Day 13: rest day 3 in Arcachon

Just a small amount of rain overnight and we were able to eat breakfast outside this morning. The weather brightened up to be a beautiful day with only the occasional white cloud. This is what we had all been hoping for on our last R&R day. We spent a couple of hours by the pool in the morning, headed back to the tent for lunch where I had to pick 3 large splinters out of Emily's bottom where she had been sliding around by the pool! She was very brave as there was a lot of digging around with a needle and tweezers! We then headed back for our last time to enjoy the water, sun and our books. Showers followed by tea. We had massive homemade strawberry meringues for pudding which we picked up in an Arcachon bakery yesterday. Yum!

Up early tomorrow to pack up everything and get to the station in plenty of time for the train to Bordeaux. Let's hope they let us all on!

Tom enjoying the slide

Messing around in the pool

Our last campsite meal

Day 11: rest day in Arcachon

Torrential rain and thunder in the night resulted in a few puddles in the porch this morning. The children and I got up, left Adrian in bed (he had made a lovely cup of tea for me by the time we got back!) and headed to the shop for breakfast just as the heavens open again and we had to seek refuge in the toilets! We ate breakfast in the tent and proceeded to all play Uno until the sun shone. Emily won her first game of the holiday and then made it two in a row with a little help in tactics from me! At around 11.30 we eventually managed to make it out deciding to cycle to Arcachon centre to look around. We needed food supplies, more sun cream, wanted to check out the beach as well as the train station in preparation for Saturday. The map the campsite gave us showed a cycle/pedestrian path to the centre as 1.8km, but what I hadn't realised was that the whole area is full of hills and I beg to differ in the actual distance down as well. Plenty of hills both up and down followed. Once in the centre, we took a ride along the sea front, along the beach and past the port. There are board walks on the sand for pedestrians and cyclists which gives a lovely view of all the boats. The beach area and all the streets off it are bustling and busy with lots of designer shops and restaurants. Next we stopped at a cafe for lunch where I had my first Croque Monsieur of the trip.... It has to be done!... We locked up our bikes, took a walk along the pier to get the low down on boat trips around the basin and headed to the super market for supplies. We found a lovely sweet shop en route so treated the kids and also found a souvenir shop for them to spend their money on presents for their friends - the smallest and lightest ones we could find! Let's hope we get them all home in one piece. After a short play on the beach and a paddle, we headed back up to the campsite for tea via the Gare SNCF. The lady at the information desk said that the trains can take 30 bikes! (My email to French trains before I left said only 4 and no trailer), and it seems that they are doing a summer group offer of 30€ for up to 5 people - bikes free. I'll believe it when we are all safely on one train together on Saturday morning! Once back at the campsite the kids read and made loom bands and we all enjoyed a lovely tea made by Adrian followed by a cuppa. 

9.76 miles cycled and walked today

Cycling on the board walks in Arcachon 

The board walks - one for pedestrians, one for cyclists!

Lunch at a side-street cafe

By the beach - Adrian photo bombing! 

Amazing painted sand sculptures on the beach - I've never seen anyone paint them before.

View down to Arcachon from the park near the campsite - day trip so pannier-less... Felt a bit weird being so light!

Adrian sporting a loom band necklace made by Thomas!

Route day 11: 9.76 miles in and around Arcachon 

Day 8: rest day

An amazing lightning display all around the lake last night which Adrian and I sat and watched for a while. No rain or thunder though and a very comfortable nights sleep.

What a lovely relaxing day we have had today. The weather came up trumps and has been sunny with white whispy clouds all day. After a slow start, we had a lazy breakfast of cereal, tea, croissants - the kids and Adrian had pain au raisin - a real luxury! We then headed to the beach for the day. I make it sound like its a long way away, but in fact it is the sites own beach and is about 100m from the tent. We spent the day sunbathing broken up by swimming in the warm, shallow, freshwater lake. The children played on the slides, in the play ground and dug sand pits. Hannah spent most of the day in the water trying to catch and touch the fish, unsuccessfully. She also enjoyed swimming out to and jumping off the diving platform. The twins had a go too, but needed my help to get back into the shallower water afterwards. For anyone looking for a child friendly site in France you could do no better than by this lake - it has many advantages over the strong Atlantic currents you find on the coast. 

Towards the end of the afternoon Adrian and I had a sneaky drink in the bar whilst still being able to see the children - another plus point - never far from the water. We had showers and compared sunburn :-( We have been very diligent using sun cream on everyone all holiday, but today we got the timing all wrong and did a rush job. Hopefully having smothered ourselves in aloe vera after showers, the red shoulders will have died down by tomorrow morning.

We are currently sitting on the picnic mat chilling and waiting for the rotisserie chicken we have ordered for tea to finish cooking. We have salad to go with it - yum! And makes a change from pasta!

Our thermarest chairs! Some salvation for our backs! A lazy morning breakfast.

Lunch by the campsite beach

Yummy chicken and salad for tea 

Cucumber needed finishing!