Lons, Pau, the Pyrenees

26 June, Saturday afternoon—Lons (Pau)
What a difference a week makes. When we left San Sebastian last Saturday we thought summer had really deserted us. Although the rain had stopped it was still pretty grey with low cloud. And, when we finally made it to Pau the rain had returned. However … next day (Sunday) things started to improve and kept up the trend all week.
We are having a lazy afternoon in the apartment here in Lons so thought I should get up to date with my newsletter.
We have the use of a two bedroom apartment (Marie and Mickael have moved in with Marie‟s sister—they will come to Australian later this year) in a mixed farming/residential area near Pau. In Australia we would call it a suburb, and it is only 10 minutes at the most from the centre of town. We have fallen in love with Pau—its laid back atmosphere, the spectacular view of the Pyrenees from the Boulevarde des Pyrenees (and from the top bedroom window), the castle, the restaurants, the gardens, parks and cycle ways, and of course the proximity to the Pyrenees itself and excellent skiing in winter.
Monday dawned clear and sunny if still a little crisp so we decided not to wait, but to head off through Lourdes (only stopped to go up the funicular for the view) into the mountains and the Cirque de Gavarnie. It's pretty spectacular even when we have the Canadian Rock-ies to compare it with, and one advantage of the recent rain was the dusting of snow on the peaks, and the copious waterfalls. We haven‟t invested in serious walking boots, so we didn‟t do the longest hike, just a 5km walk to the meadows below the glaciers and back to Gavarnie—pretty easy.
Our intention was then to go across the Col du Tourmalet (serious Tour de France country this) but the road was closed 9km below the Col (pass). Marie (our host here) thinks they are getting the road fixed up after winter for the Tour de France. Her parents have a house in Barèges, just down the road from the Col and the Tour passes through there three times this year. It is also where she has skied since she was a child.
Next day, still sunny and getting warmer, so it was off on the bikes for a ride, first through Lons, then down to the river (Gave de Pau) and the riverside path. We only went as far as the Base Nautique (kayak course) and back but being in France, couldn't resist lunch at a restaurant conveniently positioned along the way (actually next to the golf course).
That evening Mickael had arranged for us to tag along with an international group from a pharmaceutical conference in town to see an exhibition pelota (jai alai in Basque) match. This was a great idea, because they explained the game first, in French, Spanish and English. So we now know a little of this complex game, which is actually several games, depending on the bat, the court and the ball. Oh … and the bat is sometimes a long curved basket, when it is called Cesta Punta, which is what we saw. It is played on a 54m, 3 sided court with two players in each of two teams and the rules are sort of similar to squash.
Wednesday we drove back, almost to Spain to see some of the Atlantic coast we had missed on the way here last Saturday. St Jean de Luz, Ciboure and Hendaye, in France and Hondaribbia back in Spain are all that you expect from seaside resorts but the beaches are wide and sandy and they are all very attractive. The only fly in the ointment was our inability to get any money from any banks (we tried 7 or 8 before giving up). The resolution of this issue is a long story which I will not go into here, except to say that NAB should post a message on its internet banking site, or send customers emails to let them know when there is a problem. It wasn't resolved until 2 days and 20 + 40 minutes of frustratingly pointless conversation on international calls later. At the end of the second call we were told “oh, my supervisor has just told me there has been a problem with a number of credit cards at ATMs in Europe”! And in the process Arthur found out that somewhere back in the mists of time some clerk had entered his birth date incorrectly (10 not 11) and the first call he made, they wouldn‟t accept his ID! Oh, the little things that can upset a day. You will be pleased to know that we are back in funds (actually we had another card we could have used) and it appears sorted.
We have been pretty lazy since then, wandering around Pau, going to the markets, visiting some of the small towns close by, reading and just enjoying being in one place. Yesterday we went to the castle, which was where Henri IV was born and as it is the 400th anniversary of his assassination there are a lot of events going on around town to mark the occasion.
One other special event this week was the annual 'Fête de Musique' held on midsummer's evening (21st, Monday this week) all over France. Two years ago we were in Uzès for this so knew how good the music could be. Groups play all over town, in all the squares, and it is absolutely free. People sit in restaurants and bars or just wander from band to band. The highlight had to be a flamenco group (missed seeing this in Spain) with two dancers. They were spectacular and a fitting finale to a great evening.
Tonight we have been invited to a BBQ by Marie and Mickael, at the house where they are staying (they are looking after it while Marie's sister is in Abu Dhabi). Should be interesting as well as a linguistic challenge—we don‟t know how many English speakers will be there.
… and we have goats, including two new kids, and chickens next door. They must be the best fed animals you have ever seen. Then, around the corner there are cows, and you can buy fresh milk at the farm. Tomorrow we go to Léran near Carcassonne, stopping on the way for lunch at the French home of Cheryl and Alan Stevns, friends from Broke in the Hunter Valley back home.
To be continued …