Weather: Overcast for most of the day but with some sun this afternoon. Still shorts and t-shirt temperature in the afternoon.
Today's destination was chosen for two reasons: 1) it was a recommendation from yesterday's friendly neighbour; and 2) the book that Mick is currently reading happens to be set around Arcachon and La Teste-de-Buch (it's one of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series and Mick chose to bring that one out of the very many he owns because it was the only one he was certain he hadn't read; he had no idea he would find himself reading it in the very place it is set).
As the crow flies we're probably only 12km or so from where we were yesterday, now being at the mouth of the Arcachon basin, whereas yesterday we were on the side furthest from the open sea. The drive around here was around 35 kilometres, albeit with a couple of detours for roadworks and one last minute detour when I shouted 'STOP!' just as Mick was about to try to squeeze 3m-tall Bertie under a 2.6m barrier.
With a couple of other distractions en route, most notably a couple of hours spent at Decathlon (mainly in the car park availing ourselves of their wifi, but also browsing and buying in store), it was mid-afternoon by the time we finally reached our destination.
Here we found every single motorhome parked with their noses pointed towards the road and the sea beyond. We rebelled, opting to face inland, to the woodland, instead, which not only allowed us to be level without needing the ramps (taking advantage of Bertie's natural slope towards the front), but also put our bed a few metres further from passing traffic. The downside of being rebellious was that it put our door adjacent to our neighbour's door, which felt so impolite (or unetiquettical*) that after we'd lunched and been out for a walk, we moved to a better space. The van who took the slot next to us a short while later followed our lead, so that has worked out perfectly.
There are another ten vans out of shot on the right hand side; they are all parked facing the road
As for our walk, we didn't go as far along the promenade, towards the town of Arcachon, as intended, as we couldn't fail to notice that it was raining over at Taussat, where we had left this morning, and in case that rain strayed our way, we didn't want to find outselves too far away from Bertie. So, we turned around, took to the shore line and walked just as far past Bertie in the other direction, before looping back. Happily, the rain never did reach us.
Big black cloud leaking rain over the east side of Bassin d'Arcachon
I wouldn't rave about this parking area as much as yesterday's neighbour did. In fact, I wouldn't rave about the parking at all, but the area around it is very pleasant. Whether we stay a second night will very much depend on how intrusive the passing traffic is overnight.
The view through the trees across the road (i.e. behind Bertie) taken at sunset
(*Completely made up word, but it ought to exist.)
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