Sentier des douaniers
This hike is not very long, but it is nevertheless sporty because it runs along the first border ridge, often straight up the slope, in the footsteps of the old customs officers who used to watch out for night-time smuggling.
The border languishes peacefully on the banks of the Bidasoa River, then rises abruptly on the ridge of the Pyrenees, in the direction of the Ibardin Pass, then the Rhune massif. Numbered border markers were placed in the mountain to delimit this administrative line, and it was necessary to deploy rounds of attentive customs officers to slow down night-time smuggling operations and trafficking in goods. This hike partly follows in the footsteps of these border guards; you will notice that the job required a certain physical ease, as the climb to the border marker n°3 is rather sportive, fortunately under the shade of a beautiful oak forest. In these forgotten corners of the Basque mountain, if you are not hostile to steep slopes, the loop becomes a beautiful flight towards the first Pyrenean promontory.
