Saturday, December 16, 2023 - Elorriaga and Dax
After my trip to San Sebastian and my attempt to see the flysch near Zumaia, I knew I would need to make a return at least once this trip but at low tide. So with an eye on the tide chart earlier in the week, I noticed that la marée (the tide) would be low (only 0.24 m) just before 1PM today. From my previous visit, I knew it'd be easier to park at the picnic area in the small town of Elorriaga, which is also situated just by a trail down to the beach. So I made the ~1.5 hour, put on my hiking boots, and got busy seeing some rocks.
A quick breakfast before hitting the trail: une brioche St. Nicholas 😂
First, I'll say that while Elorriaga does indeed possess a trail to the beach, it is actually quite steep and long, but was surprised to find a Jeep at the bottom of the trail and a couple people surfing the low tide just off the edge of the flysch shelf. The flysch here was rotated such that the layers were pointing inland and at a roughly 45 degree angle; this made for some serious tide pool action as the trapped waters didn't really have a good way of funneling back to the low tide. That being said, I didn't see too much in the tide pools; maybe the couple in waders I saw were able to observe something.
Layers of flysch facing away from the ocean
It kinda reminds me of the Giant's Causeway; but completely different geometry and minerals, so I guess it's not at all like Giant's Causeway?
This beach had tons of tidepools. Per a sign, some protected species make their homes in this protected biotope but I didn't see anything cool like an octopus.
It was really something to see the waves swell up as they hit the flysch shelf and then become a mass of rolling white foam as they break over hundreds of layers of stone until they peter out.
One live specimen found! A type of shrimp/prawn?
With the sun to the south, it took a while for the rays to work their way over the top of the cliffs.
More live specimens!
The tides did a number on this rock; it has a bit of a resemblance to the alabaster in that Chillida sculpture I saw in the museum at San Sebastian.
After seeing the beach at Elorriaga, I broke a real good sweat making the long trek back up to the Deba-Zumaia trail. I continued on the trail further SW and was surprised to find that this camino was having me walk through farm pastures. It was also INCREDIBLY muddy because of all the rain we'd received earlier in the week, I'm so glad I packed my hiking boots.
Looking back at the beach I was just on from the next cliff
The trail passed right by this farmhouse. This little herding pup was the only dog at the house not tied to a post so he took it upon himself to nip just next to my ankles as I was passing by just to ensure that I didn't dawdle.
The cows seemed very non-plussed about random people walking by, I suppose it's a common occurrence.
View from the Santoska cliff.
The weather was just a slight ocean breeze and I was warm from the walking, so I was just down to my t-shirt for most of la randonée
Here the flysch isn't as close to perpendicular with the water as the other beach, so there was less tidepools; the water on the flysch here is mostly from a stream draining to the ocean.
Spotted this tiny serpent struggling to climb the steep trail in the shade; I used a stick to move it into the warmer sunshine.
The tide was already starting to come back up by the time I turned around on the trail.
This donkey was grazing in a field just near where I had come up from the Elorriaga beach. When I stopped to catch my breath, I let out a long sigh... and she grunted back! I managed to keep her interested in a call and response game for 4 grunts before she realized I wasn't going to start throwing carrots. But then on my way back, she came right up to sniff me; again, when the food wasn't forthcoming, she very quickly lost interest.
Where I turned around is maybe a little past the halfway point from Zumaia to Deba, but I was already getting tired. So if I do make a 3rd visit to this trail, maybe I'll simply start in Deba but no promises.
After my hike, my plan was to then stop by Bayonne (or as the Euskal/Spanish signs called it, Baiona) where at 7:30PM there would be an event of people lighting and launching paper lanterns. As it turns out, I wasn't the only person planning to stop by Bayonne for this, nor was I likely the thousandth person. The drive into Bayonne was so completely different from my previous visit: cars were parked on the sides of the roads leading to the centreville, cars were on sidewalks, and traffic towards the city and parking lots was at a standstill. It wasn't even this bad when I had watched the rugby game... So I set my GPS for home and opted for the scenic route (avoid tolls) which involved a sunset drive along the Adour river until I could cut across a very narrow bridge and join up with a highway via the town of Tyrosse. It was funny to note that the towns in Les Pays-Basques have two signs for the town's name (French and Basque) and that only the French signs had been flipped upside down (Vive la revolution!)
Part of the plans for Bayonne were to rehydrate and eat there while waiting for the lanterns to happen, so I was hungry when I got back to Dax. Not that I'm tired of French cuisine or Landaise/Basque specialties, but I was looking for something different again and opted to check out the restaurant called La Couscouserie nestled a little further away from the centreville than I normally eat. The place is definitely just a mom & pop restaurant: mom was hostess and serveuse, pop was slaving away in the kitchen (I only ever heard him), daughter was on her phone, and son was playing a game on a laptop but sometimes was called on for bringing dishes out.
The place appears to get a lot of orders for take away (pour emporter) but what struck me when I entered was that the three people in line ahead of me had large tote bags with pots and containers. Customers were required to bring their own containers for takeaway: 2 containers for a tajine dish or 3 containers for an order of couscous! I'd never seen anything like it before but it makes a lot of sense and clearly there's enough desire for the food that locals know to bring empty containers. Me, I paid the extra euro to eat my order of mutton couscous on site. I'm thinking I might get an order for takeaway in the future for weekends: the size of the dishes are enormous, the prices are very reasonable (this comes into play when I'm paying for my meals instead of the company 😅), and the food was very tasty! I was really pleased with the massive pot of stewed veggies that accompanied the mutton; a bit of turnip, carrot, and cabbage is exactly what I needed after all the bread, meat, and cheese I've been eating the past few days.
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