Saturday 26th August 2000 - The Border Cafe
Up at 4am after a rushed attempt to pack for vol-biv, then Abi and Simon appeared to drive us to the bus station. Waterloo for 7am then the Eurostar to Paris (how we wished we'd given ourselves an extra day...) where we missed our connecting TGV because it took us at least the advertised 25 minutes just to buy a Metro ticket, let alone make the connection from Paris Gare du Nord to Montparnasse. And beware, vol-biv packs are almost impossible to fit through the barriers. Watched a pick-pocketing attempt on the Metro, and couldn't wait to get out of the city. But re-booking the TGV was easy and we even got a 2ff refund, the reason for which neither of us could fathom. Change at Bordeaux, then on down the coast, paragliders flying the cliffs at Biarritz/Bayonne. Then into Hendaye, where I recognised the benches I had spent the night on some years ago when returning from caving in the Picos mountains. Walked across the border (these pack are far too heavy) into Irun to find a small pension, soon to become known to us as the Border Café. Truck drivers loitered, drank, displayed their tattoos and fought long into the night waiting for the border to open (10pm Sat to 10pm Sun closed to trucks - if you can believe it).
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