Blog 1.26: Days 33 and 34

October 24th and 25th.

It turned into a blustery evening and night, with the odd acorn making its presence felt, and one even inveigling itself into the MaxxAir fan in the bedroom roof. Fortunately it didn't get itself into a position to imitate a Las Vegas roulette wheel though. That would have been ever so slightly irritating. The funny thing is, when I took down the grill to extricate the little blighter it had completely disappeared. I'm sure it was nothing to do with that masked squirrel I saw, with a 'swag' bag on its shoulder.

The wind was definitely blowing onshore, and the roar it created put me in mind of our old home of Chapel St Leonards - but warmer, and better-looking, and with much better food...

As we'd decided to have a couple of nights in Vieux, we broke out the bikes on Monday morning for a ride into the village and on to the beach. It was slightly surprising, then, to find that just as soon as we'd crossed the road outside the aire, there was the sea! It's no more than 50 metres away.

One of the lake beaches

OK, it could be argued that the bit you stumble upon first isn't actually the sea. It could be described as a lagoon, I suppose, but it's definitely salt water, and fed directly by the onrushing tide, as we were to discover a little later. What also makes it 'sea' to my mind is that it is fringed by the loveliest golden sandy beaches, making it absolutely perfect for sunbathing, swimming, paddleboarding, you name it.

As with most of the small seaside towns and villages around these parts, Vieux is well served by footpaths and cycle tracks, and we were soon wending our way along them to the sea inlet and the dunes and the incredible sandy beaches that line the Atlantic Ocean on the Côte d'Argent.

The beach at Vieux

Surfing is the game around here, and there are plenty of businesses supporting the sport - and surfers demonstrating their prowess; even in late October.

Mind you, it was warm. Warm enough that, after riding back through the maze of modern houses to the original village centre, we sat outside a Creperie for a lunch of wonderful gallettes and salad, followed by good coffee (we couldn't face the proffered sweet crepes, as delicious as they looked).

Back to the 'lac, or lagoon, or whatever, and we decided to cross the bridge over the narrow sea inlet, and timed it right as the tide was coming in and it looked like half the Atlantic was trying to force its way through the strait.

Quite impressive, and you could actually feel the concrete bridge vibrate as the boiling waters gushed through.

Circumnavigating the rest of the lagoon brought us back, eventually, to our Aire, and our second night.

A lovely day, all in all.

The next morning, Tuesday 25th, saw us rather lazily upping sticks and performing the usual decamping chores. Water in, waste out, pay at the machine, less than 18€ for two nights including electric hook-up.

It was rather grey, and even spotting with rain (how very dare it) as we headed north again on the coastal 'B' roads, stopping at a nearby village boulangerie for a baguette and excellent savoury pastries for lunch when we found a suitable spot.

That turned out to be at Mimizan Plage, recommended by a certain member of this blog (and no, there were no vivid swathes of rhododendron. In-joke. Sorry).

After squeezing the van down some rather narrow streets to get to a beachside car park, lo, there was a height barrier. The bane of the motorhomer. However, to rub salt in the wounds, there's no prior warning of said restriction, and when you get there, there's nowhere else to go, so it called for a rather protracted reverse manoeuvre along a twisty narrow road. Not so easy in a 3.5 tonne van with restricted rearward vision, I can tell you.

Still, we made it, and eventually found ourselves a spot overlooking the river and the yacht club moorings.

Lunch dispatched, and those pastries were as good as they looked, we mooched, on foot, along the river to the plage, to once again confirm just how glorious the beaches are all along this coast.

South Beach, Mimizan Plage

Back to the van, and a discussion as to where we would spend the night - one night - and we decided on the aire at Parentis en Born, a few miles further up the coast, slightly inland, and again on a lac.

This one is huge though, and photos cannot possibly do it justice. We wandered down there for our early-evening pre-dinner stroll, and it was well worth the effort.

Blue dot marks the spot

Back to the van, iced tea, followed by one of M's always excellent curry improvs and a bit of Kindle/telly and it's almost time for bed.

Where do the days go when you're so busy?

Mileage so far: 2367