Beaches

Saturday 8th November 2025 – a lovely beach day from Soulac to Pin Sec…

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

Oh yes – a lovely warm sunny day for us today – what a difference it makes. Not to miss a minute we wander down to Plage des Naiades, which is literally next to the Aire, albeit we’re faced with a 5m drop down a vertical sand bank, so opt to walk along the sand bank to a point that has been levelled and cleared before getting down onto the beach..

Only a trio of surfers out and about. Shortly we move on a few miles south to Plage d’Amelie….

All along this section of coast there seems to be a battle with the sand blowing up onto the roads and parking areas, half of last nights Aire was in accessible as it was under almost a metre of soft sand in places – I wonder if erosion is a problem too – not that I have seen any evidence of it. Our next stop was the wonderfully remote Plage La Negade with exposed sand walls or cliffs, rather than dunes….

Not that I have ever been, but it feels almost dessert like – Tilly is getting quite adept at finding a bit of wood or something to play with…

She loves these deserted beaches and will happily play and run around (no more than about 25m away from me), whereas on beaches where there are other people and dogs she is much more reticent and will generally trot along at my side.

Our next stop was at Plage du Gurp….

Here there are several broken WWII bunkers, as we have seen on so many beaches, both here and in the UK and for some reason, no matter how remote they are the are always subject to Graffiti, but in this case a couple of exceptionally good pieces of artwork….

In amongst the usual political guff and signatures….

It is so lovely to walk along this firm sand on these pretty much tidal beaches, we soon found ourselves on Plage d’Euronat the next bunker strewn beach along….

Almost reluctantly we returned to the van and drove to the next series of beaches, stopping briefly at Plage de Vensac…

And then the small seaside resort of Montalivet and its lovely sandy tidal beaches…..

Plage de Montalivet above and disappearing off into the sunshine, Plage du Helio-Marin….

Our final beach for the day was Plage de Pin Sec, here again the beach was littered with broken concrete bunkers but still stunning…..

We had planned to hunker down for the night in the Aire just behind the dunes but either the barrier wasn’t working or the Aire was closed for some reason, any ways we couldn’t get in – shame as I think the sunset here would have been amazing….

Thoughts of the day:

  • I dislike seeing graffiti, especially in such a natural environment as a beach – I know these bunkers aren’t exactly natural or attractive but they are a part of our history and the beaches history. If these ugly bunkers were covered in the kind of artwork above would I have the same problem? Probably not.
  • This whole area is part of a National park and is an absolute gem for any cyclists as there is a vast network of cycle paths crisscrossing through the woodland and dunes.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 38
  • Miles walked – 7
  • Beaches – 9
  • Aire – £12.78 EHU

Friday 7th November 2025 – Port Medoc to Soulac-sur-Mer…

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

We awoke to a lively blue sky, sadly it didn’t stay with us long but it is very mild and we had a couple of good walks before the rain set in about 2pm.

Our morning walk was a pleasure with this beautiful beach just a few metres away and the sun shining down on us as we wandered along Plage de Chambrette….

After topping up with fresh water and emptying the not so fresh we drove a couple of miles into the National park and found a huge parking area just behind the dunes leading down to Plage des Cantines….

A southern continuation of yesterdays walk along Plage St Nicholas – here the lovely long sandy beach is riddled with ruins of WWII defences. Walking southwards there are concrete barrages constructed to protect the coastline from erosion which have formed a line of almost natural swimming pools – a branch line from the railway was built to transport all the concrete blocks to the shore the tracks though heavily rusted are still evident along the raised platform – it makes for a very interesting beach – Plage les Piscines….

After returning to the van we drove the short distance into Soulac-sur-Mer and pretty much continued where we left off, heading south along the lovely stretches of sandy beach that are Plage Nord and Plage Central….

Before ending our walk at the beginning of Plage Sud or Plage des Naiades as our Aire for the night is just a little further along this beach, and we shall get a better walk here tomorrow….

We just made it back to the van as the first big drops of rain began to fall and quickly popped down the road and got settled on our Aire before the rain set in properly for the rest of the day – tomorrow is another one…

Thoughts of the day:

  • The villages along this section of the coastline are really no more than ghost towns and quite eerie with barely a soul about and only a couple of shops/ bars open

Today’s stats –

  • Miles driven – 8
  • Miles walked – 5
  • Beaches – 6
  • Aire – £4.23 no EHU

Thursday 6th November 2025 – Royan to La Verdon-sur-Mer…

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

Still grey but definitely warmer as we take the last hop of our coastal journey to South West France. As we plan to cover the whole of the Côte d’Argent we decided to take the ferry across the Gironde estuary and save ourselves quite a few hours of driving and miles. Whilst waiting for the ferry we had this rather nice beach to walk on, whilst in full site of the van and any ferry activity – Plage de Foncillon of Royan – a nice clean sandy beach though clearly fully tidal….

The ferry crossing is only half an hour and though passengers are supposed to leave their vehicles and go up into the passenger lounge, I’m afraid I didn’t, as Tilly gets pretty freaked out anyway when boarding ferries, I decided that leaving her alone in the van when she is already anxious could cause all sorts of future problems, so we both stayed put and nobody was any the wiser. Arriving in La Verdon- sur-Mer we made a the short journey to find parking and go for a nice walk through part of the national park that covers much of this region….

Visiting St Nicholas Lighthouse which looked too small to be of any practical use…

Before making our way across the scrubland / dunes….

To reach the sandy beach that pretty much runs all the way down this coast – this section being Plage de St Nicholas a naturist beach, though not in very high demand today, in fact the only other footsteps were from a horse!….

We then headed straight to our Aire for the night at Port Médoc – a fishing and pleasure boat marina….

With the marina in front of us and a beach right behind us, we shall be lulled to sleep by the sound of the sea….

Thoughts of the day:

  • Ok so maybe I’m not going to get full sunshine but at least the sky is brighter and it is quite a bit warmer too, happy with that.
  • I can leave Tilly quite happy in the van whilst I go shopping or for a shower but as soon as we are queuing for a ferry she becomes quite whiny and clingy not sure why.

Today’s stats :

  • Miles driven – 55
  • Miles walked – 4
  • Beaches – 2
  • Aire – £12.02
  • Fuel – £62.78
  • Ferry – £20.32

Wednesday 5th November 2025 – St Michel to Châtelaillon-Plage….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

Still grey and still windy but pleasant enough as we took a morning walk down to the sea front to see what the beaches look like at low tide.

We joined the beach at Plage du Cormier which was totally submerged yesterday….

And wandered all the way along to Plage de Tharon with just a glimmer of sunshine catching the carrelets and highlighting our way…

Feeling suitably refreshed we returned to the van and were soon packed up and on our way, continuing our journey south in pursuit of some better weather.

By mid afternoon we were parked up in our Aire for the night, just south of La Rochelle in the small coastal resort of Chatelaillon-Plage and were soon out in pursuit of said beach…

A nice long pink sandy beach even though the tide is in – nicer sand here than at St Michel and the resort looks fairly new or has certainly seen some significant recent growth – smart enough, in a new, freshly painted kind of way but not very charming and it isn’t tempting us to stay a while – our journey continues.

Thoughts of the day:

  • I’m not sure that chasing the weather this late on in the year is actually going to pay off but in reality, I just want to take it slow for the next few weeks by some lovely beaches, so that is our revised goal and I hope that Côte de d’Argent (the silver coast) to which we shall be arriving tomorrow, will tick that box.
  • I can’t believe that we have already been here for 2 months and that soon we must start our journey home – but not just yet!

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 118
  • Miles walked – 6
  • Beaches – 3
  • Aire – £12.01

Tuesday 4th November 2025 – heading south to St Michel Chef Chef….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

Still a bit damp and gloomy this morning, serving to strengthen our resolve of heading south, with around 150 miles of driving today we were soon on our way. A straightforward journey using the N165 for around 100 of those miles, an easy dual carriageway, relatively quiet and mostly tree lined with a fabulous array of Autumn colours – Tilly wasn’t bothered but I appreciated the colour display to while away the miles.

We arrived in our Aire for the night in the small seaside resort of St Michel Chef Chef in the Pays de la Loire region and once settled headed out for a walk along the beach. Unfortunately most of the beach was hidden under the tide but we enjoyed a sunny walk along the promenade instead, taking in the quaint fishing huts on stilts – ‘carrelets’ – a revived historic way of fishing by lowering nets into the sea from these huts and then hopefully hauling in the fish….

Note the blue sky – not that we are far enough south yet to really make a difference but I’m happy we have made the right call.

Further along the Plage de Tharon has some exposed sand with the Carrelets visible at the southern end of the beach and the surfers hanging around at the northern end where the small harbour wall was creating some suitable surf….

We hung around and watched the surfers for a while before heading back to the van for the evening….

Thoughts of the day:

  • So far my experience of the road systems here has been very good (though as I’ve said a bit more chaotic in the built up areas) and this is the first time I have done an extended bit of main road driving and yes it was quite straightforward and relaxed largely due to the lack of volume traffic we are accustomed to in the UK.
  • We shall get out for a walk in the morning before heading off and check out the beaches when the tide is out.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 148
  • Miles walked – 4
  • Beaches – 1
  • Aire – £11.13
  • Fuel – £36.09