The end of the road - for this chemin at least but I'm sure it will not be the last. So to conclude .......
St Jean Pied de Porte
The magical chambre d'hote and the Nive river and its orchestra of currents, water streams and cascades worked its magic overnight as we sleep to its tranquil melodies.
It is delightful to be able to wake the next morning at a reasonable hour, to saunter down and enjoy Jean Francois's amazing breakfast and not to have to be packing our bag and walking out the door at the first sign of light. Jean Francois, our host, is a very generous gentleman. Because the station is so small it is only manned when the morning and afternoon train arrives and so they are the only times when you can purchase your tickets. Knowing our need to get on the train this afternoon he drives G down to the station after breakfast so that he can organise the tickets. He then drives G and gets out to accompany him to the 'Orange' store (phone data people) to sort out that issue as well. Such a wonderful approach to looking after your guests.

Maison Donamarie is the name of this Chambre d'Hotes for any of you readers who happen to be passing through SJPDP - in summer you may find it difficult to get a reservation so book ahead.

We do have to pack the bag at some stage as Jean Francois has other guests arriving but he allows us to store our belongings in the house at a very sociable time of the morning while we stroll around and be lovely relaxed tourists instead of sweating pilgrims. We get to poke our noses Into the tourist shops, to check out all the unnecessary trinkets that are being displayed for the hopeful sales and then to sit back leisurely and enjoy crepes and sangria while we watch the world pass by. What a strange contrast to our normal routine.

When it is time for us to catch the train at the end of the day J F is there again with his car and his co- pilot, his faithful dog who sits in the back seat and puts his large head between the driver and front passenger with his beady eyes trained forward to observe the road. I take a photo from my point of view ( the passenger seat) and when I view it later it looks for all the world as if he is driving the car.
We have fallen in love with JF's generosity and warmth as well as the beauty and serenity of his house over the river, but now it is time to move onto the next adventure which will be quite different.
Our one carriage train arrives promptly on time and we trundle off into the evening towards St Jean de Luz through towns such as Biarritz and Bayonne. It is sad that the light is failing as we can only just glimpse the passing landscape. It reminds us of the land and rural activity that we have just spent the past 30 odd days travelling through. We feel as if we are members of the land rather than strangers.

Our visit to the town of St Jean de Luz is at the home of our walking companion Vincent of the last ten days, who has a beautiful home here for a significant part of the year and then a home in Paris for the rest. He is a great host and ensures we see all that St Jean de Luz offers from its gentile atmosphere, wide long beaches, many cafes around the winding streets at the beachfront. We are lucky to visit the market in order for G to purchase some goodies for cooking the night meal. A local fish is obtained, some fresh cheese, mushrooms, pumpkin, herbs, and berries. G is in his element. To help make the experience even more special, there is a choir with accompanying musicians who are entertaining the locals at the end of the market hall with Basque songs and heralding us with their enthusiasm into this very proud Basque region.It is fun to watch and listen to the lively musicians and the eagerness of the locals to join in on the different songs.
We spend the next few days travelling in the area courtesy of Vincent's driving to see Bayonne on the river, Biarritz on the sea with its imposing large hotels and impressive building built by Napolean for his wife - there is a definite feel of wealth in the town, and then to Espellet, the town where the red peppers adorn the outside of the buildings in as they dry. Red peppers are everywhere- who would think that they could be so popular.

I am writing this now in a little seaside village in Portugal- the Airbnb looks out over the Atlantic Ocean and the sound of the waves pounding the rocks and beach reaches up to me - the sound is very calming and I find the fact that this activity is so different to the days of walking - there is time to reflect, time to research, time to jot down memories, time to locate photos - Talking of time - there has been a lot of time since we finished the chemin and this post- almost three weeks. I feel as if I am the bad student who is remiss in handing in her homework, but I think it is because I am reluctant to hand it in. Have I had enough time to reflect and to give the chemin the true ending that it deserves, am I ready to announce the closure of that experience. By posting this final day it means I have acknowledged that the chemin has been completed (in reality at least but not in our memories). The environment of the beach, the fishing village, the ocean, the waves, the fish smells is so far removed from the French rural lifestyle that we grew to adore and love. It seems light years removed.

The following is part of a reflection that I wanted to acknowledge....
We were introduced to the thoughts of a Frenchman on the chemin who had his ideas of why people walk the chemin/caminodesantiago. I have heard these thoughts before but it was an interesting conversation to hear all the theories in one subject rather than broken up. His thoughts are as follows and I have added some of mine as well. For some people they may fall into one category but for many there are is an overlap of many categories.
1. The spiritual reason - the chemin/Camino's history is that it was a path for the pilgrims travelling to Santiago de Compostela from the times of the medieval ages in honour of Saint James and so too in the modern day there are many who walk the way for religious purposes. Interesting enough for us we found the Le Puy route more spiritual than the Spanish Camino. Maybe because the Camino has become busier, or we felt the Spanish churches were more ostentatious. On the Le Puy route there were many crosses and in one area we were amazed to see that they had maps of where to find the next 3 or 4 crosses and the distances you need to travel between them. While this wasn't our reason for the chemin we were actually surprised by how much a spiritual impact it had on us. There were many people who really left us with such beautiful impressions, by their kindness, their attitude, their approach to life as well as many gifts from nature, luck with the weather, the fact that we were able to keep going as well as being so thankful that we were able to actually participate in this journey. It is a hard thing to express and again it becomes a personal thing and so ultimately I will say we fell into this category without any planning on doing so.
2. The health reason- This is a huge category and can be subdivided a)there is desire to get fit - while walking 20-30 kilometres a day ( for some people it was more) certainly does help achieve an improved level of fitness it also compounds the level of injuries which is counter productive to the fitness. We saw many knee, ankle, shin issues amongst our fellow walkers including ourselves. We tried to be members of this category. b) the need to lose weight- we were burning up to 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 thousand calories a day but then we were visiting the boulangerie each morning for our daily pain de chocolate and croissants, lunch was baguette, cheese, saussison, and dinner was a main meal, fromage, dessert and wine so I don't know if we consumed the calories required in order to lose the weight. Oh well the French food & wine was certainly a whole lot more enjoyable than the Spanish fare and for that we are grateful. So we did try to be members of this category as well. c)the need to give up drinking and/or smoking. We noticed a lot of the French who were walking were heavy smokers so giving up smoking didn't seem to apply to them. The enjoyment of a Kir, or a wine at the end of the day was medicinal for us so we didn't go down that road of giving up the drinking either. We didn't come across anyone announcing that this was their intention but a lot of these things are also very private.
3. The Tourist - / holiday maker - the movie 'The Way' has certainly added to the numbers on the Camino, but the book by Shirley Maclane wrote some 30 or so years ago opened people's eyes and interest to this amazing walk initially I am sure. Most of the French people walking the Le Puy route were simply walking for a couple of weeks with the Le Puy- Conques the most popular route as their holiday activity. Quite a few young people from other countries also said that they just had five days or so to fill and decided that this was a good way of using the time. For us it was certainly a part of our European adventure so we are definitely a member of this category.
4. Mental health- this is the area where people are walking to help them grieve, to walk through personal issues, to ease the weight of loss, to contemplate new beginnings, to sort out their thoughts about issues, to take a break after working in a job for a long time, the cross road after retirement, to begin new relationships with a family member, or friend to walk through anxiety, depression, stress, Our friend said that he has noticed that in the past few years this was the category that more and more young people fell into as they struggled to deal with daily life and all that it was throwing at them. I am glad that they are using the Camino as their salvation to help them and not more artificial means, but if this is a reflection on society not all of our young people have access to the Camino in order to find the answer. It is a troubling situation. While this was a category for me when walking the Camino two years ago as I grieved my mother's death, this time it proved to be a time of joyous reflection, not just about the joys my mother had brought to our lives but the joys of my whole family and how lucky we were with the lives we have.
5. Unselfish motives - there are those we came across who have walked the chemin on behalf of others who have not been able to walk it- for example an Englishman whose sister was dying and who had always dreamed of being able to complete this journey. He had never dreamt of even attempting the walk but was grateful that he could give her this last gift. And there are the pilgrims who walk the chemin/ Camino as a way of fundraising for a cause. It is indeed an admirable way of being able to provide support.

So thank you to those who have travelled this road with us, who have kept reading all these posts, to those who have sustained my energy by supplying comments and thoughts I am very grateful. We are forever thank full for the fact that fate allowed us to meet some very special people along the way who will be lifelong friends and feel blessed that we were given this gift.
A big thank you as always to my partner, my mate and my best friend George who walks alongside side me, often in pain but always there and never giving up.
I wish you all Bon Chemin in your lives.