Noah was a funny old thing, one moment lumpy and grumpy, the next still lumpy but all smiles bearing her belly for pats. The night before she had been quite bark and snappy from her bed and wed had scurried up the creaking stairs in the dark. She loved us this morning though, ah old dogs, it made us miss our gracie border collie, the temperamental girl.

Alexandre had prepared breakfast for us and we enjoyed chatting with her over croissants. Conversation is like food to a traveller, especially in a foreign country. “Oui”, to “parlez-vous anglais” music to our dumb English ears. She grew up in Paris, then moved to south-east Asia with her parents, as an adult she had lived many years in Barcelona. She had the broad mannerisms and the smokers throaty voice of the Spanish.

Following her advice we road back towards bayonne and took in the charm of the old canal city which we had missed. Then bike paths all along the beach and through biarritz, which was a stunning old city. There were paths carved into rock with elegant stone balustrades, flowers up and down the grassed cliffs and fun little bridges hopping across islands. It was a place I could return to explore further, the day had grown grey so we fled the ominous clouds.

Alexandre had set the standard high for other airbnb hosts when we arrived back in the evening. She had provided dîner et aperitif, a lovely spread including a vegan dish for the Dutch girl who was also staying, she was interested in permaculture and had quit her job in TV and film to pursue a more earth conscious path, she hadn’t found it yet, so we told her about Ben Law’s course. Alexandre poured generous glasses of Spanish champagne and delicious morsels, whilst telling us about her life and her funny encounters with strange housemates. She found her first housemate in her bed with a homeless man, she didn’t have a change of sheets.

We chatted into the night and then enjoyed sinking into our soft bed.