Day 37 25/8/16
46 miles (Lac d’Hourtin to Audenge) Average speed 12 mph Top speed 22.9 mph
I woke early as I had to blow up my bed in the night as the sand wasn’t as comfortable as I expected.
Got back to sleep and was up at 7.30. Nervous brekkie of toast and Camembert as I was in fire risk territory and got more strange looks than normal while lighting a fire stove!
morning at Lac d’Hourtin camping among the trees
Packed up and ready to move on
I ended up going north east to Carcans. Then the path south was absolutely fabulous, straight as a die and through pine forests. It was formerly a railway track and they make for great riding.
Forest Trail
Forest Trail
Forest Trail
I was just thinking that I hadn’t seen much wildlife when a giant grasshopper landed on my shorts.
Brian seemed to like the ride and the bridges matched his yellow so I think he was happy.
Brian the Snail trying out the camouflage – yellow bridgework being just the right place to test it
Today was very hot, the girl at the bar said it registered 38°C. No wonder I needed so many drinks stops and eventually succumbed to the heat after about 41 miles. Easy to find campsite where there is currently a boules competition going on. Interesting viewing. They’re taking this quite seriously but I’m not sure what the prize is.
French boules competitions are taken very seriously
I had salad for dinner as cooking in this heat is just too much effort. Just about to go for a swim as I’m melting sat here at the bar! Popped down to the port but not much action down there, and thankfully the karaoke at campsite hasn’t really taken off. So hopefully an early night.
I spoke too soon. Karaoke has kicked in and as usual they are all crap. I can tell that even in French.
Camping la Braou Audenge evening
Over budget by about €22 but I guess you pay more in the south. Plus those sugary drinks are the only thing that keeps me going. Most supermarkets don’t have cold drinks which I find very strange. Beer a-plenty but that’s not really much use in the middle of the day. Resorted to a slush puppy today as there was nothing else cold. I only had €1.90 and was hoping to find 10c in car park until I realised they had a cash machine! Good listening to music but today I lost the left earphone due to desperation in finding marché with cold drink! It got tangled in front wheel and took some untangling. I hope insulation tape works tomorrow. Need to fix the bar bag again too it’s about the 4th time now but probably too much weight in it (Ermintrude : it’s that snail, he’s not getting enough exercise). I’m hoping my map of Spain will cover me tomorrow. Now that will be exciting.
Campsite Camping la Braou €16 .50 but pool and crap wifi.