4 July
From Lacanau Océan we were on the
recently-opened Veloroute 1, which in France goes from Rosscof in Brittany down
to the Spanish border. Called the Velodyssée,
this French section of the Veloroute 1 is part of a much bigger concept, going
from the far north of Scandanavia to Sagres in the south-west corner of
Portugal. We have only touched the edge of it so far. In this part of France it
skirts the coast, more or less, with lots of sandhills between the path and the
sea. You only see the sea when you come to a developed area, and then you usually
have to climb up and over the sandhills, to get a great view of miles and miles
of Atlantic beaches and coastline.
The forests are covered with moss and
lichen, so we can assume a certain amount of annual rainfall here. The
‘developed’ areas are usually beach resorts, with lots of chalets (mobilehomes)
clustered together in camping grounds with amenities that appeal to children,
particularly swimming pools, water slides, bouncy castles and themed play
equipment. In the camping grounds there will often be a separate area of
regimented tents, which are being used as colonies
de vacances, which have certain similarities with scout/guide etc camps,
though may have a theme of, for example, surfing, in this area.
We stayed the night at Montalivet-les
Bains. The camping ground was right on the sea-shore and was relatively
no-frills, though it did have a snack bar – and allowed us to charge the phone
there. The town itself was totally tourist-orientated, with over-priced
restaurants, shops selling cheap souvenirs, icecream shops and little else, like many
other coastal places we passed through. To tell the truth we ate well-priced galettes at a small café – so there were
obviously some pluses!
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