Another cracking day, may be a little more cloud around but still warm and just well nice! A little bit of a driving day today as we plan to drive around Arcachon Bay to get back onto the coast proper and see how the second half of the Cote de l’Argent measures up. We stopped off at Arès to check out the beach there….

Just a thin strip of sand that was being cleaned / flattened or evened out by a digger – not sure which but rather randomly undergrowth on the shoreline – we didn’t stop long before driving around the bay to Arcachon a rather vibrant seaside town still very much open and doing a fair trade on this sunny lunch time. We found parking and took a wander down to the sea front and along the promenade backing Plage de Eyrac….

Here you could be tempted to swim as being within the bay it is sheltered from those Atlantic waves we have been admiring this past week, and indeed a few hardy folk were but mostly people we just sat out side the street bars enjoying the sunshine eating and drinking. From here we moved to the other side of the town almost back on the open ocean but just sheltered by the spit of Cap Ferret and walked along Plage Abatilles and then Plage du Moulieau….

Wandering back along the streets of this rather well to area – am guessing that if you have ‘Sotheby’s’ and ‘Christie’s’ estate agents within half a mile of each other it probably isn’t even worth looking in the window!

Moving on we come to today’s piece de resistance (I’m learning!) – Dune du Pilat – Europe’s tallest dune….

Standing some 100m above sea level – approx 2.7km long and 500m wide and absolutely amazing sight. I confess to being a little out of breath getting up there and that was using the steps and we didn’t even get to the highest point as poor Tilly was being absolutely blasted by the sand and really not enjoying herself and too be fair we have done so much soft sand walking of late, so we enjoyed the view and then took the easy way back down the soft slope.

A short drive to our final stop of the day – Plage de Petit Nice…

And a nice walk along the firm damp sand before heading to our Aire for the next couple of nights in Biscarosse and settling in for the evening.

Thoughts of the day:

• Imagine….

• Isn’t nature amazing?

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 85
• Miles walked – 7
• Beaches – 5
• Aire – £14.11 EHU