Montignac

The Atlantic coast of France is beaches, at least up to Arcachon. We biked downhill (well almost) to the coast as we heard that there can be a band of good weather between the ocean and the rest of France.  So while there were record rainfalls in many other regions of the country, we hugged the coast and were rewarded with dry and often warm and sunny days.  Camping in France, and most of Europe is not provincial park camping like Canada.  You can rent a mobile home, wall tent, or caravan, and there will be a few token spaces for camper vans and the odd tent.  Our kids asked for a pool if we were going to pay for camping, so we saw one in the brochure that was at the beach, and had a pool, with waterslides.  Unwittingly, we signed into France's BEST campground.  Yes the pool was nice, but it had 800 sites (that hosts 7000 people in the summer) which were all crammed together and I'm sure that there might have been 10 of them did not have accomdation already on them!  There are NO picnic tables at the sites (unless it comes with the accomodation) and no shelters, but they do have washroom complexes with sinks for dishwashing and laundry washing.  Marty asked everytime he saw an employee if he could get a table, especially as they advertise themselves as bike friendly, and which biker totes along a table?  People in France are guarenteed 5 weeks of vacation every year.  School lets out for August till mid September, with many factories closing down for this time.  I cannot imagine the Atlantic coast in August!!!

We really enjoyed two subsequent nights where we snuck off the bike trail into the forest and found a place of our own behind the dunes.  We swam in the ocean on our own private stretch of white sand that stretched off north and south as far as we could see.  There is no water along the trail, and we had not planned on staying two nights, but we stretched the water and the food, and  sucked the last of the fumes from our stove.  The woods were tinder dry with a huge fuel load, and  we had already gotten in trouble another night from a surfer and policeman for having a fire, so we didn't dare light a fire. The croisants, cafe, and hot milk that we found in a small town were especially good after biking 15km with no food or water on our last morning.  

We are biking on the Velodyssee, which goes a bike tour from the North of France, all the way to Spain which is about 1250km, and you can do the whole thing on marked and paved trails.  It is easy biking, but it gets a bit boring after a while, as there are no old towns, lots of pine forests, and clearcut forests, and sand.  Not what we thought we were coming to France for.  I did not know there would be logging and pulp mills, and in a super touristy part of France!  We are not unusual here, there are lots of bike tourers, and even the locals of the towns we pass through are not interested in us.  We are enjoying meeting other campers from around Europe the most!!  We stopped at Gaves in the Grand Lacs area and loved the swimming so we camped at a small campsite for Marty's birthday.   There were storm warnings and there was no one else camping, so the camp host let us put up our tent on the porch of one of the mobile homes and we used the picnic table.  Hot showers, recharge, and a table!   We spent some time trying to figure out the platforms on the lake.  All three of these very popular large lakes are connected by canals and connect to the ocean, so we thought perhaps they were for tying boats up to. Then we spotted what looked like an Albertan oil pump on one of the platforms. Turns out there are 30 oil platforms on this beautiful lake and the oil refinery is right down the street.  Go figure. 

Heading up to Arcachon and Dune du Pilate we stopped at another of the three lakes and Caleb dragged Stacey out onto the huge inflated aquatic park, the kind you see on game shows.  We confirmed that Caleb is still terrified of sharks even in fresh water, and the spills game contestants take are indeed the cause of whiplash.  Owww.  Dune du Pilate, should be called Dune du Pilote as there are at least 30 paragliders at any one time in the air, and still many more learning how to take off.  You can stand on the dune about 100 feet above the beach, and the paragliders will go right by in front of you.  Marty now as another plan about what to do in his retirement. 

We have decided to head inland, despite the continued rain forecast.  We will try and take a train, and head to the cave area of the Dordogne River and check out some CroMag cave art and rent a house if we have to!!  We are very excited to be heading back to Canada in two weeks.  Hope summer is on its way for all of you!Read more