Chi's Travel Log - Arcachon, France 06-04-2009

Portraits of some people I met on tour

adventure@chi11.co.uk

Week19

090406 - Mon - Castilla d' blanco, Portugal - m&a 8 had coffee and breakfast then decided It was cleaning day, dusted and swept round, swept and beat the carpets, swept and washed the floor, washed the van outside which was caked in much, finished about 1:30. Had some lunch and decided to get rolling into Spain about 2:30pm, got to Spain about 4:30 and decided to press on till dark got about 350km and found a place to refuel and sleep already stopped earlier for dinner so just got my head down 9pm.

090407 - Tue - Spain - m&a 6 had a brew and off for 6:30 still dark and a little rain but nice to get rolling, stopped for for a brew when it was light and made good time got to France at noon but the aire left a bit to be desired, had to back up and do a 5 point turn after entering a street with a low bridge sign, then it was a bit frustrating in the middle of town doing more 5 point turns and getting stuck in the middle of a load of traffic in the centre of town, so set the sat nav for the next one on and got on my way, good to get out. Went to a place at the beach, it was lovely and quiet, set up and went for a walk after lunch then set about making dinner, ham and mushrooms el-david, also made a pot of curry, had my dinner with a few glasses of red then got the tunes on and had a dance until 9pm when I retired for the day.

090408 Wed - Ondres Plage, Bayonne, France - m&a 9:30 had a sleep in this morning got a lazy day ahead, doing a few jobs on the computer sorting through my pics and planning my route and stop off's back to the UK. Late afternoon had a walk down the beach and got the chair out made some notes over a few glasses of wine met Bernard & Amila a Brit and a Spaniard from Bilbao chatted before dinner. Dinner with a movie then crashed about 10pm.

090409 Thu - Ondres Plage, Bayonne - m&a 7:30 coffee and away up the coast behind Bordeaux, on all the back roads through all the quaint villages a nice run stopped half way for breakfast, fuel and shopping arriving at Arcachon about 1pm. Got settled had lunch then got the moto out. Had a run round for a few hours checking the town out, the beaches, ports and other camping places, its a really nice place. Settled down for the night with a glass of wine and dinner then just relaxed and retired at 10pm.

090410 Fri - Arcachon Aire, France - m&a 9 coffee, shower, shave and breakfast before moving a couple of miles down the road to a port harbour, it was raining when I arose and forecast all weekend but never mind. Settled in had lunch and caught up on some reading, had a stroll between showers. Then did some bits on the computer had dinner and watched the sun go down before retiring.

090411 Sat - Arcachon port harbour - m&a 8 then a coffee and set off towards Bordeaux on my way to Coulon, Niort. got stuck right in the centre of Bordeaux up narrow streets with an inch at each side got through that then hit a low height barrier, went round in circles a few times before finding a diversion after about 30mins found another way across the river, all went well after that until I got stuck on narrow D roads for 50km eventually finding the destination village which was idealic on the riverside "little Venice in France" Parked up had lunch and had a stroll round for a couple of hours. After dinner met Rob & Caz from Cornwall, they are on holiday for a few weeks over here, had a couple of beers and a nice chat may even go for a cycle tomorrow with them on the riverside, retired 11pm.

090412 Sun - Coulon, France - m&a 7:30 it felt a bit cooler this morning, had a tea, a bowl of noodles, 2 bacon butties and a coffee to warm up, then the gas ran out perfectly timed without interrupting my breakfast, done well with that gas bottle lasted 37 days, only used the heating once in that period though. It was raining lightly so had a chat with Rob & Caz then it dried up so went for a long riverside walk, it was good about 10km, then helped Rob change his rear wheel because he had a puncture and didn't have the right tackle so we used my tools not too bad a job to say it was a double wheel and the inside one had the puncture, good team work works every time. Entertainment wise a French man backed his motorhome too far back into the flower garden and both back wheels sunk 6" then he preceded to mess around for 30mins with the jack and some non slip mats, second idea he got another van to try and pull him out which also didn't work by this time several other Frenchmen were looking on enjoying the show also, anyway after two attempt we all gave him a pushed at the same time and it came straight out, we would have done that first in the UK, but entertaining anyway. It was now 5pm so made my tea and then went for a walk round the village for a few beers with Rob, however everybody had already departed it was like a quost village a few odd couples eating in the restaurants, only an hour or two earlier the village was jam packed. Anyway returned to my van for a few beers then retired about 9pm.

adventure@chi11.co.uk