29th September (sunny and hot) 66 km

It was quite a warm night and I never sleep that well when it’s warm.  Had a dream about our big beautiful bear Rufus who’s been gone two years now but still miss him.  Couldn’t sleep again after that as I was feeling hungry and it was only 6am and still very dark.  It wasn’t long before Pete was also awake and at 6.45 I made us a coffee and we started to pack up.  There are few things that will get Pete out of the relative comfort of his bed early, but one of those things is the thought that we have no breakfast! 

Packing up early from our lovely campground

So with only the sustenance of a cup of coffee, we hit the road at 8am – the earliest we’ve been on the road the whole trip I think, and it felt good.  It was only just light but we had a lovely ride through the southern suburbs of Arcachon, which is a very nice area.  Reminded us a lot of Australia, with the houses and the foliage, and the streets and cycle paths were immaculate and well signposted with no potholes to speak of.

Lovely houses in the south of Arcachon

We were on our way to the Dunes of Pilat, which I had no idea even existed before this trip.  There was a barrier across the drive with a list of charges on a board.  The place was pretty deserted so we just walked our bikes around the barrier, parked and locked them and headed up the path to have a look at this dune.

The Dunes of Pilat - fantastic!

I have to say, it was well worth the diversion and we made use of the stairs to get to the top and grab some photographs before running down in bare feet in the soft white sand where we at last had some breakfast, having picked up some fresh bread and milk on the way to the Dune.  We were really glad we got there when we did as hordes of tourists began to show up as we were breakfasting and it was special to have just have us and a handful of others there.

Breakfast time!

From here we followed the main road which had a cycle path to Biscarosse Plage.  Because we didn’t have to consult a map, we made good time along here enjoying the feeling of the bikes working well, not to mention our bodies.  We had worked up a sweat by the time we arrived at the beach which had surfers up and down the length of it.  The bodyboarders were having a great time but the rides were pretty short.  It was mid to low tide and I would be interested to see what the waves were like on full tide.  Even though there was a cool breeze blowing, we knew the bike path veered away from the coast after this, so decided to head in for a dip, maybe get a few bodysurfs.  However, upon entering the water, we knew that was a no go.  The water was just too cold – probably only about 15C and the breaking waves too big and too far out and too dumpy.  So we dived under a few times to freshen up and then had a bit of a sunbathe to warm up again.

Biscarosse Plage - an endless beach

Cycled the 10km up the road to Biscarosse Bourg where we found a supermarket and grabbed a few supplies before heading down to the riverside to make ourselves some lunch.  Pete oiled my chain which has been drying out quickly with the salt air and sand.  On we pedalled to Parentis en Born and we actually had a tailwind, so flew along here.  Arrived at an Intermarche and thought it might be a good idea to pick up some supplies.  Noticed they had free wifi here so I took the computer into their little café and sat down and did the wages and posted a blog.  Nobody bothered me and I didn’t even have to buy anything.  Pete meanwhile cleaned stuff out of the bike chains and got chatting to an French bike tourer who showed up on an extended Surly bike – with a whole lot of stuff attached to it!!!  It must have been quite cumbersome to ride – you certainly wouldn’t want to do any sharp turns on it. His washing line was a pole sticking off the back, of this already extended bike, by about half a metre.

Glad we're not hauling all that stuff around!

We left here about 5pm, hopeful we would get a camp as there seemed to be plenty around a big lake we had to pass.  Sure enough, the first campground we came to was open and only 9 euros for the night – that’ll do us!  It even had the added bonus of having grass on the pitches and with us being only tent here, we could have our pick.

So got the tent up and gave Pete a much-needed haircut before showering, blogging and dinner.  Had Pepito, the camp cat come and smooch around us, which was lovely, until he started making a beeline for our dinner!  No way Jose – you ain’t getting no food off us sunshine!

Pete here: Dead right you’re not getting any food, scroungy cat. That’s my sustenance right there. There seem to be a few Spanish speakers at this camp, although Julia hasn’t honed in to what they’re saying at present, of course it’s spoken at a thousand words a minute. We all know how passionate Latinos can be. Phil and Elizabeth are now a way behind us, but only because we’ve slipped into our rhythm of getting up and on the road earlier. Hope they catch us up, they are good company. Biarritz is now, not too far away and once there, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to Spain, where Julia can practise her Spanish. I have to say, I have really enjoyed speaking French again and we will most definitely be back here. Last time we said that, it took us thirty years to get back….! Since then, the French seem much more accepting of English speaking people, however, trying to communicate in any language in their country, is always favourable. Roll on our tour of Mongolia…? We only have six weeks of this tour left and we really have some ground to cover. The sun has now set, so, from the south of France, its goodnight from me and it’s goodnight from her.