Apart from a couple of nuts falling off the tree onto the roof it was a silent night, but like many French villages, Arette turns off the church bells at night and come 07:30 the tower chimes out forty-three o'clock to catch up. It's bright and sunny as we set off, immediately climbing out of the town and passing pasture land leading away to the mountains. We stop in Issor, a little village with the church square looking over the valley. The elegant, blue-shut...

Mist hangs over the peaks first thing but gradually lifts as we get up. When we leave the owner teaches us Basque for goodbye, which sounds like 'agur-shaktay'. It's a pretty, green drive to St Jean Pied du Port, which we planned to visit today. Driving through, we can see it's an attractive market town with a fort, red and white houses, flowers and a river. but traffic is busy and the pavements which haven't got cars parked on them are rough and cambered so ...

No rest for the wicked! It's still half dark when the first vans start moving off just after 07:00. Where do they go? On the edge of the car park is a landing gantry for a zip line that runs right across the lake. Young lads fly through the air suspended horizontally in a harness like a hang-glider, swinging to an abrupt stop on the arrester wire. One lad is unshackled by the supervisor and asked how it went. He wryly puts hand to heart and shakes his leg a...

Leon has been a fantastic little aire, so peaceful amidst all of the trees. We lie in until quite late, use the service point and then set off on the route we planned last evening. The first few miles are more sand pines and open spaces but further along the trees change to deciduous varieties. This whole area is summed up in three words; flat, sandy, forest. Gradually the flat roads begin to have a few small hills. Cycling is obviously a major pastime here b...

After three days of recuperation it's time to start moving on. We have done less than 80 miles in more than a week. So unlike us to stay planted for so many days but we really had little option. Nick is OK to do a modest drive again so we slop out and head to Mimizan for some shopping. We pass among more sand pines and oak trees, and on through Bias with its simple church and red timbered houses, which we are seeing a lot in this area. Around lunchtime we ar...