Day 9: Lacanau to Biscarosse

From Lacanau we were slightly late to start again, probably in some way due to our favourite Aussie the previous night ensuring that we had a good measure of Whisky whilst we waited for him to fetch his car! After this, we headed down the coast to Cap Ferret, where we would need to take another boat across the Bassin D'Arcachon in order to continue our progress towards Biarritz. The weather was again awful, and the locals must have been laughing at the sight of cyclists with no waterproofs dressed for 100 degree heat. The wind and rain however relented at lunchtime, after we had completed around 30 miles through forest to arrive in Cap Ferret, and be told that the boat to Arcachon was cancelled due to the terrible weather.

This presented something of a problem, as if the weather didn't fair up, the route around the bassin would have added another 40 miles onto the journey, and leave us with no way of reaching Biscarrosse that evening. However, for a change the gods were kind to us, and after having a brief tapas lunch on the beach, the people running the ferry announced that a service would resume at 2.30.

Once across the bassin, it was not much further down the coast from Arcachon that we arrived at the Dunes de Pilat. These sand dunes, at just over 100m tall, are the largest in Europe. Throngs of tourists arrive by the bus load to see them, and climb to the top. As if the biking hadn't been challenging enough, we decided to take it on and join the hundreds of others trying to make it to the summit. It was well worth the effort (see pictures later), as due to being the highest point for miles around, the views were incredible.

Biscarosse was still some 25 miles away, but we covered this relatively quickly as the land flattened out again, and for a brief time the wind seemed to be at our backs. Though Biscarrosse didn't really have much to offer, we had a hearty meal in the restaurant 'Le Pub' next door to the hotel, getting talking to an English couple who had retired to Biscarosse recently. After this it was an early night, in anticipation of our penultimate day in the saddle on Wednesday.

Distance: 59 miles