Monday 18th of October.

In the morning we put our fee for staying at the deserted Municipal Gîte in an envelope and on our way out of town posted it in the letter box at the mayor’s office.

For the past 3 days Erhard and myself have been walking together. Today we covered 21kms to Lescar in 5 hours. At 72 years of age Erhard walks like a locomotive. If I stop to take a pee, in an instant he is 200metres ahead. When I take a quick photo he is suddenly 100metres further on. Today after walking for 3 hours I had to remind him that perhaps we should take break and have something to drink. He set out on his grand walk from Nice as previously (few years ago) he had walked from Vienna to Nice. This time his walk is to Burgos. He inspires me with endless fascinating stories about long distance hiking in Germany, Austria, France and even Israel. While I appreciated the advantages of maintaining a fast walking tempo with Erhard I sometimes felt inhibited about stopping and chatting to passers-by or dawdling to admire the scenery as inevitably I ended up lagging behind.

We found the Vival superette in Lescar at 12:41, 4 minutes before it closed which was fortunate as it allowed us to buy lunch and eat together before Erhard continued on for another 15kms to Lacommande. But for me this is the end of line along this particular route. Tomorrow I hitch-hike to Anglet (near Biarritz) where I have booked a Airbnb room for 3 days. Three days in which to consider whether or not I want to continue my walk for another 800kms to Santiago.

I look forward to visiting Biarritz for the first time, I’ve been told it is a beautiful seaside city. Above all I want to give my feet a treat, walk barefoot on the beach, smell the salty air and feel the magnificence of the Atlantic Ocean.

• Camino