We left Bordeaux under cloudy skies, but the sun prevailed as we navigated back to the coast and the Vélodyssée. We were on regular roads for a good deal of the trip back to the coast, and it was OK to not be weaving between people along the coastal paths. As we got closer to the beach, the traffic picked up substantially and we were moving faster than the lines of traffic. Such is August in France at the beach.
We could see a big sand dune on the horizon as we approached the beach. Unbeknownst to us at the time, it was the Dune du Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe! Half a kilometre wide, almost 3 kilometres long and rising to just over 100 metres, it is wedged between the surf of the Atlantic Ocean and a pine forest, some of which shows signs of recent burns.
We had planned on riding about 50 mies again that day, and there seemed to be a ton of campgrounds around the 50 mile mark. But, the first few we stopped at were full, and so we went on in search of a campground. We chatted to a lady along the way who suggested we try some smaller, simpler campgrounds instead of the mega ones that we had stopped at. And so, we stopped at a smaller campground at about 65 miles that had a big sign COMPLET (full) at the reception but I sweet-talked the lady into giving us a place, of which they had plenty! We’ve learned that the big campsites are just businesses with policies and procedures, but the smaller family ones are much more flexible. Much more pleasant too!
We set up camp and I went on a grocery/wine run and then we ate and went to sleep. That night, a thunderstorm dumped rain like crazy on the campsite, inundating the ground and driving under the edge of the fly onto the ground sheet with a strong wind. We had a small depression under our tent so we got some water pooling up in the tent, thankfully kept off our sleeping bags and us by the air mattresses. But the thunder, lightning and pounding rain was impressive, for about 3 hours.
That morning, the sun was shining and we dried things out and left late. The forecast was for more of the same weather that night so we decided to stay in a hotel along the way in an unremarkable town called Castets.
Of course, it didn’t rain that night, but the hotel was comfortable and the restaurant next door was convenient and had good service and food!
One of our continuing issues has been finding rooms and campsites in this very busy August. We wanted our next destination to be Biarritz, but the hotels were really expensive and so we decided to stay in Bayonne, nearby.
After navigating around some of the industrial river front of Bayonne, we found our way though a stone gateway into the old city and found our hotel on a lovely square overlooking the church.
It seemed like a very quiet town until I walked down one block to find a grocery store. WOW! This town has certainly been discovered, teeming with tourists, shops, bars, a riverfront and lots of life! And it’s really charming, with the half-timbered houses and twisting streets.
Bayonne is a city in the Basque Country region of southwest France, where the Nive and Adour rivers meet. There are many narrow medieval streets which characterize the old Grand Bayonne district where we were staying.
The church out our window is the Gothic-style Bayonne Cathedral, with a 13th-century cloister, and Château Vieux castle.
Across the Nive river is the Petit Bayonne district. A band played a public concert while we were walking around. It was a very cool place to stay, our wonder multiplied by our lack of expectation.
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