28th September (misty, foggy, some sun in afternoon, cool) 62 km

Had a terrible sleep last night, with people walking about the site and being surrounded by pine trees, cones falling, trees creaking etc. By the time morning arrived, although tired, I just wanted to get going. Julia felt the same, so we had our cuppa, then followed it with a hearty breakfast. The day was miserable. A thick sea mist covered the entire area and everything was damp, except the tent, which was thoroughly soaked. Ah the joy of folding up a wet tent. Even better when it’s been pitched on sand for the night. Our jandals were caked in wet sand by the time we’d packed up.  Still, a good bash and they’re markedly better.  Phil and Elizabeth were just getting up so we said we’d get going, pretty sure they will catch us as we do like to take photos and have swims.  Said we would stay in touch by phone and we were off.

Very misty this morning

Into town to pick up supplies as we weren’t sure where we would end up tonight, so best to play it safe with a stocked larder. Once that was complete we headed to the front to take a view of the ocean…..not a chance, that mist was a full scale fog, you couldn’t even see the waves. Out of town and straight into the pine forests that we’ve been cycling in over the past two days. Today, the tracks were good and although the scenery was the same, it was also different in many ways.  One of the big differences to yesterday is the cycle track wound it’s way through the pine forest rather than just ploughing straight through it.  This served to make our ride much more enjoyable, anticipating each curve in the path and well away from any roads.  It’s unbelievable they have all these beautifully paved cycle paths in the middle of nowhere.

We’d decided early on that today we wanted to make up some ground, so to get to Arcachon was our goal. No stops for two hours and put the hoof down, which is what we did, so much so, that we missed a vital turn which took us kms out of our way.

Beautiful cycle paths again

This is what happens when you've seen one too many pine trees and need to reliebe the monotony

Ju Here: There were a couple of reasons for missing the turn.  One was that we were into a steady rhythm with our pedalling and just plain didn’t want to stop to check the map boards.  Another reason was we assumed the Euro Velo route 1 went all the way down the coast, but actually it didn’t, and we were following the signage for this.  The third reason was there were lots of surf breaks along this stretch of coast and at the critical point, there happened to be a couple of surfers getting changed by their car, one of them completely oblivious of our approach from behind him.  His mate saw us but chose to leave his buddy completely naked of the facts, butt I for one, did not mind at all!  By the time we picked up our error, it was too late other than to take an alternative route, which in the end, worked out well.

The mist had cleared and the Arcachon Basin looked beautiful

We were now cycling on the shores of the Arcachon Basin and looking for a ferry to take us to our destination. First one closed for the season, as was the second. On the third attempt we arrived at Cap Ferret, and stumbled upon the Tourism Office.  Found out the next ferry wasn’t leaving until 4.30pm – it was now 3pm.  Fortunately for us, the tourism office had free wifi so we were at last able to upload a blog, as we were two days behind.  While we sat here, the fog rolled in again (it had disappeared for about three hours) and the wind got up and it got decidedly cold.  Found a more sheltered spot where we made ourselves a coffee before embarking.

Pete takes a seat while our bikes sit behind him, waiting to be loaded.

We’d been told to go to the end of the pier at 4.15pm ready to board. Promptly, we marched our bikes down there, along with a huge amount of foot passengers and a lot with bikes. We weren’t sure that we were going to get on, the ferry was tiny, but yes, all we had to do was take the bags off the bikes, which is a feat in itself, and along with the hoards, climb aboard with our bags.  Then the guys from the boats lifted all the bikes onto the roof of the ferry (about a dozen of them) and tied them down.  The crossing was covered in around thirty minutes and cost us forty dollars.

The fog has closed in again

So, here we were, heading to Arcachon, to a four star camp. We had no idea of the price and hoped for the best as our only other options were about 20km down the coast.  Followed the directions and low and behold, the camp was at the top of a steep hill, now there’s something different. The lady on reception was lovely and even lovelier when she quoted us a thirteen euro pitch. As with nearly everything in this area, this camp was in amongst the pine trees, but a whole lot different to last night’s pitch. These were lovely sites, well set up and perfect for two cyclists who never thought they’d be staying here the night anyway.

Haven’t heard from Elizabeth and Phil since mid-afternoon, so hopefully they are sorted, although we have told them where we are.  Showered and blogged and cooked tea and generally relished in the feeling of a good day’s cycling and achieving our objective of making it to Arcachon.