I woke to the pitter-patter of drops on my tent. The sky boomed a bit but the bulk of the storm ended up missing La Rhune and it totally cleared up for a couple hours, but it probably wouldn’t have if I’d stayed up there, right?ĭay Two – Col de Lizuniaga to Arizkun 15.2 miles 4,172ft ascent 4,167ft descent
The trail descended steeply for a mile or two and at the bottom was my refuge, a closed bar/hotel that lets HRP hikers camp on their lawn for free, with potable spring water just 50ft down the road. The views opened up and I couldn’t help exclaiming at the top of my lungs “WOAH! THIS IS AWESOME!” Navigation was a little foggy but it didn’t take long to get below the cloud again. He also told me that storm was coming and it would be a good idea to get off the mountain quickly, so I chugged and started the downhill jog. I think the barkeep was just serving a couple of his friends or other employees up there, but he sold me a beer all the same. The top of the mountain (La Rhune) was socked in but I found a bar that was open, sort of. I know it’s hard to see but there’s a radio tower and a couple buildings way up in the mist there. This was mostly along a gravel road and went 2,000ft up over about 2.5miles. The HPR split from the GR10 for the forseable future and began what would be the most intense ascent I’ve done in a long time. As is so often the case these days two miles from the main road everyone disappeared. All of this near a mountain top with no town to speak of, just some quality views. Single track followed the ridge for a good ways and after passing another peak (Mandale) dropped to a stretch of tarmac through a tourist paradise of bars and booze merchants, supermarkets and souvenir shops. The HRP split off from the GR10 for a mile or two, weaving along the side of Choldokogagna with soaring views back to the Atlantic coast, before rejoining on the other side of the peak. Those miles passed very quickly and as the first big climb began she stopped for a water break and gave me some stickers as we said our farewells. Her name is Susan Goodyear, she’s a writer and has a podcast called The War On Cars (!!!!) The first hiker I encountered happened to be from Brooklyn and we struck up a really great conversation about visiting European family (mine French, hers Spanish) and politics and mostly about environmental activism.
The trail led out of town rather abruptly and began to climb, following the GR10. I couldn’t get a picture for my terminus start photo while in the water as a solo hiker, so this is the best I could do:Īfter emerging from the water and doing a brief pat down dry I hefted on my pack and walked barefoot for a quarter mile while my feet dried and the sand fell off (no worse way to start a hike than with wet feet and sandy socks!) When I got to the beach on the Atlantic side of Hendaye I threw down my pack, stripped to just my shorts, remembered to empty my pockets, and went for the obligatory starting swim. I had four bonus miles to trek to get to the official starting point, an enjoyable start mostly walking the beach boardwalk after cruising through Irun city center and crossing the French border Bridge. The day started when I got booted out of the donativo Pilgrim’s Albergue I stayed at in Irun right at their closing time of 8am (had to get as much of that complementary wifi and coffee as possible, like a thruhiker does). Day One – Irun to Hendaye to Col de Lizuniaga ~19 miles 4,930ft ascent 4,430ft descent
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