Walked the 5.9 km (4 mi) to Bayonne when I decided to stop at the Office de Tourisme to see if they could get me lodging at Bidart, my planned goal for the day (17.8 km). The lady called her counterpart and the result was that nothing was available except very high-priced vacation hotels. She highly recommended to stay in Bayonne, the last French city to cater to pilgrims. I took her advice and she found a chambre d'hôte within a kilometer or so.
As luck would have it, I arrived at the Aguirre Family's place called "la Gayonette" and both speak fluent Spanish, he stemming from Bilbao and she from Colombia, South America. It's a perfect opportunity to train my ear for Spanish. I used the day to get some sightseeing in--Bayonne is part of Basque country and has a beautiful cathedral. The city was teeming with tourists. Its population proper is around 50,000 but the greater area has some 300,000 people.
They invited me both for lunch and dinner, and we played games late into the evening--one a scrabble-type game but with numbers. To lighten my load, I left my jacket and a pair of trousers. And Seniora Socorro was nice enough to do a load of laundry for me, with drier since rain was predicted for the night.
I still need to sort out my next move.
