30 miles of the forested coastline between Mimizan and Biscarrosse has been annoyingly commandeered by the French military for war games practice thus forcing pacifist cyclists in a major detour inland. Having said that, the route does a grand tour around three large inland lakes which are connected by waterways which is all very jolly. This freshwater system harbours monsters from the deep, one of which was scuttling across the cycle route in front of us as we passed by this morning. When it saw us coming it stopped in its tracks and reared up brandishing a large pair of fearsome pincers. Undaunted, Mrs Nelson approached and gave it a ‘retired’ teacher’s stare and it backed off timidly into the undergrowth never to be seen again.
Further along the track we stumbled across Cirque de Soleil’s summer camp for incompetent gymnasts. I’m thinking of abandoning the cycling in favour of joining their merry band of bohemian no-hopers for the summer like the fellow below;
After wrestling some minor hills in the heat we finally arrived in Biscarrosse where cold beers on the beach became the order of the day. Sitting in the beach bar we witnessed a lot of ecstatic French footie fans as they ousted Uruguay from the WC. ‘Allez les Bleus’ they drunkenly cheered despite the fact that France had had a strip change and were playing in white and the Uruguay were in fact playing in blue. Hey- ho, they won comfortably and more beer was consumed all round.
I had drunk so much beer on an empty stomach that I began to hallucinate and thought I spotted a kite surfing the waves out in the bay. It in fact turned out to be one of the best kite displays ever by a bloke in shorts! Note his skill in simulating the kite riding the crest of a wave.
Now I’m thinking of giving up my budding bohemian gymnastic career in favour of becoming a kite flying bum on the beach for the rest of the summer. Carol says she will become a kite groupie if there is free wine in it!!
Velodyssee 