Day 6 July 12 2015 - Bidarry to St. Entienne De Baigorry
A second tough day, but with unparalleled view. Out of the gate, we started to climb. Through a rather steep section, we reached an expansive plateau which was dotted with herds of goats and horses. These were lucky, happy animals with vast area to roam and plenty to eat. The only spoiler would be the vultures in the sky whose vicious eyes fixated on the weak and vulnerable (my husband did take some high resolution pictures of the vultures; but their eyes were so scary that he deleted all of them from the computer). They had their roles to play in this circle of life, I guess. Soaking in the majestic view, one peak after another, we walked on; and lost track how many peaks we have passed by.
By the time we got to Pic Buztanzelhay, we were out of water, a perilous stuation (there are signs for water hole and some travel guides do indicate whether certain section has water). Thankfully that was the last peak. The path sneaked into a dense forest, and we saw a sign that drinking water was nearby. How wonderful! We filled up our water bottle from a pipe led from a natural spring. We cooled ourselves down in the shade, devoured some calorie, and off we went again. The rest of the journey seemed endless. We were walking on the underbelly of those peaks. Again, the narrow balcony walks got on my husband’s nerve. He just wanted to get over with it. We finally touched pavement, then a long walk into the town of St. Etienne De-Baigorry. We were desperate for food supply again, only to find the market in town closed for Sunday! We managed to quench our thirst with coffee and soda at the only store open, the chocolate cafe. Afterwards, our kind host at Idiartekoborda picked us up.
Lodging: Idiartekoborda
Walking time: 8 hours
Level: strenuous
Elevation: +1190 m -1148 m
Distance: 10 miles