Sunday 25th August we drove towards Bordeaux which we had high hopes for but unfortunately it didn’t live up to our expectations. It looked pretty on the outside alongside the river but it’s actually pretty grim once you get walking along the back streets (this is only our opinion and you may have a differing one). We walked along the main shopping street which started off like any other normal shopping street. However, this one got gradually worse the further you walked until you got to the other end where the shops quality suffered- think cheap and tacky and the area seemed more like a ghetto! Definitely a change of atmosphere in a short space of time. We twisted and turned through the streets to try and find our way back to the safety of the river when we spotted a pile of poo on the pavement with a cup next to it- it looked suspiciously like human poo! That was definitely the last straw for us and we decided we had had quite enough of the city and made our way back to the motorhome so we could leave. That night we stayed in a car park which we found using our Park for the night app and slept soundly until the morning.
Morning came and we headed for a tourist attraction that was on our list of “things to see/do.” Dunes du pilat- Europe’s largest sand dune extending 616m from west to east and 2.9km from north to south. It’s current height above sea level is 110 metres!
We took our little boy in his carrier and walked along the path until we met sand where we changed out of our shoes and into flip flops which soon came off too as the sand got deeper and deeper the further you walked. The sand came back quite away from the sea and was in the trees which you walked though in order to get to the dune itself- you never realised quite how high up the trees they were until you were standing on the very top of the dune and looking down on them.
We came out into the open and saw just how big the dune really was and yes it was huge!! You had the choice of either walking up the dune as it is or walking up the steps that had been erected for those who chose not to. Obviously we decided on tackling the beast itself- where is the fun in taking the steps! We walk up and down steps all the time unlike a sand dune! It was hard going and my husband had the hardest task of all with our little boy on his back. Your foot would slide down with each step so it took ages to get to the top but we did it and again we were so proud of our little girl who did the whole thing all by herself. We were well and truly shattered though when we got to the top and looked out over the tops of the trees and out to the sea over the other side. My poor husband was sweating though and was thankful to have a little rest and recover his strength.
We walked and jumped down the dune towards the sea a little to a flat area so we could have a sit down and take it all in apart from myself who actually sausage rolled down hoping our little girl would follow suit but she was too scared- she’s such a softie, bless her.
We relaxed for a while until our little girl asked to go all the way down to the sea- it was a long way and we knew we had to get back up but again we did it. Going down was the easy part and we made it to sea level in no time at all even though some parts were pretty steep. We all had a splash in the sea with the waves lapping around our ankles, or legs in the case of our son who got absolutely soaked and then made the strenuous journey back up- this time with me carrying our little boy on my back. It was a long way up and very steep. The only way I could manage was to run as far as I could and then rest for about 30 seconds before running again which I repeated over and over until I reached the top. My husband was way behind me with our little girl but it was the only way I could do it so I had to leave them behind. I took our little boy out when we made it to the top so he could have some free time crawling around and playing with the sand where we then waited for the other two to join us. It was a welcomed break for me though so I didn’t mind in the slightest. Our little boy was so good and listened when I warned him about going too close to the edge and came back to where it was safe. I was searching for a glimpse of my husband and daughter wondering where on earth they had got to when I spotted them slowly climbing their own way up whilst also searching for us too. They spotted us and soon we were all back together where we had yet another rest before making our way back down. My husband explained that it had taken them a while as our little girl had gotten so tired and he had to pick her up and carry her! I salute him!
It was epic and we loved every part of it but the time had flew and it was starting to get late. We didn’t know where we were staying yet so drove to a campsite which didn’t even exist it seems as we turned down the road which had no signs of one even being there so we turned around and made our way to another one that wasn’t too far away. The campsite was pretty poor to be honest but we were tired and it was a place to get our heads down for the night. However, I was certainly not going to use the facilities. The shower block which was in a wooden shack, had no lights on and had spiders and other creepy crawlers in them so it was a big no no for me. Our little boy who was restless needed cooling down though so I was directed to the ‘baby room’ which was pretty dire and only had hot water coming out of the shower unit! Not great but I got by and he was happy once more.
The pitches were big but the ground it lay upon was like a heaven for bugs, some of them were huge too. (See pic below) We had a thunderstorm that night and a little girl who was clearly over tired so we were glad to retire to our beds and call it a day.
K.E.E.N Explorers 