We spent two days in Bordeaux (yes, wine with dinner), where we encountered our first full campground. It is the only campground near the city and it is tiny--only 30 sites, some of them looking fairly permanent. But the owner allowed us to park on the paved path, which was the easiest place for us, and we stayed for two nights. We had more rain as we took the bus and the tram into the city that first afternoon and evening. We were not impressed. Bordeaux looked pretty run down and dirty even after five days of rain. It took us a long time to find a restaurant that looked inviting, and we aren’t terribly fussy. We really didn’t have the chance to see much more of the city as our second day, May 1, is THE major Labor Day holiday, when everything is closed except a few restaurants. So we did a little laundry and rode our bikes and caught up with our internet at McDonalds. The only other people working were flower sellers on every other corner. It is apparently tradition to give tiny bouquets of Lily of the Valley to each other on May Day. We must have passed a couple of dozen people selling these on the street corners. And at suppertime the owner’s son came around selling pots of creme brulee just in time for dessert.
Since we were close, we decided to see the ocean again and drove to Arcachon. We were trapped in a traffic jam for quite some time and worried that the campgrounds might be full on this holiday weekend. But that proved not to be a problem. The campsite is probably less than a quarter mile from the ocean but there is a huge sand dune between the ocean and us. It is the strangest thing--a huge wall of sand almost 400 (!) feet high, two miles long . . . and apparently it is relentlessly moving east.
Dune from the campground side Dune from the ocean side
Steps have been placed on it, but the top forty feet or so are covered with blown sand. We made our way to the top, although it was quite an effort, especially those last forty feet climbing through that wonderfully soft sliding sand. But we did it and the view from the top was a great reward.
Dune steps . . . . . . But they end well before the top.
Arcachon is a natural harbor, and we could see across and over sand bars and oyster beds out to the ocean. We didn’t go down to the ocean as it was a long way down and there were no steps to help us back to the top. Going down proved a whole lot easier: step,slide, step, slide. On Sunday (when everything is closed) we rode our bikes to the end of the dune for another view. It really is an odd sight. It keeps catching our eye when we are outside. Several times one of us has simply said to the other,”There is a big wall of sand over there” (we are nothing if not observant). It doesn’t quite fit in with our view of reality.
There were hurricane force winds here in January, and the campground owner is still traumatized by it. A lot of damage was done to trees and cabins here, and he has pictures of it running on his computer in office. We also saw lots of damage to the forest on the way over here from Bordeaux. The land went from being very hilly to being as flat as Kansas. We are in a forest basin.
NEWS FLASH: after six days of rain, the last two days we have spent by the dune have been bright and sunny and breezy!, so we managed to get some laundry done. The little laundry and mini spin dryer we brought with us have worked out well, except we use the campground laundry to really rinse things well. The spin dryer is worth its weight in gold. Then we hang it on a clothesline to dry like everyone else in spite of the rules against it. To use the washer and dryer here for one load would cost €8 (about $10.80).
David successfully replaced the thermostat on the water heater, so our hot water now actually deserves the name. We do use the campground showers--our nightly outing--to save on water and waste tank space, because not all campgrounds have a waste dump that we can use. The showers are usually hot, and we have almost always found them to be very clean and well kept. But we usually do have to keep pushing a button every twenty seconds or so to keep the water flowing. Recycling and saving water are very big themes everywhere we go.
Tonight we’re having burgers on croissants because the French apparently don’t believe in making hamburger buns, in spite of the obvious popularity of McDonalds.