Day 31. Biscarrosse-Plage to Lacanau Ocean

Day 31. Biscarrosse-Plage to Lacanau Ocean. 81.81 kms cycled. 4.54 hours cycling. 45.62 km/h max speed. 16.64 km/h average speed. Weather – cloudy with showers.

I have very quickly discovered that when you are cycle touring nothing can be planned too far in advance.

  As of last night I had full intentions of staying at Biscarrosse-Plage for the day, going to the beach and generally relaxing. But an overnight thunderstorm, a change of weather and a plague of earwigs quickly put an end to those plans.

  After consistent overnight rain I woke to a dreary day that certainly wasn’t beach weather. On top of that the campground I was staying at was in the grip of a horrible earwig epidemic. They were everywhere and in everything.

  I put my panniers under the outside cover of the tent each night and up until now everything has been fine. They stay dry if it rains and aren’t visible to anyone from the outside.

  But I certainly didn’t bank on a plague of earwigs taking up residence in them. All were full of the bloody things, meaning that I had to take ever item out, shake out all the earwigs and repack.

  Basically the decision to move on wasn’t hard to make at that stage!!!

  Anyway I set out for Arcachon through the endless pine forests, with the occasional detour to check that the Atalantic Ocean was still there on the other side of the sand dunes.

  I had read about Arcachon and was looking forward to having a walk around the town before catching the ferry across to the other side of Bassin d’Arcachon (the bay) to continue my ride north.

  But for the first time on the trip I really felt burdened by my bicycle and all my worldly possessions. I just couldn’t find anywhere that I felt safe to leave everything while I walked around and there were so many people on the streets it just wasn’t practical to push the bike around.

  In the end I gave up and put Arcachon on the ‘must go back there someday’ list, because it really did look like a lovely town on the edge of the bay.

  Instead I just made it to the wharf in time to catch the midday ferry across the bay. The ferry ride cuts out about 60km of riding through fairly boring country, so as far as I was concerned the 10.50 Euro charge was well worth it.

 With showers persisting I pushed on through the endless pine forests, with Lacanau Ocean my target for the day. At this stage the weather seems to be on the improve so I may stay put for a day here, but this time I will make the call in the morning.

   I just finished putting up my tent in another lovely campground complete with water fun park, restaurant and full on recreation ground and was still finding earwigs in everything. They are disgusting little things.

captions. Pic 1: This is an amazing coastline that just goes on forever unbroken. Pic 2: Isn't that the best ever sign for a restaurant on the beachfront. Pic 3: My bike and other on the ferry crossing.