A totally different day for us today – lots of blue sky if a little on the nippy side. However we have decided to move on and after a short detour into the mountains for a better look….
We set off on the longish journey to St Emilion and enjoyed a lovely wander around the village in the late afternoon sunshine….
We then drove the short distance to our Aire for the night at Lussac, as we begin our journey northwards to Caen.
Thoughts of the day:
Having originally thought that I would make our way back to Caen inland, I have changed my mind and as of tomorrow am going to head back to the coast to hopefully fill in a few gaps on the way home.
I’m sure there are many pretty villages we could call in on the way home but I’m afraid villages are just not my thing, likewise the cities – it gave me a headache just driving around Bordeaux so I am not about to attempt actually visiting a city no matter how pretty it is!
Well after raining all night it also rained all day and alas I’m not sure that we are going to see the Pyrenees properly at all. We ventured out just the twice as the rain seemed to be easing a bit and took a wander around the town, most widely known as one of the starting points of the Camino de Santiago and the end of a couple of the French pilgrim routes – the Camino de Santiago marker clearly seen on the side of this building….
Unsurprisingly it is not a route for the winter as it takes you from here through the mountains – a glimpse is all we got today….
The old walled part of town is a series of cobbled streets both residential and commercial….
We wandered up the hill above the town to the Citadel not realising that it is still used today as a college so wandering around was somewhat restricted….
Up here the heavens opened again with some fairly dramatic thunder and lightening in the foothills – Tilly wasn’t keen to hang around and to be fair neither was I so we made our way back down into the town over the gushing river and back to the van…
Around 6 we took the opportunity to venture out again as the rain had eased to a light drizzle and wandered back into town. I was expecting and hoping that all the Christmas lights would be on but that was not the case, however the normal lighting gives quite a magical feel to the place….
We are staying here again tonight so I’m hopeful for a better day tomorrow and also if I’m honest I am just a little excited that this rain might turn to snow overnight, according to the weather forecast – we’ll see in the meantime we are all warm and snug….
What a shame our last day of exploring the beaches of the western coast of France and it is peeing it down! Never mind we have come this far and we are not going to duck out on the most southerly beach of the western coast of France and so all waterproofed up we strolled down to the waterfront and Plage d’Hendaye….
To be fair even in the rain it is a beautiful long sandy beach though all the central part appeared to be completely tidal….
With may be a bit of beach left at the southern end and Spain just literally across the river and clearly visible…..
As you can see there were not a lot of people out and about in the rain and even the few surfers looked a little disappointed at the lack of waves compared to the previous days.
After an hour or so wandering around we made our way back to the van and settled for awhile to try and dry out but after checking the weather forecast, wherein this wet stuff appears to be hanging around for a few days, I decided to move on to our next destination.
Despite the rain we enjoyed a lovely scenic drive through the valleys of the foothills of the Pyrenees wending our way alongside the railway track and the river Nive and occasionally swapping places until we reached our destination – St Jean-Pied-de-Port. To be honest it was probably the most scenic drive of our journey so far.
I was hoping that the rain might have eased up and we could have ventured out to explore this pretty looking town but it was not to be. Instead we cranked the heating up to dry our clothes and snuggled down for a lazy afternoon.
Thoughts of the day:
At the risk of being a bit controversial here – I think Scotland and in particular the Outer Hebrides has broken us – will any scenery or coastline match up?
We have visited 436 beaches in France and that’s with having missed a chunk in the middle from the Crozon peninsula to the Côte d’Argent – that is a lot of sand!! Quite a fair bit of it is now travelling with us!
A bit of a grey one today but not as cold and although it was wet overnight it stayed dry all day. Our next and penultimate hop on this journey south was a few mile further south in St Jean de Luz a bustling coastal town.
We did plan to spend a couple of nights here but when we arrived at the Aire the vans were packed in like sardines (I mean around 50cm between vans!) and the Aire itself is sandwiched between a main road and railway station – we parked up in an available space and set out for a walk around the coastline of the town – heading first northwards through the narrow streets….
To the main beach – Grande Plage….
No dogs allowed so we walked along the promenade to the small beach at the far end of the – Plage de St Barbe…..
Retracing our steps we crossed over the river to the quieter side of town and walking southwards along the shoreline passing Plage du Carre….
Across Plage de Socoa…..
And Plage de Deriveurs…..
To Fort de Socoa….
And it’s pretty little sandy beach – Plage de Fort Socoa….
At the end of the jetty beyond the Fort we were afforded beautiful views across the sheltered bay to the main town of St Jean de Luz and also along the coast to Spain….
A lovely walk – the beaches here are similar to those of Biarritz, more golden and with coarser sand than those of the Côte d’Argent
On returning to the van, I decided that I really wasn’t comfortable being so closely packed in between neighbouring vans and that having seen all the beaches here and had a wander through town, we would move on to our next and final bit of coastline – the much smaller resort of Hendaye.
Thoughts of the day:
The Aire in St Jean de Luz is the worst I have encountered on this journey and it really was too close for comfort – it pays to have a back up plan.
We just have one more day left on this coastline – unless of course the weather is exceptionally nice tomorrow and we decide to stay. We are a little ahead of schedule but no matter that just means we can take the inland journey back up to Caen a bit slower.
Another beautiful sun shiny day but boy was it cold first thing, my fingers were frozen by the time we got back from our morning walk! Mindyou it was worth it as we managed to notch up another beach as the tide was low by walking along Plage de Ilbarritz and onto Plage du Pavillion Royal, still not quite in reach of the morning sun…..
We left the Aire and drove a few miles to the next village along – Bidart – a collection of almost Swiss style chalets with the Pyrenees as a stunning back drop….
Parking the van, we wandered down to Plage du Centre…
Walking along the beach northwards, we were just able to make it over the rocks to Plage d’Erretegia and back before the incoming tide stepped in our way…..
As we walked back up into the village we were afforded spectacular views along the coastline to Guethary village (our next stop) and its beaches backed by the Pyrenees. Continuing through Bidart we reached Plage des Embruns and across the river Plage de l’Uhabia….
After returning to the van we drove to Guethary and found parking outside a closed for the season holiday park and walked along the lanes and footpaths to the 3 beaches here – firstly – Plage de Cenitz….
Plage de Mayarco….
And Plage de Lafitenia….
At this point, we decided to call it a day and headed back towards Biarritz to our Aire for the night – the options on this little section were not very appealing.
Thoughts of the day:
All these beaches today have been a surfers paradise with literally hundreds of them out on the water enjoying the waves – I have seen more surfers than people walking in the last couple of weeks.
You can definitely tell we are getting close to the mountains as we seem to be forever climbing up and down to reach these beaches and we are just not used to it!
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