An early departure saw us heading Southward again on fastish roads until Lac Marin D’Hossegor, where we took the ‘Avenue Tour de Lac’ down the West side of the lake. We began to wish we’d stuck to the main road as the avenue dipped and climbed its way through multiple exhausting hills offering glimpses of the pretty lake between the affluent real estate and forcing cyclists from both sides onto a dangerously narrow cycle lane presumably so the well to do residents could play in their 4×4s without having to consider anyone else. We rested on a waterside path in the smart center of Cap Breton that ran along the river into a marina full of yachts while joggers and cyclists passed before finding our way back onto the main road and the decent cycle path that ran along it. Decent except for the narrow gateways at junctions that forced us to wheel through awkwardly and caused no end of problems for the cyclists with double child trailers.
We found the smart looking municipal camp site in the touristy beachy part of Labenne but were told they couldn’t take us until 3pm, and only then if a booking didn’t turn up. The receptionist in a three star site round the corner pointed at a dusty square near the gate when we asked for a night. We looked at each other and politely declined. It looked like the place where the bins should be, but strangely, as we were leaving she called us back and after some discussion in the office gave us a nicer larger pitch with a tree, which we accepted, sandy though it was. The beach was packed with people enjoying the hot afternoon sun and we gazed across at the jagged mountainous looking coast of Spain looming through the distant haze. Once again we watched the sun set over the ocean before a late dinner while a petanque competition on our site entertained the guests and a cacophonous disco at the expensive four star site across the road thumped techno beats through the evening air until late.