Fireworks last night lasting almost an hour. If I hadn't already been tucked up in bed I would have gone to watch them. An early start this morning - we actually set an alarm for 7.10am - as we we aiming for the 11.03 train out of Arcachon and wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to sort out the bikes. As it happens we had packed up and left the campsite by 9.30am and made our way surprisingly quickly to the station in the centre of town. We bought our ticket - 30€ for a family of five for a journey of almost an hour with bikes allowed on for free - again something we need to learn from the French! It all went so smoothly that we were able to catch the 10.03am instead! We headed for the front carriage which holds the bikes and loaded them on. Adrian disconnected the trailer and stood it up on its end. Off we went. We were lucky that we got on at the first stop as the train filled up fast. The guard came down the train then and he told us that there are hooks in the wall to hang bikes on! We had completely missed them, so after more rearranging they were all upright - the twins bikes swinging gently with the movement in the train as they were not big enough to fit the back wheel in the lower slot. Adrian took his panniers off, but mine are too difficult to do quickly and I have 5 to handle, so my poor bike hung from its front wheel fully loaded - I was imagining it coming off oval shaped rather than round! Adrian stood guard while the kids and I found 4 seats round a table to eat our second breakfast of croissants and pain ou chocolat.
Getting off in Bordeaux was more interesting. The swarm of people around the train doors (a lot with bikes) waiting to get on to go to Arcachon for the weekend was huge as we were trying to unload 5 bikes, luggage and a trailer. The kids went first and were helped through the mass of people by lots of hands. Then Adrian and me with our bikes. Someone took the trailer off for us. We headed off to the exit, hoping we had not left anything behind!
Bordeaux is a big city with trams and bendy buses - much to Toms's delight! We cycled on the cycle path across the river on the bridge and headed for our hotel a F1 where I had booked 2 rooms for the night. Everything has gone so smoothly today up to now, that we could actually have stayed in Arcachon for an extra day, but I didn't want to risk it in the planning stage. I still can't believe that Adrian and the trailer got on the train - it was all very easy. We booked into the hotel and had to wait half an hour or so as our rooms were still being cleaned. Hannah's with me and the twins are with Adrian. We chilled in the room for a while - it's nice just to lie on a bed after having nothing but a slightly padded floor for two weeks.
3.48 miles to get here (plus the train journey!)
After a couple of hours we manage to get out to see a bit of Bordeaux. We follow the cycle paths back to the city centre, looking at the beautiful big buildings along the river. Bordeaux is a busy city on a Saturday afternoon. We locked up the bikes, went in search of lunch/tea and found a bistro in a little square with a busker playing guitar and singing. It was very relaxing. Afterwards we picked up supplies for tomorrow in case the shops are all closed (it's Sunday tomorrow and we could be waiting around in an industrial area for the coach for hours). We follow this with a lovely ice cream and head back to the bikes and back to the hotel. En route Hannah has a spectacular crash with a pedestrian (he was standing in the middle of the cycle lane), Hannah apparently was looking down at her chain to see how fast it was going! She just scraped her arm and was very brave about it the man was absolutely fine as well. That's all of them now - Emily in a ditch in Mimizan, Tom sliding off a curb by the lakes and now Hannah in Bordeaux. Let's hope that's our quota for the holiday! When we got back to the hotel we decided to follow the golden rule of cycle touring which is to keep your bike as close to you as possible at all times. As the hotel had no ground floor rooms available, this means Adrian carrying all 5 bikes up a spiral staircase to our second floor rooms (and putting a dent in his eyebrow at the same time with Emily's bike). I'm glad he managed it though. All the bikes are now safely tucked up in our rooms!
Adrian and I are currently sitting in one room whilst the children are in the other going to sleep. We will move Hannah back into my room later.
We don't need to be at the coach until 6.30pm tomorrow, so we will have a very lazy start and slowly pedal our way the short 6 miles or so to the pickup point. I see a few games of Uno coming on. I hope the bus is not delayed!
8.04 miles cycled and walked in Bordeaux today
Total 11.52 miles today
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