IMG_1333We decided a day at the beach was in order. With the Bordeaux to Lacanau cycle route continuing on round the North of the huge lake of Lacanau and the final few miles to the ocean. The lake itself looked like the sea, with people sunning themselves on its shores, yachts in the marina and windsurfers making the most of a cool Westerly. It took us some time to follow the piste cyclable around the lake to the North, through the pine forests and sandy dunes West and finally down towards the Atlantic itself. We hadn’t seen the sea for quite some time, and the Atlantic certainly caused a moment of reverie. The beach stretches as far as you can see North and South, disappearing off into a distant haze just before perspective joined the sea, sand and grassy dunes into one point. Most of the vast straight beach seemed to be occupied by sunbathers and surfers, the abundance of surf shops, bikini boutiques and fast food joints certainly seemed to be doing a good trade. We locked the bikes with dozens of others and strolled up and down the promenade watching and commenting on the sunbathers but not really fancying getting sandy ourselves among the sizzling coconut oiled throng filling the beach. We dined on fast food burger and chips that took ages to cook and watched various cyclists making the final run down the street on their way to the beach. Surfers clutching their boards as they cycled, inapproprately skirted babes with rolled beach mats strapped vaguely to their racks and one chap with his girlfriend sat surprisingly elegantly on the handlebars of his mountainbike. Bicycles definitely outnumbered cars here, and the place was all the better for it.
The ride back was beautiful as the late afternoon sun fought its way through the pine trees to dapple the busy cycle path with orangey light, and the Westerly helped us along for a change.IMG_1336 The only thing that marred the pleasant nine mile journey back to camp was the occasional thick clouds of midges that bounced off my face and stuck to Kez’s. They coated her face, forearms and chest, anywhere she had sensibly applied plenty of sticky factor 25 and I dubbed her ‘flypaper girl’ as I scraped them off with a bit of tissue.
Turkey salad for dinner and we met a Dutch family, three teenagers and their parents who were on a three week cycle tour. I admired their expensive Koga Myata touring bicycles and they seemed jealous that we didn’t have to be home for a year. Lots more mosquito bites today, I think the citronella candle is attracting them.