Arcachon Bay - oysters and sand dunes

Within an hour and a half of leaving St. Emilion, we'd skirted around Bordeaux and arrived in Arés, on the northeast corner of Arcachon Bay, the 6th largest natural marine park in France.

The bay is an inland sea between Arcachon and Cap Ferret, open to the Atlantic ocean, accessible only through a narrow channel, and is encompassed by ports and oyster villages, long, fine sandy beaches, pine forests and Europe's largest sand dune - Dune de Pilat.

This is an area that neither of us had visited before and 'Camping La Canadienne' provided us with a great base from where we explored the whole bay, over a week of mostly sunny weather, on the motorbike.

In Cap Ferret, at the end of a long peninsula that borders one third of the bay, we sat in the sunshine having lunch at an oyster-farmers rustic restaurant and feasted on fresh oysters, pate de campagne and a glass of chilled white wine.

At the opposite end of the bay, is the town of Arcachon, with its beach villas that drew in the bourgeois from Bordeaux at the end of the 19th century for its long, golden-sand beaches and protected bathing.

Just south of Arcachon is Europe's largest sand dune, Dune de Pilat, which is growing eastwards 1-5m per year, depending on the wind! The view from the top, at 115m above sea level, is magnificent. You can see the sandy shoals at the mouth of the bay, oyster-fishermans farms, a bird reserve where 6000 couples of Sandwich terns nest each year and dense pine forest as far as the eye can see.

Looking out from the top, towards the ocean, we reminisced on our journey across the Bay of Biscay heading south, just as we were doing now but on wheels.

NOTE
Camping La Canadienne with large pitches separated by hedges and lots of oak trees with thousands of descending acorns in Oct! Inc. wifi and electric. Good facilities and location. 17 euros per night. Recommend.Read more