Feeling much better today so we continued our journey, stopping first at 'Les Dunes de Pyla'. This is a huge series of dunes that stretch down the coast. In fact the whole area seems to be based on sand, including our campsite where sand was everywhere including in the motorhome if we weren't careful.
Having parked in the very large car park, we walked though a wood and were then confronted by a huge (114m high) sand dune. The challenge was there and, like all of the other tourists (yes, there were other tourists even on a Tuesday morning in January), we had to accept it. Walking up it reminded me of Chesil Beach – with every step that you take forward, you sink back half a step. This lead to aerobic exercise and we had been lacking in that recently! The view from the top was spectacular with the sea and sand banks to the West, the coast and beaches towards Arcachon and a huge forest that stretched for miles inland. Sightseeing at this point was limited due to the fact that it was blowing a gale and, despite the air temperature being reasonable, it was freezing in the battering wind. The sand was quite damp, which made it firmer for walking and meant that we were not bombarded by sand in the wind. These conditions in summer with very dry sand would have been quite interesting!
We had a relatively short journey to Ondres, just north of Biarritz so we took minor roads through miles and miles of that same forest that we saw at Les Dunes de Pyla. We stopped off at a beach a few miles south of the dunes for lunch. This was the same stretch of beach as the dunes, the 'Cote d'Argent' which runs from the Gironde estuary to Biarritz and at over 200 km is, not surprisingly, the longest beach in France. The car park in the wood behind the beach would have taken hundreds of cars but there were only three others enjoying the fantastic view of the waves crashing up on the beach.
As we approached Ondres, we could see the mountains that indicated the border with Spain. The campsite was very pleasant – tidy, good toilet / shower facilities and picturesque, with a large lake next to the site. We were quite sad that we were only spending one night there, and so was the owner – she said that most people only spend one night out of the main season. This is not surprising as it is an obvious stop on the way to Spain and there are not many attractions in the area.
Photos: The climb up the Dune de Pyla; View from the top of the dune looking south; Picnic spot view from Henrietta.
Having parked in the very large car park, we walked though a wood and were then confronted by a huge (114m high) sand dune. The challenge was there and, like all of the other tourists (yes, there were other tourists even on a Tuesday morning in January), we had to accept it. Walking up it reminded me of Chesil Beach – with every step that you take forward, you sink back half a step. This lead to aerobic exercise and we had been lacking in that recently! The view from the top was spectacular with the sea and sand banks to the West, the coast and beaches towards Arcachon and a huge forest that stretched for miles inland. Sightseeing at this point was limited due to the fact that it was blowing a gale and, despite the air temperature being reasonable, it was freezing in the battering wind. The sand was quite damp, which made it firmer for walking and meant that we were not bombarded by sand in the wind. These conditions in summer with very dry sand would have been quite interesting!
We had a relatively short journey to Ondres, just north of Biarritz so we took minor roads through miles and miles of that same forest that we saw at Les Dunes de Pyla. We stopped off at a beach a few miles south of the dunes for lunch. This was the same stretch of beach as the dunes, the 'Cote d'Argent' which runs from the Gironde estuary to Biarritz and at over 200 km is, not surprisingly, the longest beach in France. The car park in the wood behind the beach would have taken hundreds of cars but there were only three others enjoying the fantastic view of the waves crashing up on the beach.
As we approached Ondres, we could see the mountains that indicated the border with Spain. The campsite was very pleasant – tidy, good toilet / shower facilities and picturesque, with a large lake next to the site. We were quite sad that we were only spending one night there, and so was the owner – she said that most people only spend one night out of the main season. This is not surprising as it is an obvious stop on the way to Spain and there are not many attractions in the area.
Photos: The climb up the Dune de Pyla; View from the top of the dune looking south; Picnic spot view from Henrietta.
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