Day13: Only two days away from Andorra

On the 13th leg of his ‘Once to the end of the world – and back’ tour Sigi Grabner covered 149 kilometers in six hours and 20 minutes. In his running blog the snowboard overall World Cup winner 2009 reports on his return journey to Andorra.

"Today it was almost midday before I could continue. Breakfast wasn’t until 10 o’ clock, but it was princely. Spain is – it seems – the land of late breakfasts. The rest of the day got very muggy, even though the sun barely came out. I continued along the coast, and it soon started to rain. I got off my bike to put on my excellent water-proof GORE BIKE WEAR rain gear, which I’d packed away well. I’d barely gone 20 kilometers and the rain stopped, and of course I got too hot with my water-proof gear on. So I had to stop, take everything off and put it away again. After 20 kilometers it started to rain again, this time more heavily. What did I do? Got off my bike and took out the rain gear, which I’d just put away. After a quarter of an hour, it stopped raining again and the sun burned down. I stayed really calm and took everything off again. I’d hardly got to San Sebastian and what happened? It rained! I gave up and went to have tapas …

In the afternoon I crossed the border to France at Irun. On the way back to Andorra I want to cycle through the Pyrenees on the French side. This is where the Pays Basque is, the French Basque province, and the rain cover for my helmet looks a bit like a Basque cap. I stop to overnight in Hasparren, about 25 kilometers south of Bayonne, in a private room in the country. Tomorrow I’m going to head towards the French Pyrenees. I’ve still got just under 400 kilometers until I get to Andorra. If the weather cooperates, I’ll manage to get home in two days.

But first I have a bit of a problem. There’s nothing to eat! In France the kitchen closes about two hours earlier than on the other side of the border. ‘Desolé, la cuisine est fermé! Sorry, the kitchen is closed!’ They told me when I was looking for a restaurant at nine-thirty. Different countries, different eating schedules! I finally find a crèperie, where those still looking for food are entertained. In this place they don’t only have all the game machines you can think of, darts and poker machines as well as the people playing, but also great crèpes. I eat my way through the menu and order crèpe végétarienne (with a sunny side up and grilled vegetables) as an entree; have the crèpe au saumon fumé (with smoked salmon) as a main dish, and finish up with the best dessert ever: crèpe aux amandes et au miel (almonds with honey) with chocolate sauce and whipped cream! After I’m done, I’m not hungry any more …"

Sigi Grabner – 15/06/09

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