railway track. It Was very green - not tarred, and simply a pair of gravel tracks through grass. But it was refreshingly cool. After some slow progress, I decided ordinary roads would be best. And that's how I arrived in Mont de Marsan. B had found an inexpensive hotel - the Siesta. a bit basic but clean. In fact, I did have a short siesta before going out for our meal.


David had warned us that today was a public holiday, so supermarkets would only be open in the morning. When we got to Mont-de-Marsan, pretty much everything was closed. The only restaurant, apart from pizza places, was one called La Casa. An excellent meal, menu at €23.50.

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