As we have been venturing further south, the weather is warmer and the beaches go on for miles backed by sand dunes, the naked beach users have appeared (that and we're only 5 mins from a nudist camp). The nudies are by far the most active people on the beach. Those people who have swimwear on might sunbathe, read, swim or surf, even play a little bat and ball, but the nudies rarely relax. They pace up and down the waters edge, they do a lot of stretches, they often wear back packs, sandals and a hat and do long hikes along the beach.
No picture!
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Ferry Crossing
Leaving Il de Oleron we decided to visit the coast line north of the Bassin de Archachon. We took the ferry from Royan to Pointe de Grave to cut out the huge stretch of water (La Gironde) and also avoid crazy Bordeaux traffic. We stumbled upon Montalivets, a place we’ve never seen before but turned out to be a great place with one of the best free aires behind the sand dunes. The sunsets are amazing and the lack of artificial light makes the stars really stand out in the nights sky. The sea has been totally flat since we’ve been here which is not so good for surfing but great for swimming. We are now south enough to be able to swim in cossies although compared to most here this is over dressed.
Surf - Yay!
The last 2 days we spent on the island we saw the best surf we’ve seen so far. Head high waves with an of shore wind – Nice! It’s great to finally be in some meaty surf. We surfed as much as we possibly could for 2 days until we physically couldn’t paddle any more. We both had big smiles on our faces.
Health and safety assessment – Pine Cones
Has anyone ever been seriously injured or killed by a falling pine cone? We’re sitting merrily under a tree that is holding pine cones the size of mini footballs 40ft in the air. They obviously drop fairly regularly as the place is littered with them. But do they ever land on people’s heads? We experimented dropping one from only 15cm up onto John’s head and he said. “Ow, it hurts; they’re both heavy and prickly!”
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Il de Oleron the land of the Jelly fish & Mossies
We have had a few stops on our way onto the Vendee coastline. The weather has been good and we have had some good beach days – surfing and enjoying the sun.
We have arrived in Il de Oleron where we have spent the last 3 days. We spent the first 2 nights free camping but tonight we have decided luxury is needed and we are on a site with all the trimmings; shower, toilet, electric and at long last an INTERNET connection (although we are having to sit on a park bench in the dark 200 mts from the van with an umbrella, to get a signal – not looking dodgy at all!).
We always knew this place had loads of Jelly Fish – but this year they seem to be on steroids!! They’re everywhere – the picture is of a smaller one maybe dinner plate size but most are dustbin lids. Still the surf has been pretty good so we have been in amongst them quite a lot. The sight and touch is far worse than their sting.
Now that we have a fridge we are going to crack open a gift of Champagne from the wedding– we are on our honeymoon after all (we’ll still be saying that in 12 months!)
Hope everyone is well and happy – give us a message as to what you’re up.
We have arrived in Il de Oleron where we have spent the last 3 days. We spent the first 2 nights free camping but tonight we have decided luxury is needed and we are on a site with all the trimmings; shower, toilet, electric and at long last an INTERNET connection (although we are having to sit on a park bench in the dark 200 mts from the van with an umbrella, to get a signal – not looking dodgy at all!).
We always knew this place had loads of Jelly Fish – but this year they seem to be on steroids!! They’re everywhere – the picture is of a smaller one maybe dinner plate size but most are dustbin lids. Still the surf has been pretty good so we have been in amongst them quite a lot. The sight and touch is far worse than their sting.
Now that we have a fridge we are going to crack open a gift of Champagne from the wedding– we are on our honeymoon after all (we’ll still be saying that in 12 months!)
Hope everyone is well and happy – give us a message as to what you’re up.
No surf but plenty of blackberries.
We have journeyed further south to a spot called Guidel. Sadly no waves but the coastline is lovely so lots of walking. We managed to stumble on the blackberry capital of Europe (or so it seemed). I remember picking them a lot as a kid (bleggin they call it in Barnsley). We filled our hands and used them on our cereal for the next few days, lovely. More free camping again it’s perfectly legal and FREE wow!
La Torche and the funny rock towers.
We have spent the last 3 days in a spot called La Torche. It’s billed as Brittany’s premier surf spot and the home of Breton surfing. It’s easy to see why as the area is open to lots of swell directions (there always seems to be waves). The spot has one long headland which has so many war bunkers it’s like being on the set of Saving Private Ryan. The waves were much bigger here and we had some good fun surfs. It’s a busy area plenty of French and Germans with a sprinkling of Brits. It’s great to watch the French surf, they seem to read the waves so well and can generate so much speed. It’s rained and I mean rained! In fact it’s hammered it down for most of the time as it can do so often in France. Despite this we have been having a great time a little free camping and camp site camping again. There’s even been a German film crew filming on the beach – not sure what they are filming, looks like a soap to me. Maybe German Neighbours. Scattered along the headland are hundreds and hundreds of manmade little rock towers. They looked very impressive. We even had a go ourselves.
Cornwall without the pasties!
We are here!!, France that is. Finally after a mammoth job moving out (we couldn’t believe how much stuff we had in that small flat). Car boot sales, charity shops, dumpit sites, Parents and Helens loft finally meant an empty flat and we could set off for Dover.
Oops didn’t leave a lot of time to catch the ferry so had to go flat out non- stop which is hard in a camper to make the boat. Luckily we made it and landed in Dunkerque. We spent the next couple of days driving across the country – sleeping in aires (service stations), we drove through Normandy and Brittany avoiding toll roads and saw some beautiful countryside, before arriving at our first destination; Baie de trespasses. This translates as the bay of death (hope that’s to do with ship wrecks and not surfers!). We had a look around the headland and forget Australia we saw lizards and even a genuine snake I (John) was very excited as I’ve never seen a snake in the wild before. I even thought of doing a Steve Irwin and picking it up but then I remembered I’m not Steve Irwin so didn’t.
The bay looked just like Croyde in North Devon, in fact this coastline is very Cornish – jagged and spectacular not like the French coast we have seen before: miles of straight beach and sand dunes. There was a small wave and we were on it for the next 3 days. We named the place bay of seaweed as we have both never seen as much. Ruth had to spend a while picking it out of her hair. We had a couple of nights in a really peaceful campsite (owls hooting and everything), then a night free camping which is so much easier in September than August (no Gendarmerie to give you grief). Now heading further south.
Oops didn’t leave a lot of time to catch the ferry so had to go flat out non- stop which is hard in a camper to make the boat. Luckily we made it and landed in Dunkerque. We spent the next couple of days driving across the country – sleeping in aires (service stations), we drove through Normandy and Brittany avoiding toll roads and saw some beautiful countryside, before arriving at our first destination; Baie de trespasses. This translates as the bay of death (hope that’s to do with ship wrecks and not surfers!). We had a look around the headland and forget Australia we saw lizards and even a genuine snake I (John) was very excited as I’ve never seen a snake in the wild before. I even thought of doing a Steve Irwin and picking it up but then I remembered I’m not Steve Irwin so didn’t.
The bay looked just like Croyde in North Devon, in fact this coastline is very Cornish – jagged and spectacular not like the French coast we have seen before: miles of straight beach and sand dunes. There was a small wave and we were on it for the next 3 days. We named the place bay of seaweed as we have both never seen as much. Ruth had to spend a while picking it out of her hair. We had a couple of nights in a really peaceful campsite (owls hooting and everything), then a night free camping which is so much easier in September than August (no Gendarmerie to give you grief). Now heading further south.
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