269. Summer afternoon *

31st July. We've just had a few days away in the mountains in order to escape the massed crowds attending the Fêtes de Bayonne - and also to breathe some fresh mountain air after the weeks of heat and humidity we've had on the coast here. We'd planned to drive up and across to the Jura to visit my wife's aunt who is 92 - but given the canicule (heat wave) we thought better of it - we'll go there in October instead. In the end, we went to Montory, a small village in the foothills of the Pyrenees about 10km from the border. This (above) is the former stable - now the rustic dining room of the country hotel that we stayed in. We spent our few days there exploring local villages via some spectacular roads and stunning scenery. We enjoyed largely empty roads during our stay in this beautiful area - even in the high season as most tourists are content to remain in the beach resorts.

Approaching Sainte-Engrâce one day, we turned a corner to see 3 or 4 people looking at a very large bird (a good three feet high) standing in the road nearby. It may have been hit by a car - but it suddenly took fright when it saw our car approaching and it started running awkwardly towards us, with its scrawny neck jutting forward and beating its great wings before taking off over our heads. It was a griffon vulture (vautour fauve). Not one of Nature's triumphs - at least from an aesthetic point of view!

This area has featured regularly in the Tour de France due to its many hills and mountain passes - and there were groups of cyclists out there grinding up the hills - and they all seemed to have that same cyclists' physique - lean with skinny arms and legs. I can never understand where the power comes from (quiet in the cheap seats!).

Returning on Monday, we decided to route home via a tangle of small lanes that brought us through numerous sleepy hamlets and villages. We made a coffee stop at La Bastide-Clairence (founded in 1314) - and one of France's most beautiful villages - on the way home. It certainly merits its inclusion in that group. This is somewhere that, in almost 30 years, for some unknown reason we've only visited twice! (photos here) (AirBnB listings here)
This view (looking south towards the Pyrenees) was close to Ainharp - and this was rural Pays Basque at its best with its white-painted farmhouses dotting the rolling wooded landscape.

24th July. When all the fireworks went off to mark the start of the Fêtes de Bayonne a few moments ago, it sounded like the start of "Saving Private Ryan".. they do like their fireworks to be noisy.  No finesse, no carefully timed displays in time with classical music - no, just a constant bombardment of chest-rattling explosions until the box is empty. Here's how it looked - and sounded!
Two places of natural interest lie just to the south of our intended destination this weekend: the Gorges de Kakuetta and the Passerelle d'Holzarte. It's one of those inexplicable quirks that, despite it being almost 30 years since we first visited the Pays Basque, we've only visited the Gorges of Kakuetta once - and we've never been to the 180m high suspension bridge at Holzarte.. You'll find them here:
So - Boris Johnson is to be the next Prime Minister. His time in office may be long or it may be short - but one thing's for certain: it won't be dull! Here are some examples of the wit and wisdom of Boris Johnson. Fasten your seat belts!

23rd July. Tomorrow sees the opening of the Fêtes de Bayonne.. and I can see that the influx of people has already started. To escape the hordes, we'll be having a few days away in a sleepy no-horse village in la France profonde - about 2 hours away to the south east of here - in the foothills of the Pyrenees. What is la France profonde? There's a paragraph in this link that almost gets it - although I think the author is a bit harsh on his native America:

"As an American, to visit a French provincial town or city is to see a way of life that is deeply enviable. Small shops, cafes, town squares, churches — the hustle and bustle of pedestrian life that one has not seen in the United States in decades, if one has seen it at all. It is vivacious, but it is also gentle. It is human, in a way that our built landscapes in America no longer are, and in most places never were".

For me, la France profonde is a place or an area where life continues to be lived as it always has been - with its customs, traditions and values more or less intact. Down here in the far south west, it's still possible to find places that qualify - and for that, I'm extremely grateful.

The forecast is for 39° in the shade today - so I can see us spending the day largely indoors - except for periodic visits outside for the dog! I took him out early this morning and it was already 25°.

At around 8pm this evening, we had a mad scramble as the wind suddenly got up and trees in the garden were bending this way and that. The howling wind threatened to blow the solid inch-thick shutters upstairs at the back into matchwood.  We'd just had them loosely latched to try and keep the house cool but on seeing the sky suddenly darken, it looked like a good time to put umbrellas and chairs safely away. The minute I stepped out in the garden and had an armful of umbrellas, all hell broke loose upstairs as all four of our heavy shutters broke loose and started banging to and fro from stop to stop. We managed to fasten them shut securely before any damage was done. When I'd finished, I looked up and saw thin low cloud was scudding over at 500ft.. There is a localised meteorological phenomenon here known as a Brouillarta.. a sudden sustained gust of wind (akin to a line squall but without the rain). I suspect I saw the tail end of it passing overhead.

Et voilà - I just found a warning about it in today's Sud-Ouest.. that's exactly what it was - and they got the timing spot on too!

Here's a speeded-up video that shows a Brouillarta hitting the coast south of Biarritz in 2016.. 
Take some time out to relax with this great old tune - beautifully played here by Kimiyoshi Akiyama:

Here's another very creditable version of that same song. 

22nd July. Yet another 'make or break' moment in this mission. If for whatever reason, this manoeuvre had been unsuccessful, and in the absence of any other means of transferring the two astronauts into "Columbia", that was game over for them. Every one of these technologies had to work perfectly first time and the astronauts had to get join-ups like this right first time too. The "Eagle" spacecraft re-appears at 2:07 (top right in the video)..

(by the way, 36,000 feet per second = 24,500mph or Mach 33). Here's a video that really gives an impression of the work load during Eagle's lunar descent - the profile was astonishingly complex with a computer alarm thrown in for good measure as the mission approached a peak of intensity.

21st July. This video shows a later mission - Apollo 17 - lifting off from the moon - but it's identical to the Apollo 11 mission. I can't begin to imagine what that countdown must have been like:

The exceptionally hot weather we've been having these last few weeks seems to have awoken the normally dormant mosquito population - and as I'm a well-known mosquito magnet, the end result is that I've been scratching myself like a juiced-up chimp. Then I remembered the many trips to Virginia I used to make, especially those in the summer heat.. I'd sometimes stay with friends and they had a deck in their yard with a bug zapper. It contained a small UV light to attract mosquitoes and other bugs - and surrounding the light was an electrified grid that constantly despatched the pests with a satisfying (to me at least) buzz-zap! Job done. Here's one in action - music to my ears!

The question is: can anyone recommend an electric bug zapper for outdoor use - preferably with an LED light - that really works and is available in France? I've read of a US product - the Flowtron BK-40D - that is highly recommended (see above) but with the shipping cost, it works out at a hefty US$90. There would be additional import duties to pay on it too. (Electricity supply in France is 240v and I've just learned that the Flowtron is rated for 120v. Ah well..)  

20th July. These incredible live pictures from Man's first steps on the lunar surface 50 years ago showed us Earthlings exactly what we - the human race - are capable of. Where we go from here is another question though. 

19th July. I started painting the shutters at the back of the house at 7am this morning while it was still cool - and by mid-morning I'd finished. By late afternoon, they were bone dry and I managed to hang them without breaking any toes! The temperature on our west-facing terrace at 7.20pm was 36°!

50 years ago tomorrow - less than 25 years after the end of WWII - Man landed on the Moon in the form of two astronauts - Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin. This staggering achievement was enabled by pushing the technology of the time to the very limit. JFK had set the bar high 8 years previously - and America delivered in spades. Did it ever! Hats off to all those who were involved.. all 400,000 of them. I remember watching these fuzzy pictures as they came in in the wee small hours:

17th July. We were in San Sebastian this morning to do some minor shopping and at lunchtime we went for a stroll along the promenade overlooking La Concha - when we found La-Perla - a relaxed café/restaurant with an uninterrupted view of the bay. Considering its position, it was very reasonably priced. Recommended!

16th July. Fifty years ago today we watched in awe and amazement as Apollo 11 launched into the heavens with a crackling roar atop 7.5 million pounds of thrust on an epic journey that captured the hearts and minds of the entire world. I count myself privileged to have been alive to witness Man's greatest ever achievement. It was a truly miraculous feat, and we even had live imagery from space in glorious black and white - plus live TV pictures of the astronauts' first steps on the Moon! It was only a few years previously that we'd been able to see live transatlantic TV broadcasts from the US via Telstar.

What went through the astronauts' minds as they said their goodbyes to their families and their loved ones? We'll never know what the risks were - but I'm sure NASA had contingency plans in place for as many of them as possible. They were the bravest of the brave. (Engine start at 2:00)

In the 80s, I had the opportunity to visit the Apollo/Saturn V exhibit at the Kennedy Space Centre. At the time, a Saturn V rocket was lying on its side in a ground display compound and I was dwarfed by the giant nozzles of the five F-1 rocket engines in the Saturn V's first stage - that produced a staggering 7.5 million pounds (3.4 million kilograms) of thrust and was used during launch for about 2 minutes. In the process, they gobbled up 20 tons (40,000 pounds) of fuel per second.

15th July. I nearly crippled myself yesterday evening taking down the heavy wooden shutters downstairs to give them a fresh coat of paint. These are 8ft 4inches (2m54) tall and solidly made out of wood (no venetian-type slats). My grip on one of them slipped at just the wrong moment and it landed squarely across my toes.. Ouch! (I almost said!) Nothing broken though. After a few minor repairs to the shutter, I applied a coat of Rouge Basque - but this morning it was still tacky..

14th July. Today will be a first for me - my first 14th July as a French citizen. I received an official email the other day informing me that as they couldn't dig up any 'cause or just impediment' to my application, they had no option but to tell me that I had acquired French citizenship. I paraphrased that a bit!☺ I now have to go and apply for a carte nationale d'identité.. and a passport. It makes sense - we'll have been here 12 years in September, and I'd like to stay - plus, I'd like to be able to vote here too. Phew, it was worth the effort! (I still retain my UK citizenship)

In celebration of France's Bastille Day, here's a video of the entire glittering military parade down the "world's most beautiful avenue" (and who could possibly argue with that description?). If you want to cut straight to the fly past (and SuperHomme), start at 37:04...

Here's an element of it that took all of us by surprise.. Forget flying bicycles, I want one of these!

This (below) looks like fun.. although I'm not sure that the bike (and those wheels) would be sufficiently sturdy and resilient to stand up to a few heavy landings. Some suspension wouldn't go amiss either!

13th July. We went for a evening stroll with the dog around Bayonne yesterday evening and all the restaurants along the Nive were full.. with lots of tourists in evidence.

place Jacques Portes

On the way back we walked through the newly re-surfaced place Jacques Portes (in front of the Galeries Lafayette) where a large wind orchestra (brass and woodwind) was playing La Peña Baiona (aka Vino Greigo) - which is Bayonne's unofficial national anthem!

(Health warning: A music critic has written 25 pages to analyse the bejasus out of this song - if you wish to find out what she thinks it's all about, read on. You've been warned..)

The band turned out to be l'Harmonie Bayonnaise - and very enjoyable they were too! They went on to play some demanding music (in my untrained opinion!) - such as Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody among others.. A neighbour of mine was singing along - complete with actions - in her own private rhapsody to much amusement all around.. We enjoyed many of their renditions until the dog decided that he'd had enough..

12th July. I don't think there's a better interpretation of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" than this - by the highly acclaimed Polish guitarist Marcin Dylla. See what you think:                             (more here)

11th July. Just had some pasta - followed by a slice of water melon straight from the fridge.. Mmm-mmm!

8th July. The annual madness that is the Fiesta of San Fermin kicked off yesterday morning with the first encierro (bull running) of the week-long fiesta.. (Hemingway has much to answer for in my view)

Meanwhile, on our side of the Pyrenees, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is a charming small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees about 40 minutes away by car and, during our first visit there, we noticed the scallop shell motif was everywhere. It appeared that this is the symbol of the famous long distance pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago, the roots of which go back at least a thousand years.

Many people choose to start from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port - one of the most popular starting points for the pilgrims' walk - as from there, it's but a 500 mile hop, step and a jump to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (NW Spain).

This walk has been on my back burner for several years now and I think it's something that I'll find myself doing sooner rather than later! Have a listen to these two podcasts that I stumbled upon by accident earlier - Part One & Part Two.

4th July. This is a piece by Mozart that I was unfamiliar with until recently: it's the third movement from his Serenade # 10 for winds 'Gran Partita' in B-flat major, K. 361/370a..

Meanwhile - Happy birthday USA!

This video clip of Stromboli erupting yesterday popped up as a 'recommend' for me.. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that..

1st July. My favourite dog-walking field behind the beach at Anglet was invaded the other day by a hundred or so white vans and caravans - belonging to a so-called "evangelical group". We had a visitation from them in the same place last year and it took some time for the local council to evict them. I sympathise with the council as it doesn't have the practical means at its disposal to forcibly evict encampments like this. 

Over the winter, the council had positioned massive concrete blocks across the access points to the field - but they hadn't done their homework properly - apparently this well-organised group gained access to it via an unblocked route further up the coast. The council will have to ensure that access to the field is fully watertight in future. When I spotted the 'evangelical group' in situ last week, I saw that they'd also opened up an electrical power supply box and had hooked up the entire convoy to the mains supply. Who pays for the power used? And then there's hygiene. I wonder. By law, councils do have to make provision for gens du voyage ("travelling people"). I see this same group are now ensconced at Ascain (below) - our former holiday village.

* According to Henry James: the two most beautiful words in the English language.

257. Summer's here.. at last!

31st July. We're back to a steaming Bayonne after escaping the Fetes de Bayonne for a few days. We stayed near Capdenac Gare in the Aveyron - right on the border with the Lot. I'll add some details later but for now here's a short slideshow I put together of some images from our long weekend:

I'd not previously visited this part of France before and so we crammed quite a few kilometres into our three free days there. The village of Conques was first on our list - and while it's fair to say that early ecclesiastical relics are not one of my main interests in life, neither of us were prepared for the astonishing treasures to be found on display there - with some of the pieces dating back to the 8th century.

Conques

The pride of the collection must surely be this richly bejeweled golden statuary of Saint Foy (below) that dates from the 9th-10th century. The village itself is well worth a visit.

On the Sunday, we visited Villefranche-de-Rouergue and Najac. The cool narrow streets of Villefranche-en-R were almost deserted and it was a pleasure to explore the arcaded passages. In contrast, Najac's market was in full swing and once again, we found a place to retreat to for an excellent light lunch - l'Air du Temps.   

There must have been a Roman influence on road building in this area as many of the D roads were ruler straight. On reaching the brow of a hill, your eye would be taken by the ribbon of the road stretching straight as an arrow to the far distant horizon. You'd see a car beetling along in the shimmering distance and it would take minutes before it would flash by. Even in the height of the summer the roads were pleasantly empty. 

25th July. This song (below) by the Corries reminds me of some of the spectacular mountain scenery we saw in the far north west of Scotland some 3 years ago..

  

Lochcarron

If you haven't visited the far north west of Scotland before, I would urge you to make the trip. 

I took a quick trip to Dancharia (just over the border in Spain) this morning to fill the car up with diesel prior to our break tomorrow - and the signs that the Tour de France is coming here on Saturday 28th July were in evidence. There are some beautiful country roads here and so if you watch the Tour on Saturday, it will give you an idea of the Basque countryside. We regularly drive over these roads and I look forward to seeing the stage on TV. This is also the exact same area that was used by guides of the Comet Line as they helped around 125 Allied aircrew to escape into Spain during WWII.. Story here.    

24th July. Woke up this morning to the sound of rumbling thunder and rain. This is one strange summer.

Figeac

22nd July. The town is girding its loins ready for the annual invasion by over a million visitors to the Fêtes de Bayonne.. We'll be escaping the white-clad hordes - we're heading off to stay near Figeac (above) for a few days.

21st July. I meant to post this earlier but I got sidetracked.. France exploded in an eruption of joy last Sunday when they deservedly beat Croatia to claim the FIFA World Cup for the second time. The result triggered a cacophony of car horns late into the night. France were clearly the team to beat throughout the tournament – and they saw off Argentina, Uruguay and the much-fancied Belgium among others.

England, playing a laboured and predictably uninspired brand of football, somehow stumbled into the semi-finals backed by a jingoistic media at home whipping up popular support. Waist-coated Gareth Southgate fielded a mix of average and very average players and due to a remarkably kind draw progressed further than they could have expected. Reading the UK press though, I did start to wonder if the media hacks had been watching the same games as me. I was happy to see England snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as I don't think I could have stood the sight of them being dismantled and thrashed by Les Bleus in the final. Great credit must go to Didier Deschamps - the captain of France's World Cup winning team in 1998 and now the manager of this great French team - an immense achievement he can be justly proud of.  

13th July. I'm going to spare you further coverage of the last couple of days of the San Fermin Festival.

We went to Saint-Jean-de-Luz yesterday morning as we had a few jobs to do there. First off was picking up a little something for Madame's birthday from Maison Laffargue - one of her favourite shops - and then a replacement glass chimney for a lamp from Quincaillerie Debibie (try saying that while eating a Cornish pasty) that Monsieur Bulldozaire (aka 'Nutty', our cocker spaniel pup) had succeeded in breaking.

Buvette de la Halle

Finally, another quick stop at Ducru here to pick up a pair of salt and pepper mills. We also did some people-watching at the Place Louis XIV over a coffee at our habitual haunt - the Bar de la Marine... endlessly fascinating!

We finished up at the Buvette de la Halle (right).. for grilled sardines and a small pichet of rosé - followed by a delicious home-made crème brûlée each. We've been going there for almost 30 years and it's as good as ever. Tip: Arrive early to ensure a table in the shade. Ignore the comments on Trip Advisor - this is a simple pavement café serving the freshest of seafood, the staff are friendly and very busy serving all the tables. Don't confuse speed with brusqueness.. We've never experienced anything remotely close to the alleged rudeness or brusqueness in almost 30 years. NB No credit cards!

While we still have a minor Russian theme running, here's Jack Teagarden's band with their swing rendition of that old Russian song "Dark Eyes".. As you may have noticed, I never get tired of listening to this particular song - so sit back and pick the bones out of this!

12th July. This made me laugh!

Day 6 and still going strong..

11th July. San Fermin Day 5.. The madness continues.. I think the real enemies of the runners are not the bulls - but other runners.

By the way, I would never wish to be this 'up close and personal' with a bull - let alone two of them.

These bulls mean business..

Brexit update: Last Friday, Theresa May gathered her cabinet together to agree the UK's proposals for defining its future relationship with the EU. The outcome was trumpeted as a triumph for a united cabinet. However, this apparent display of unity was turned on its head 48 hours later by the resignation of David Davis, the Brexit secretary and shortly afterwards by the resignation of Boris Johnson, the Foreign secretary. 3 other pro-Brexit Conservatives have also resigned..

The views of Melanie Phillips are always worth reading and the following is an extract from her analysis:

".. a real leader would have said to the country something like this: “Look, there are going to be hiccups and problems and we may well have to bite on a few painful bullets. But the upside is that, overall, our economic future is very bright indeed if we make the cleanest possible break; and politically, we will once again be independent and in charge of our own laws and destiny. And for that most precious of all gifts we will pay a price if we have to, just as this country has always buckled down and paid a price for liberty – which is really what Britain is fundamentally all about”. 

And to the EU, such a real leader would have said something like this: “The people of Britain have spoken and we are now leaving you. We will not seek a deal; we will take our chances with WTO rules and tariffs because even with all that we’ll still take you to the economic cleaners; but if you would like to offer us a deal, you’ll find our door is always open because we’ll always be your friends. Good bye!”

I would only differ from the above by saying that believing that a 'deal' could be had with the EU is to mistake the exit process for one in which a 'deal' could be made. The EU is a rule-based structure (essential in an organisation of 28 nations) and so the idea that the UK can still benefit from free trade with the EU without complying with the EU's rules (the so-called four freedoms - goods, services, capital & labour) is pie in the sky. It's their way or no way - and it's taken the UK 2 years to realise that - and judging from the ambitious proposals that emerged from Chequers last Friday, the Govt has still to learn that particular lesson. I can guarantee that Michel Barnier will dismiss all the UK's proposals contained in the White Paper when it is presented to them.

The UK should abandon all negotiations and proceed at full speed with all the preparations necessary for a future under WTO rules. I think only then - once the EU realise that the UK is deadly serious about a 'no deal' scenario - that the EU might, might, at the last minute, consider adopting a more pragmatic approach. Can the EU afford to blow off 40bn euros?

10th July. Day 4 at Pamplona - and still no shortage of willing volunteers..! (Introducing half a dozen or so bulls into Christmas shopping crowds might move things along a bit, no?)

9th July. Day 3 of San Fermin - and they're off again!

Russia has been in the news recently (World Cup - there, I've said it!) and I heard a snatch of "Oh fields, my fields" ('Polyushko-polye'), that most evocative of songs, on the radio earlier this morning that stirred memories of the vastness of the steppes. Written I think in the 1930s, it served to stimulate love of Mother Russia during the Great Patriotic War (aka WWII)..

I make no apologies for including one of the world's great anthems - one that's guaranteed to stir the blood of even the 'couchiest' of couch potatoes within earshot - and I speak as someone whose national anthem tends towards the 'dirge' end of the scale! (Tin hat on - awaiting incoming!) Needless to say, my own politics are a million miles away from those associated with this anthem:

Both of my regular readers will be aware that "Dark Eyes" is a favourite of mine. In keeping with the current theme, here's a version in Russian, just for a change..!

8th July. We decided to go to Biarritz with Nutty early this morning while it was still fresh - and while there were still parking spaces available. We had coffee on the terrace of the Bleu Café, a favourite of ours on the Grande Plage.. where we watched the surfers and the endless parade of the 'beautiful people'.. The tourist season is getting up to speed. 

Bleu Café, Biarritz

After that, we took a walk along the sea front and I spotted a new vehicle in town.. It's called a Fat Trot.. and it's a new electric beach scooter that looks like fun for "yoof" and it was developed right here in Biarritz. (a child's scooter in France is known as a trottinette):

They're available to rent/buy - and no licence or helmet is required.

As we left Biarritz, I spotted another new shop out of the corner of my eye - the über cool-looking Deus ex Machina. (they appear to venerate old motorcycles and early Porsche 911s. Gets my vote!). I must have a look another day.  

7th July. Today marks the start of the Festival of San Fermin at Pamplona - made (in)famous a loong time ago by our old friend Ernest Hemingway. He described it vividly in his first novel "The Sun Also Rises". He was a regular visitor to this part of the world throughout his life and its strong identity clearly made a deep impression on him. I wrote up my thoughts on Hemingway - for what they are worth - in an earlier post here.

Each day of San Fermin starts at 8am with the encierro (or the running of the bulls) from the holding pens through the narrow cobbled streets of Pamplona to the arena. The firing of a rocket is the trigger for the release of 6 bulls and 6 steers (who are there simply to guide the bulls). Two and a half minutes of sheer mayhem then ensues as the animals gallop through the white-clad crowds in a headlong dash that finishes at the bullring - where the unfortunate bulls meet their end later in the afternoon. The ancient tradition of running with the bulls is believed to have originated in the 14th century but it has only become an international rite of passage since Hemingway's first novel popularised this traditional festival in 1925.

Feeling brave? Come and join them! Me? I've got a sock drawer to tidy!

Me? I'm on the side of the bulls.

5th July. As the Brexit talks grind on and on, it's becoming increasingly clear that neither side in the negotiations is ready and/or willing to negotiate and so it's likely that we're heading for a Major Kong* moment - ie, leaving the EU with no deal.

* Major Kong (memorably played by Slim Pickens) was the B-52 pilot in Stanley Kubrick's black comedy "Dr Strangelove" (1964) who, with a handful of miles to run to his target, was sitting astride a thermonuclear weapon in the bomb bay of his B-52 carrying out last minute repairs to some fried wiring.. when suddenly the bomb bay doors opened and this unforgettable shot followed! 

4th July. First of all, Happy Fourth of July (whatever else you do, listen to this link!) to Americans everywhere celebrating their National Day.. It's always good to start the day off with goose bumps!

For anyone considering a move to the Pays Basque, I wouldn't pay too much attention to this article. Where to start..? It's full of misconceptions and poor advice - but then, it was co-written by a couple of English estate agents based in Pau. The thing to remember when looking at this area is - that if a particular town or area is seen as expensive or cheap, there's always a reason.

La Grande Plage, Biarritz

In a throw-away line, Biarritz is characterised as "very chic and sometimes a bit snobby..". Maybe because of its high property prices? People can forget that Biarritz is a working town and therefore it's not the kind of place where you should walk back from the beach to your accommodation still in your swimming things and flip-flops, with a wet towel over your shoulder. Snobby? No, far from it.

The idea that you can live at Pau and go to the coast and back for the day throughout the summer is just pie in the sky. Yes, you could do it but would you want to?

And yes, you can find cheaper property inland as long as you'll be content with "sitting outside your new home, glass of local Jurançon wine in hand, and enjoying the great sparkling canopy of stars arching above.” How long would the thrill of that estate agent puffery last? The problem with living inland in a distant village is essentially one of practicality.. Do you want to have to use the car each time you want a baguette, or buy a newspaper, visit the dentist or do whatever sport or social activity you're interested in? And where maybe your new neighbours could be less than thrilled by outsiders moving into "their" village - and perhaps being seen as partly responsible for driving house prices up? 

Finally, I would take the quoted property values per square meter with a very large pinch of salt. The price per sq m for a house in Biarritz is quoted as 4331€. Here are the results of a search I made just now in Biarritz for houses with a surface area of between 140-150 sq m. Using the 4331€ valuation, that should have produced a list of properties with prices ranging from 606,340€ (140 sq m) to 649,650€ (150sq m). The two that come in under budget are wrecks and would need an arm and several legs spent on them. I think the figure for Biarritz should be nearer 7-9000€/sq m..

The Basque coast is expensive for a reason.. There is a quality of life there.. activities, shops and facilities (not least of which are those to do with health!). It's also a destination - somewhere that attracts retirees from France and elsewhere for that last hurrah. Many of the villages inland are moribund.. and we've known quite a few people (French and British alike) who have only realised the sad truth of that after they'd bought a property there. My advice? Think very hard before moving to a village out in the sticks.

  

1st July. I took Nutty for a walk this morning through the peace and quiet of the shady woods that surround Lac de Mouriscot.. which is to be found about 3km to the south of Biarritz.

Lac de Mouriscot

It's the perfect place to avoid the hustle and bustle of the coast, especially during the season. There's a path that circles the lake and I didn't check my watch but I'm guessing that it takes 30-40 minutes to walk around it. (Park at the Auberge de Jeunesse)

Lac Marion

There's another lake hidden away in the suburbs of Biarritz that's also very pleasant to walk around on a hot day - Lac Marion..