Breakfast on the Pyla Dune
|
|
Breakfast on the Pyla Dune |
Other links: |
best
photos that I have ever seen in the metro is of the Pyla Dune. The
Pyla Dune is the highest dune in Europe at 117 meters altitude, and stretches
2.7 kilometers along the Atlantic coast of France. The dune is located
about 15km south of Arcachon, which is a medium-size beach town located
about 50km southwest of Bordeaux. The picture of the dune in the
metro inspired a camping weekend for Mike, Marc, Cecilia, and I at the
beginning of May 2003.
The Arcachon weekend also provided an opportunity to test our new BOB
bike trailer, which Cecilia and I had recently purchased in preparation
for our upcoming bike trip across northern Sweden and Norway.
The BOB trailer was made in the U.S., but we had bought the trailer in
Paris for about 50% above MRSP due to 
the
additional taxes and international transport fees. Mike, inspired
by the BOB, had decided to craft his own bike trailer using his kite buggy
as a starting point for the design. With about 30 euros of equipment
from BHV (a large Paris hardware chain), he had equipped the buggy to fit
onto the back of his bike. The weekend would also serve as the first
use of our bike transport bags, also called "houssses". We had been
denied boarding on a train to Caen the previous month due to our lack of
bike bags, and had since learned that a housse is required to travel with
the bike on 90% of the trains in France (and throughout Europe).
The weekend would also feature the first nights spent in my new North Face Mountain 25 tent, which Cecilia and I had received from my family for the winter holidays.
We reserved a campground just adjacent to the Pyla Dune. We caught the TGV on Friday night from Montparnasse to Bordeaux, then a small local train for the remaining 45 minute ride to Arcachon. We did not even need to rent a car for the weekend, since all of our belongings fit nicely into the two trailers. We safely biked the 15km between the Arcachon station and the campground, and arrived just after dark.
To summarize, the weekend consisted of biking, flying Mike's kite, and relaxing with beers and food on top of the dune and on the beach. The highlight for me was a 20km bike trail running south through pine forest along the coast from Pyla to the town of Biscarosse, where we had pina coladas each afternoon. Another highlight was the lack of crowds in the campground or on the beaches, since our weekend was timed before the school breaks had begun.
We returned to Paris on Sunday night with decent tans, well-tested and
proven trailers (and tent), and with future plans to return later in the
year. The top images from the weekend:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Did you find a mistake
in this page, or do you want to add an image? Please submit
your new information.