CapBreton

It was lovely to come back to the aire at Capbreton; we visited here once before on our first French tour in Spring 2010 and we love the place.

Breakfast

The aire is right on the beach and a short walk over the dunes takes you onto a long expanse of sand, a walk of about a mile north along the beach brings you to a collection of sea front cafes, shops, fish market bars etc. The aire is at the pricier end of the aire spectrum…€7.50 per night….but worth it for location, and good electric hookup included.

Harbour at CapBreton

A short section of the beach is littered with the ruins of blockhouses, remains of the Nazi Atlantic Wall coastal defenses of WWII, we think.

I met a lovely French guy called Julien on the beach yesterday. He is an architect, and can surf in the morning and then go to his apartment (just behind the sand dunes) to work from home later in the day. …must be one of the better jobs. And no on call.

Nia has been surfing.

Full marks for trying this move but

It didn’t end well

This is me in the drink, your blog photographer, getting up close

Supper in town last night…we found a good fish restaurant, and started with Crevetttes…seem to be large prawns. Very tasty. We have returned today for coffee and wifi, to upload this.

As Nia says…cycle tracks are brilliant and well marked here.

Not sure what this one means. Its right next to the cycle track.

With overcast skies and more rain forecast we decided to press on south.

We have marked Camping Le Thouet as a site to return to. It’s on our favourites  list.

We had an overnight stop at Camping Bignac, where it rained heavily and then continued south round Bordeaux to Arcachon on the Bassin d’Arcachon.

Arcachon

N.B. We are including a bit of information about the sites we stay at in the hope that it might be of some use and interest to our motorhoming friends. Apologies to the non-motorhomers.

We checked in at Camping Club Arcachon, which accepts ‘camping cheques’ out of season. In the description in the camping cheques book the site was described as being in a pine forest and convenient for Arcachon. The pitches are cramped and packed in tightly – not a problem at the end of the season as the site was quiet but it would be have to be renamed ‘Camping Sardines’ at busy times. It was however very convenient for Arcachon. We got out the bikes and dog cart and armed only with a rather ‘iffy’ tourist map of the cycle routes planned a tour of the town.

Now the French do a lot of things well and one of the things they are brilliant at is cycle tracks. Almost everywhere you go there are cycle tracks, sometimes off road and sometimes beside the road but usually separated by a barrier of some kind.

The cycle track took us the first few miles through a lovely pine forest where les chiens galloped beside the bikes, then we cycled on tracks beside the roads towards the sea front. The path then ran beside the beach round the headland, at one point even crossing the beach on duck boards.

We had to stop for a vino, and from our pavement seats watched the world going by whilst sipping a glass of the house white. Perfect.

Arcachon to Capbreton via Dunes de Pyla

We set off early from Arcachon and followed the coast road south.

Just below the Bassin d’Arcachon are the spectacular Dunes de Pyla.

The sun had now come out and it was a beautiful warm day, perfect for exploring the dunes.

Camping Le Thouet is on a cycle route to Saumur so we decided to have a day cycling through the vineyards. We had a beautiful day for it with just the occasional fluffy white cloud but otherwise wall to wall sunshine and very pleasantly warm.

We peddled the 12 miles, taking our time, occasionally asking directions from the grape harvesters along the way. We passed several splendid chateaux and got slightly lost on the outskirts of Saumur but found the centre after a few pointers from the locals.

The restaurant we chose for lunch was run by a very friendly chef who took a real shine to the dogs and introduced them to all his friends as they passed his café.

He brought them water and then some lardons so was very popular with Colin.

A Prehistoric bridge we saw on the way back

On our return to the campsite the dogs decided to cause a bit of chaos. Some English people in a motorhome had parked a few metres from us and Penny ambled over to meet and greet; on receiving a warm welcome from the new people she invited herself into their motorhome and then settled on the carpet in the doorway basking in the sunshine. Meanwhile Colin slipped into Mavis unnoticed and liberated half a baguette.

Having woken early with the noise of the rain, we decided to start out before breakfast from Lassay les Chateaux and again had a pleasant drive, due south to Montreuil-Bellay about 20k beyond Saumur and set amongst the vineyards of the Loire.

We arrived at a beautiful quiet campsite on the banks of the River Thouet at lunchtime. The site is called Camping la Thouet, it is an ACSI site, and is excellent for dogs, with extensive fields next to the river.

The rain had now finished and with sunshine and some cloud it turned into a nice warm afternoon. We got on our bikes and cycled to nearby Montreuil-Ballay, which is a breathtakingly beautiful ancient town, built on the Thouet and dominated by a splendid chateau.

Montreuil-Bellay

This was the first trip out for the ‘dog-cart’, since our last trip and we had forgotten how popular it is with the French.

Everywhere we went we were stopped so that the dogs could be admired and photographed.

We had to try to remember how to have a conversation in French about Border Terriers.

After a couple of very relaxing days at La Mailleraye sur Seine we were woken on Wednesday morning by the pitter patter of rain on Mavis’ roof.

We decided to use the wet weather as a good reason to move south and after a leisurely drive we arrived at Lassay les Chateau for an overnight stop in the village aire.

The aire is in a car park, next to a lovely rose garden and over the road from the XVth century chateau.

The rain stopped just long enough for us to expore this pretty little village and admire the chateau and assortment of gardens; there is a medieval garden and a large park as well as the rose Garden. So there are plenty of places to walk the dogs. That evening  the rain started again and proceeded to pour down very noisily on Mavis’ roof all night.

This gave us an excuse to play a couple more rounds of Bananagrams, a crossword, scrabble-like game introduced to us by Kate and Chris. We are completely hooked and the score is pretty even at the moment but Peter is slightly handicapped because he does try to make only rude words.

Saturday 31st March we drove from Cecina, N. Italy to Cagnes sur Mer. Cagnes is a small town in the south of France, about 12 km west of Nice. We passed Monte Carlo en route…I had offered to put a mates retirement lump sum on the red in the casino there….pretty much a dead cert I thought. Couldn’t persuade him.

The roads were a tadge busy, especially the last 10 km, through Nice. There was a toll every few km as we hit the coast road….no joke when the passenger has to pretty much climb out of the window to reach the slot into which you have to stuff the euros….a motorhome window being half way between the pay in heights for cars and HGV’s. Nia drove, I did the gymnastics.

We ended up on a friendly campsite about 200m from the sea, called the Veille Ferme, at Cagnes sue Mer.

These are the upmarket apartments at Cagnes….ship shaped from a distance and sprouting many a tree from the balconies. They are linked to marinas, see below:

Only the very well heeled need apply to live here.

View from the seafront at Cagnes.

On the Sunday we cycled to Nice. This is a truly spectacular ride along the seafront, shared with fellow bikers, pedestrians, roller skaters, in line skaters and a few pigeons, all enjoying the sun.

This is the cycle track through Cagnes, past the yachts, about 2.5 millions worth per metre we thought.

A little further along the cycle track.

There is plenty to look at along the way.

This is the Promenade des Anglais..entering Nice, just past the aeroport.

Typical Nice seafront hotel or apartment.

Square in Nice

We parked the bikes on the seafront, and parked ourselves in a cafe overlooking the Cote d’Azur, then tucked into entrecôte and vino.

The view looking west across Nice bay. The water is a lovely deep blue. It really is the azure coast.

Cool Nice fashionista.

More nice Nice architecture.

Les chiens were much admired. Or maybe they just wanted to talk to the crazy English cyclistes.

Palais de la Mediteranee

Chief rickshaw driver taking a breather.

We have spent the last week at Cecina, in Tuscany, on the coast about 150 km north of Rome. The campsite is 300 metres from the sea, which is approached through an old pine wood.

The beach at Cecina.

Harbour at Cecina.

Bike ride to Bibbona, through the ‘avenue of cypresses’.

En route to Bibbona.

The fellow travellers.

Olive groves en route to Bibbona.

Look out at Cecina Mare. (Topman Sailor).

The venue for drinks on the way back.

1) You may drive on the right, left or in the middle of the road or any combination of these. Take hairpin bends on the left side.

2) If approaching a narrow bit of road, and there is an oncoming vehicle (especially something big like a motorhome) accelerate to establish right of way.

3) At junctions, if you can’t see what’s coming, just pull out as quickly as possible. Don’t look at the vehicles you have forced to screech to a halt.

4) When you see someone you know it is important to hoot long and loud especially, if you are just passing a nervous middle-aged cyclist.

5) All cyclists should be passed as closely as possible; if they don’t wobble, you haven’t gone close enough.

6) When opening your car door into the road, always wait  until a cyclist is within range.

7) If two opposing vehicles are approaching an intersection at the same speed, the driver talking to his girlfriend on his mobile has priority.

8) Pedestrian crossings. These are for decoration only.

9) Ignore all speed limits and just go as fast as you can.

10) Avoid use of indicators. It  is important to keep other road users guessing.

11) Give priority to all emergency vehicles with blue lights flashing. It is likely that the driver is finishing his shift and has a hot date that evening,

12) When riding a motorbike or scooter and holding a conversation with your pillion passenger, keep eye contact with them at all times.