The lush, oak-covered mountains of the French Pyrenees are filled with game and studded with cepes and girolles mushrooms just waiting to be picked.
The days are becoming longer and it's fully light by 8am. We're on a gourmet or 'slow food' tour of the region in the capable hands of Australian couple Patrick and Robbie Arrieula, who have been leading food and walking tours of the area for the past 12 years.
Patrick knows the mountains well because he grew up in the area. His parents live in Abos, where his father is deputy mayor. He returns to this Basque area of France from his home in Australia twice a year to share his passion with like-minded travellers.
Passion is a word that sits well with the Basque folk. In fact it's passion for their unique traditions that has kept alive the extraordinarily complex Basque language and has maintained their own Basque-speaking schools, Basque flag and rich traditions that go back centuries.
From our hotel base in the village of Hasparren, it's an easy drive in any direction to explore this picturesque landscape, which changes dramatically with every bend in the road, from impossibly green fields where thick-coated sheep graze, to steep, rugged mountains that form the perilous border with Spain which for many years were used as a smuggling route.
Breakfasts consist of croissants and crispy baguettes with Ossau-Iraty cheese, traditionally eaten with black cherry conserve from the nearby cherry capital, Itxassou. But it goes down equally well with local ham.