Iain's had his eye on a glamping site in Hossegor since last year. It's been tricky to find dates that suit us but, remarkably, while we were sitting in Bondi on Sunday afternoon, I had a quick look at their site, and they bloomin' had availability for this weekend. We snapped it up.
William went to school on Thursday morning which gave us plenty of time to get the car packed before picking him up at lunchtime and heading away for the weekend. We arrived into Hossegor just after 1pm and went straight for lunch and a play on the beach. It's amazing how quickly you can breathe a sigh of relief as soon as you get to the water. It's also amazing how readily available GF food is as soon as we get out of Pau. I had avocado toast and it was braw.
As we weren't right in the heart of Hossegor, our plan was to try to just park the car up for the weekend and cycle everywhere as much as possible. With the continued issues with our bike rack (see here), we had decided that we would just hire bikes. We walked past a hire place on the way back to the car and they had the perfect models for us: a tandem for Iain and me, and a Bobby Dazzler of a mountain bike for William. I headed to the campsite in the car and the boys followed behind with our new transport.
I got us checked in and we explored our new digs. The whole thing was actually really cool. Deffo not the kind of place you could go to to in winter of early spring, but glamping in every sense of the word. No trips to a toilet block in the middle of the night here!
After some nesting, we jumped on our bikes and headed back into town for some afternoon apéros. Getting ourselves fully into the holiday mode, we decided to get back on our bikes and head to the top of the lac to one of the oyster bars. It really was the perfect end to the day. What a life.
We headed home as the sun was starting to set and got ourselves in for the night. An easy pasta dinner, and some beers out on the deck. Parfait.
Saturday began with a cycle around the lac and down to the beach. This sounds all rather idyllic but we encountered some issues. Firstly, the signage meant that we didn't know if we were actually allowed to cycle on the path; we asked a local who said that it was perfectly fine; we got shouted at by some wrinklies who seemed to think it wasn't; and we ended up having to dismount completely as the path is covered in sand in many parts. Shambles. Not as bad as jobby river though. ;-)
The beach as Hossegor is on the Atlantic ocean so is wild and dumpy. Not great for kids, but Iain and William sstill had a fun morning running around in the waves while I did some relaxing with my book on the beach. We're not entirely into summer weather but it was still warm enough for our celtic skin.
We had lunch at one of the restaurants overlooking the ocean (I went for the mussels), then, after a wander around town, headed home for some quiet time in the afternoon. We went back into town for dinner and checked out the Touring Cafe where I got a mixed seafood and fish platter which was really incredible. Like Fish says, only order fish when you can see the sea.
By the time Saturday rolled round, it already felt like we'd been away for ages. It's amazing how that extra day can just give you that feeling of really being on holiday. We had a slower morning then, in the afternoon, went exploring at Capbreton. It was really beautiful and the beach just seemed that wee bit safer too. We hadn't actually planned for any beach-ing so just hung out at one of the bars and enjoyed drinks and ice-cream in the sun.
We made our way back over to Hossegor and parked up in a gastro-pub that was showing the play-off match between Bayonne and Biarritz. As a derby, this was one helluva fixture and the boozer was full of the typical fans. "ALLEZ LA BAYOOOOOOOONE" has become our new war cry. It was particularly interesting to Iain to be told all about this fixture and it's importance in French rugby by one of the Bayonne fans. Thank god he didn't actually ask Iain what he did for a living. ;-) The boys ordered food and everyone was happy. It was such a beautiful evening that we just had to get some photos with the sun setting over the lac.
Sunday was go-home-day but we were determined to make the most of it before heading back to Pau. The forecast was immense so we packed the car, and while the boys returned the bikes, I found a parking spot next to the lac. We spent most of the day there in the glorious sun. We hired a SUP board, we had lunch at the wee cafe, William collected crabs, and we bathed in the warm lac. We even bumped into some kids from Marca. It was really wonderful.
Roadies are so good for the soul. This weekend was a proper re-charge. We have a few things to do this week, then we'll be back on the road for more adventures.
Lorna. :-)
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