Southern Europe has been hit by an extreme heat wave with temperatures into the 40s at various locations along the Frances. Although likely to get cooler over the next couple of weeks, it’s looking likely that temperatures will remain in the mid to high 30s over this period. This has a couple of unwelcome consequences, (a) I won’t be able to wear shorts and (b) Tom being Scottish and Dorothy being Welsh, it’s highly likely that one or both of them will manage to get heat stroke. To avoid (b) we’ll be forced to limit our walking to mornings only which will leave us baking during the afternoon and evening. In Spain the temperatures shoot high quickly but rarely peak before 7 o’clock in the evening. The air is devoid of moisture and fair skin takes on a distinctive lobster like hue, not pretty. Tom will be trudging up to Orisson in temperatures in the high 30s and is genuinely in danger so we’ve taken an executive decision to switch to the Norte.

Our plane arrives in Biarritz on Saturday evening. We’ll take a bus to our hotel in Bayonne as planned but on Sunday morning we’ll catch the train to Hendaye near the Spanish border instead of heading off to St. Jean de Pied Porte as originally planned. The nice hospiteleros in the albergue in Roncevalles have refunded our €66 for Sunday night’s accommodation so little has been lost in switching.

The Camino leaves Hendaye via the bridge to Irun in Spain and we’ll head along the coast to San Sebastián. Temperatures along the Norte are likely to be some 5-10 degrees lower than the Frances on average which should give us a longer walking day, the opportunity to wear shorts and we’re less likely to rush Tom or Dorothy off for intensive care.

Our emergency Camino plastic container is full, last minute clothes washing will take place on Friday and we’ll be on our way after lunch on Saturday. Southampton airport here we come.