This leg has been hanging over us like the sword of Damocles the whole trip – 36 or so kms from Castetnau-Camblong along a variant that heads a little bit north (away from St. Jean) and west. We walk at more or less 4km per hour so that’s nine walking hours and probably 11 hours on the road – too much for us! We woke yesterday having independently reached the same conclusion – we need to get a taxi part way down the track, so we did, taking about 12 kms of the walk by taking a taxi to Lichos, just inside the Pays Basque, and heading to Saint Palais from there.
We got to Lichos about 9am and set off on a pretty flat track (the only one of the day as it would turn out) before hitting the foothills of the Pyrénées and basically going up and down all day.
We passed a beautiful chalet just before Aroue and after that the architecture changed dramatically to the basque style of white, orange and, sometimes, green.
No real towns today and not many places to stop for lunch – we took the 250m detour to the Chapelle d’Ohailby but, unusually, it was closed and had nowhere to sit so we found a crossroad a bit further on and broke out the chairs for a picnic!
A light mist hit us just after lunch and gradually increased to light showers that continued to just before Saint Palais. A lot more pastoral today and fewer crops but still tonnes of corn – one of the photos shows a reel and a tractor sprinkler used to irrigate the crops – not unlike the old tractor sprinklers we had in our yards when we were kids!
We got into Saint Palais just before 3pm – it could be mistaken for a Spanish town and guess what? It’s festival time! Perhaps not a lot of sleep tonight – we’ve just seen some folk dancing which was nice but we seem to have a brass band below us and there’s a big sound stage out the front of the hotel😀
24kms walking today and now 706km in total. Two days and about 35kms to go!
steelewalking 
I can’t blame you getting a taxi. Why not get mopeds for the final day or even better a soft top sports car? You don’t want to come home worn out and grumpy.
You guys have done so much it’s hard keeping up with your daily blog!
But I look forward to catching up when your back to wet, windy and cold Perth.
Love Cam
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Definitely won’t be grumpy! A couple of days in Biarritz after we finish here so definitely will be relaxed. Have a great day on the 23rd and see you when we get home😁
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You must be starting to feel like part of the scenery . Nearly there… or are you going to walk back to the start to pick up your bags ?
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Ha ha😀 Our bags are following us just not on our backs. Not quite feeling part of the scenery but it is a bit strange to think next Sunday we’ll be home. Looking forward to catching up and perhaps planning the next one?
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