10 May, 2015

The sun is up and it is hot, even though it is only 9am – a big contrast to yesterday.  We’re not being plagued with mosquitoes this morning so we can take our time packing.  We need to get breakfast on the road as we’re out of milk, so we set straight off to the next place along the route.  At regular intervals along the route there are access roads to the beach which end with a collection of holiday cabins, maybe a surf school and, if you are lucky, a beach bar and a shop.  Generally everything is closed and these places have desolate air about them.  France has an enormous amount of holiday accommodation that is only used for one month in August when the whole nation takes its holidays.  We head to one of these and we are in luck because there is a shop that is open.

We get supplies and sit in the car park eating our cereals out of our plastic bowls.  Not the sort of thing you would think of doing at home.

Once we turn and set off again we realise just how hot and windy it is. The riding to start with is not particularly challenging, a flat track running just behind the dunes through the pine trees, but later the track turns more inland and we hit rolling hills.  This is when the heat and the wind start to take their toll.  In particular, the instrument of torture that is masquerading as a saddle becomes unbearable.  I get it tilted down a bit more which helps alleviate the pain for a while but then causes more pain in a different place.  Once broken in this saddle will last me a lifetime apparently, but I am starting to question whether I will actually live long enough for this to be of any benefit.  We cut the day short when I can’t sit on it any longer – still, if there is a decent WiFi connection I can catch up on the blog and with the hot sun and wind, I can get some washing done too.

Whilst setting up on the campsite we meet a British couple with a camper van who are keen to hear about our trip.  They invite us to join them for a drink and a chat, which was nice of them.  Eventually, we make our way back to our tent and start talking to a German couple with two huge Anatolian Shepherd dogs and a cat in a camper van.  They had been touring around Europe for three months, but what was amazing was that they let the cat wander around as it pleased – they just called it and it came running back to the camper van.

Needless to say, by this time it was too late to catch up on anything like washing.  The WiFi seems a bit hit and miss too – still there is always tomorrow.