11 September 2022 - To the Beach!

Miles driven today = 131

Total Miles to date = 765

Having topped up the fridge, the booze locker and the diesel tank at Intermarche, we headed out of Saintes on the arrow straight D137, another legacy of the Romans' time here.

Shortly after Pons, Google Maps had us hang a left turn along some much narrower and twistier roads, through a land of windmills, vineyards and sunflowers, until we emerged at Jonzac onto wider but still serpentine  roads through Montendre to the toll free A10 motorway which took us over the Dordoigne and Garonne estuaries and on around Bordeaux

After a quick lunch stop we made our way on through Sanguinet to today's final destination on the Atlantic coast at Biscarrosse Plage. 

There are 2 ACSI campsites here.  The first one we tried, at Plage Sud didn't have any spaces available which could accomodate our 7.4m beastie but the alternative at Camping Vivier welcomed us with open arms and perfect English.

The site is set among fragrant pine trees with a spanking new shower block and onsite bar, boulangerie and pizzeria so we are certainly all set up for bread and beer.  The first pitch we were allocated was very sandy and uneven and we were concerned about getting bogged down (we've since seen a tractor having to tow a German van out), so we were given a choice of three alternative pitches.  

The one we chose is perfectly level but I am a tad worried about the pinecones hanging above us.  This one (keys for scale) fell less than 10 feet from the van and I daren't think what damage a direct hit on one of our skylights might do.

Once we got ourselves set up and sorted it was already gone 4pm and 33 degrees in the shade.  So we donned our swimming gear and headed for the beach.  It's about 15 minutes walk from the van, over some impressive dunes.  

The sand is caster sugar soft and, being a Sunday, the beach was a little busier than I would normally prefer. Hopefully the majority of them will be back at their office desks in Bordeaux by the morning.

There's a surf school here and you can see why.  The water is often flat calm for a few minutes before a succession of huge battering waves arrive.  Great fun if you successfully manage to jump over or dive through them but on more than one occasion I ended up in a washing machine, not knowing what was up or down until I was dumped unceremoniously in the shallows with trunks full of sand.

We've had a quiet night in among the trees at the van this evening.  Its 30 degrees at 9pm and there are still middle aged men wandering round the shower block in their speedos, but I've made another new friend called La Goudale.  

The heat isn't due to subside tomorrow so we are booked in here for a second night and will probably break for the Spanish border on Tuesday or Wednesday when things cool off a tad.

12 September 2022 - On me Bike!