300km completed – a tougher day today. Partly because of more climbing (even though I tracked the coast – especially across the border, avoiding nasty Pyrenees climbs); mostly because I had a bike breakdown. My back freewheel suddenly locked and made the most alarming noise when I stopped pedalling. I was afraid the derailleur would get completely snared in the spokes (bad event!).

I removed my panniers and flipped the bike to examine the problem. I may have well have been looking into a well. A call to the Bike Rack led me to conclude that I needed to ride the bike as a ‘fixie’ (where you must keep pedalling at all times unless you are stopped).

A somewhat tense ride to Bayonne and I found a fabulous cyclist repair shop – disassembled various bits and reassembled them to get a fully working machine in 70 minutes (charge €20!! and that included some parts!). A Bayonne ham roll seemed in order for lunch!

In fairness, this has been the first notable breakdown since I started long distance spins 11 years ago – I can’t complain.