Basically today boiled down to a day of a lot of cycling for not enough gain.
With the weather once again overcast and cool, it definitely wasn’t worth hanging around Lacanau Ocean for a day … basically all these beachside villages are summer destinations and out of season they are deserted.
So I hit the road, or should that be track, with high expectations of reaching Pointe de Grave and the ferry crossing over the la Gironde inlet.
But after making good time to Carcans Plage, a check of my map obtained the previous day from the local tourist office revealed some not too interesting reading.
The track to Hourtin Plage, the next little village about 15 kms further north, was closed for 2010 due to its poor condition.
For probably the first time on the trip I didn’t closely look at my route for the next day the previous night, and now had to pay the price.
The result was a major detour of about 40 kms on roads that had no shoulder for cyclists and quite frankly were dangerous to ride on.
Into the bargain consistent showers made the riding even more treacherous and didn’t do anything to improve my spirits.
And to darken my mood even further, the same map given to me by the tourist bureau showed an alternative way to Hourtin Plage off the road, but it turned out to be a 6 or 7 km dead end. Why would tourist offices give out maps with wrong information and not advise people that tracks are closed?
Anyway, I basically decided to cycle as far as I could, which I did and ended up in le Gurp (a 4 building village on the beach that doesn’t even rate a mention on most maps) for the night.
After making a beeline for the municipal campground I discovered it was closed, but set up camp nonetheless, there was no way I could cycle any further.
I must admit I will be glad to be finally out of these never ending pine forests tomorrow and cycling again through little old villages with lots of French character. I guess I have seen enough deserted surf side holiday destinations … they must be full of people in July and August, but at this time of the year they are ghost towns.
Considering the distance I have cycled so far in France, I don’t have that much further to go to reach St Nazaire where the Loire River flows into the Atlantic and the start of my much anticipated journey along the Loire valley.
captions; Pic 1: A nice ocean shot on a terrible weather day. Pic 2: The track that just went on and on. Pic 3: An oh so French cafe.
Guess u must be also feeling pretty tired re all the detour and what a bummer that the map that the tourist office gave u was wrong.You will soon be singing again about the French countryside and enjoying the beautiful villages and the bagettes/wine/and if I remember when u were here with us u had a real love of cherries so hope u come across them soon on your travels Cathie and Ron x
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