Pau

After a decent few hours sleep I caught the easyJet flight to Biarritz which arrived early, and with my luggage. After my experience with British Airways in Tbilisi my confidence is not high.
The first great Camino surprise was meeting M from Glasgow Ramblers, we were aware each of was doing another this year but we hadn’t discussed details. We had time for coffee before M caught her flixbus to San Sebastian where’s she is starting the Camino del Norte and caught my BlaBlaCar bus to Pau. The company is to bus travel what Ryanair is to flying. The fare was ridiculously cheap but dropped me off in the extreme outskirts of the city. I navigated the centre without much difficulty, it was good to get a leg stretch and the roads were quiet with good pavements.
By the time I reached my hotel the sun was out and it was pushing 30. A quick turn around and I went out to explore and get something to eat. I walked along the Boulevard de Pyrenees, made use of the funicular to reach the station, retraced my steps and looked around the Eglise Saint-Martin, extra. Technically Pau is not the Camino d’Arles/Via Tolsana but it makes a convenient pre Camino stop over. Tomorrow I have the whole day to explore the city before I take the train to Oloron Saint-Marie, my starting point on the most ancient and traditional of all the routes used by Jacobean pilgrims from southern and Eastern Europe making for Santiago de Compostela, and by Spanish, Portuguese and French pilgrims going to Rome.
These days it’s the quietest of all the Camino trails and offers a challenging alternative to the Francés route crossing the Pyrenees via the Col du Somport.