From Swords to Bayonets

So, alone again, naturally.

Travelling alone had a bumpy takeoff, before, in fact, I was even parted from the gang. Having planned for a hour or so bus trip from Toledo to Madrid (like the way down), the crazy commuter bus on the way back took more like two hours! So I was much stressing about missing my train, which would have given me an eight-hour wait. But, with the help of a nice Madrid taxi man, I got to Chamartin with minutes to spare - enough time to pick up a nice bottle of drinking yoghourt for brekkie.

So then a few hours through the centre and north of Spain, on a comfortable Renfe train, with a window seat and noone next to me. I broke out the iRiver, for its first real use of the trip, and Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins sang me through the dry plains of central spain. Very suitable for the grassland with occasional cows.

Bayonne. It gets a lot greener before long, and we're in France. (The change at Hendaye is trouble-free.) Bayonne is an old town, just for something different, and I'm once again in the Basque Country, though it's the Pays Basque here. It's not actually on the coast but is not far from Anglet and Biarritz, a gaudy Gold Coast-style resort. I've got a single room in a hotel which turns out to have three beds but at a very cheap 20 or so euros.

What did I do there? Not heaps. Wandered town a bit, it's nice and there are some rivers with nice views, and a fairly lively town centre. Unfortunately, I'm there a few days early - August 2nd is the start of les Fêtes de Bayonne, their huge annual festival. The town is obviuosly ramping up; every available space is being fitted out with tables and chairs and makeshift bar apparatus. So my Rough Guide has let me down there.

But anyway, I eat some food, including a pretty traditional Basque meal. Bayonne ham, bacon, and a scary black Basque sausage which tastes pretty good, actually. Served with crappy pommes frites, as is traditional in France. And apart from that, do little - it's a time for relaxation and thinking and trying to read and understand my Asterix book. Which is much much easier than talking and listening.

On the TGV, to Paris!