It rained much of the night in Bidarray (25mm) and as much again was forecast for today.
This was not the day for climbing and walking across another high pass. Instead, we decided to have a slightly more leisurely breakfast and accompany Sarah to the station to catch her train to Bayonne, from whence she would fly home. In the end, we decided to join her on the train for a five minute ride to the next station where we planned to alight and begin walking again - a low road path to St Pée!
The train was on time. We had a delightful five minute ride along the edge of the River Nive, said our farewells to Sarah as the train pulled in to the deserted station of Itxassou, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and stepped off into the pouring rain. ☔️☔️
On we walked, eventually passing through a few small villages, where everyone, as you can imagine was indoors.
The Basque people are an independent bunch, they fiercely protect their identity, and as this enormous mural suggests, there is sympathy for others whose identity and place is under threat.
After about eight kilometres of walking we arrived at the surprisingly bustling town of Espelette. Clearly, this is a tourist town and it being a Sunday lunchtime and the rain having paused for a time, the central village was buzzing.
And everywhere, buildings with chains of pimentos hanging from walls, doors and windows, as well as from many of the shops.
It turns out that Espelette is the red pepper capital of France.
A little research revealed that peppers (‘piments’) have been grown in this region ever since they were brought from Mexico in the 16th century.
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Trade is most active around the town of Espelette, about three miles north of Spain and five miles east of the Atlantic. The piment d’Espelette grown, dried, and ground here has become synonymous with the cuisine of the whole region. Since the 18th century, piment d’Espelette (or Ezpeletako Biperra in Basque) has replaced black pepper as the primary spice used in Basque cooking.
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As it was lunchtime and there were some restaurants open we decided to share an omelette, sprinkled as you might guess with piment. It was delicious and keep us going for the afternoon walk to St Pée.
We are in the pilgrim hostel in the converted Presbytery tonight - a lovely, spacious albergue (complete with a piment coloured Basque beret). When we opened the door after a solid two hours of road walking to get here, who should be sitting at the table but Andy???’ He had walked the low road to this point two days ago, and had decided to take a rest day because of the rain. Also here is Kirsten, who has walked from near her home in Berlin, starting in May!
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