Etape 6 Arcachon to Lacanau Ocean

Underway early at 11.00am (!!) in order to catch a ferry across Arcachon Bay to Cap Ferret. Bit of a palava getting on board. Down the ramp with the other non-cycling tourists then told to remove panniers and bags from bikes. This was a bit of an unnerving moment as we had just strapped everything on and to undo everything takes a couple of minutes. This had to be done on a pontoon next to the boat as it is pitching and rolling in the swell. I could have easily disappeared over the side of the pontoon, bike and all, before I even got on the boat!!

However fortitude prevailed, bags came off, we clambered aboard , muscular French matelot hoisted bikes onto back of boat and off we went. Landing at Cap Ferret repeat sequence in reverse. Thankfully neither bikes nor intrepid cyclist took an unwanted dip in the Bay of Arcachon!!

After that another 30 miles of pine forest, sand dunes, cicadas etc yawn, yawn zzzzzz!!

Arrived in Lacanau Ocean at about 4pm. Signed in at the Hotel Loyat (well known to our amigos John and Rhona as the departure point of our Canal du Midi trans-France trip a few years ago). The hotel hadn’t changed – same ‘can’t swing-a-cat’ sized room and this time an infestation of flies and potentially man-biting midgey things. Spent 20 minutes with a rolled up towel turning our room into the ‘Killing Fields’. Job done, I am lying on the bed in the sweltering heat in just my sweat-ridden M+S underpants and with all our cycling debris strewn around the room and a nice man knocks at the door and comes in to fix the curtain rail! ‘Bonjour Monsieur je suis ici de faire un reparation des rideaux.’ He comes in and does a good job on the sagging curtain rail and then we have a discussion about the World Cup which doesn’t interest him greatly as there are too many starving people in the world! He did proceed however to tell us a World Cup joke in his best Franglais.

‘Zis man goes to hees friend’s ouse and sees zat his friend is watching Brazil v Belgium in zee world cupe on his tv. But ze tv ees on it’s side in ze lounge. Ze man says to ees friend ‘ why av you ze tv on its side?’ Ees friend say ‘ zis ees ze only way I can see Neymar in an upright position’!!

Oh how we all laughed!!

Having got rid of the curtain- fixing joke-teller, we headed off for a late afternoon swim on the thousand mile long beach at Lacanau. In amongst the lythe, bronzed and toned bodies of the young surfing set I manfully strode off down the beach in my flimsy shorts sporting my west of Scotland cyclist suntan (ie pinky brown arms and legs attached to a slightly flabby white torso) and got to the water’s edge. Having been scorched to death for most of the day cycling through the midday heat I thought a dip in the Atlantic Ocean to cool off would be a good idea. That was until I put one foot in the water which was freezing. But having braved the walk of shame down the beach I could hardly simply wimp out and walk back again. So putting on a brave face I progressed further into the water until my nether regions became numb. After that the sea simply took over and a series of enormous waves came crashing in and knocked me for six and I found myself spreadeagled on the sea bed covered in foam with sand forced up every orifice. Of course I pretended that this was all jolly fun and stuck it for a bit longer and then did the reverse walk of shame back up the beach to where Mrs Nelson had remained with an air of ‘I told you so’. She was ever so proud of me!!

Oh well let’s just keep heading north and see what other embarrassments unfold!