Dune de Pyla (Pyla-sur-mer)

It was very dark when we arrived at the Dune de Pyla parking lot, our camping spot for the night. It was a nice place to stay, quiet, surrounded by trees and we managed to find a level spot after doing about 3 laps of the parking lot. We weren’t the only campers here either, which is always a good thing. Since we were only seeing the sand dune and then driving to Biaritz later we didn’t get started early. It was just before lunch when we followed the small crowds towards the dune. The walk to the dune is lined with tourist shops, most of which were closed for the season. I know the sound of “The largest sand dune in Europe” sounds about as exciting as getting the chance to watch paint dry and honestly that was our thoughts too. We decided to make a stop here because there were none on the way to Biaritz and Bayonne that peaked our interest. It was a break in the drive from the Bordeaux region as well. South from Bordeaux, the area is extremely flat along the coast which is also good for our van. The sand dune was around the height of the escarpment and is three kilometers long. They had plastic stairs running up the steep side of the dune, the same side as the parking lot. Once we made it to the top of the dune we realized why this was mentioned in one of our guide books. The steep side (west side) is completely surrounded by evergreen trees and the gentler side (east side) faces the Atlantic Ocean. The steep side is steep enough for sand boarding. The view was amazing from the top of the dune and we were extremely glad we stopped here. We walked down to the shore and here we made our mark before walking back up the sandy slope.

This took us forever and was extremely tiring. On a side note, the nights and days are becoming much warmer so our effort to get south is finally proving worth it. France’s highways are tolled, so we take the back roads, which at times, add about 2 extra hours of driving so we ended up stopping in Souston on our way to Bairitz. It was 5 euros, but that included electricity, a dump station and fresh water. I toyed with the notion of staying here on Sunday too, to avoid driving on my birthday, but with no internet and it costing us 5 euros, I decided that we should finish our drive to Biaritz, 60 km away. Upon leaving the parking lot, we were at the pay machine, a man walked up to the van and told us the van stinks. This is really starting to get to Julie, as she can’t imagine why anyone would feel the need to point this out, and especially why people would escalate things to an argument. So far my decision wasn’t a good one.