Sure enough, we've watched as old buildings have been demolished to be replaced by glitzy new apartment blocks and further inland, housing estates have sprung up tagged on to Basque villages. However, the area is still served by the same old infrastructure to cope with the influx of incomers. That's not entirely true.. Believe it or not, the Town Halls here have seen fit to embrace green policies - nothing wrong with that surely? - except that the net result is that traffic on the coast has been squeezed into less road space than ever before by two developments.
First was the introduction of the all-electric Tram'bus. It was deemed necessary to create dedicated lanes for it so as to enable its proponents to claim with some legitimacy that it offers a speedy form of transportation. No prizes for guessing where the space for the Tram'bus lanes came from. They run at 10 minute intervals - so for 9 minutes and 50 secs the two lanes stand empty while shimmering queues of tailbacked cars wait alongside.
The second development to make inroads into road space previously occupied by vehicles is the push to encourage cycling. Again, in itself a praiseworthy initiative - but its implementation leaves much to be desired. To that end, yellow painted cycle lanes have appeared on several busy roads - and notices have just appeared that gives cyclists priority at roundabouts. I can't help feeling that there's a tragedy or two waiting here.
The Netherlands has long had a multi-mode approach to urban transport - and they chose to physically separate cars from bikes by giving cyclists their own dedicated lanes - not merely separated from traffic by yellow lines painted on the road.
On returning from the beach yesterday, I came across a mass cycle event..
It's well known that the Pays Basque is a humid area (code for rain!) - so will these same cyclists be out cycling to work in the rain? I very much doubt it. 5th July. It was clear down at the beach this morning with Nutty (our cocker spaniel) that the annual migration of tourists has started. We live in a region that has largely escaped the Covid19 virus - whereas those arriving from the Paris region have been less fortunate. We're going to try and minimise our exposure to crowds over the summer season as much as we can. Did I hear someone say 'good luck with that..'!Perhaps in anticipation of the arrival of those from outside the region, I spotted a group of some 12-15 people practicing Kendo on the grassy field behind the Plage des Cavaliers beach at Anglet. Kendo is one of those peculiarly Japanese martial arts that I have no wish to encounter from the point of view of someone at the receiving end (here's why!).
