| Day # | 20 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 46.3 miles | km | 1161 feet | metres | 1 |
| Trip Totals | 969.9 miles | km | 21808 feet | metres | 1 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
We left our campsite this morning and continued our journey south on La Vélodyssée / EV1 towards Biarritz. There was a suburban feel to the first part of the ride but we also caught sight of sand dunes to our right from time to time as well.
We stopped at Soorts-Hossegor for our usual morning coffee and a second breakfast of some kind of almond-based pastry that was not a Pain aux Armandes but something else. We attracted the attention of an unruly gang of sparrows that landed on our table and chairs and bit by bit managed to carry off a fair proportion of our breakfast. It was hard to begrudge them :-)
We passed through various other towns, including Capbreton and Ondres. Near Ondres, we entered an area of woodland and followed the unpaved trail. M1 stopped to photograph a large pond which had lots of aquatic plants with yellow flowers growing all over its edges, not noticing that M2 had stopped 50 metres earlier on the trail. M1 wondered if there was a problem with M2's bike and called back to her to check all was well. And all was indeed well. But M2 had spotted something interesting on the trail. Something interesting crawling along the trail, in fact.
M1 cycled back and was amazed to see a very weird beasty looking like something out of a sci-fi movie, making its was slowly along the trail.
Back at the spot where M1 had taken his photograph, we met two teenage boys who had caught one of the strange looking critters. M1 asked if they spoke English, lacking confidence in his ability to discuss the unknown creature in French! Happily, one of the boys spoke exceptional English and explained that what we had seen and what they had caught was a crawfish (known as a "crayfish" in Britain). Apparently in France they're an invasive species and a big problem, destroying fish stock by eating their eggs. The boys had caught one as their small contribution to tackling the problem.
The English speaking teenager went on to explain that the pretty yellow flowered plant was also an invasive species that was damaging the habitat of freshwater fish. We were fortunate to have met these two budding ecologists. Very interesting.
At around mid-day we stopped at a boulangerie in the town of Tarnos. Cold cans of coke were ordered and M1 couldn't resist ordering a fruit crumble as well. This was either lunch or third breakfast, one of the two!
The next big town was in fact a city. This was the city of Bayonne and it was the first true city we'd cycled through since Nantes. We cycled all the way down one side of the river L'Adour and crossed by a bridge to the other bank. To get back to street and river level we had to take the bikes one at a time down in an elevator.
We then cycled back the way we'd come, west towards the coast. We passed the port which had a few quite large ships in it and also featured a picturesque old viaduct.
A little while later we entered the resort town of Biarritz. The town is renowned for being a stylish destination for the "well heeled". It was certainly busy when we cycled through it. There are a lot of attractive, impressive old buildings including the Hotel du Palais. What M1 will most remember of Biarritz though is what a nightmare it was to cycle through! The normally excellent signs for the cycle route seemed to vanish, there was a lot of traffic and we were no longer cycling on separate cycle lanes and there were hordes of distracted pedestrians to keep an eye on. To make matters worse, at one point we missed a turn (M1's fault!) and instead of following the cycle path along the clifftops, ended up at the foot of the cliffs. This meant we had to get the bikes up a couple of hundred feet of vertical ascent using a very steep path indeed, in bottom gear all the way. Phew! Luckily though, we did manage to find a place to buy some very nice ice cream and sit and eat it with a view of part of Biarritz.
Today's accommodation is a Bed and Breakfast place in Bidart which is just down the road from Biarritz. We stopped to pick up some basic groceries (bread, cheese, tomatoes, chocolate and cherries) and then cycled to the B&B. We had a friendly welcome from Nadia, the Ukrainian host and are now in our comfortable room.
Cheese of the Day is a cow's milk affair that is quite reminiscent of one of the mild English white cheeses such as Cheshire Cheese. It's very nice.
That's it for today. With a bit of luck, tomorrow we'll cross the border into Spain!
Photos of the day....
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