Weekend at Arcachon

The weekend of 14th July was a long one with Friday being the Holiday. With just two extra vacation days, the Thursday before and the Monday after, I avoided the crowds traveling and I made a five-day weekend. The train from Paris to Bordeaux is just three hours and a huge difference in spirit.

Bastille Day (14-July) found me on the beach near the opening to the Atlantic from the Bassin d'Arcachon. Sun was setting and the surfers were taking advantage of the rather small but surfable waves. I do not know what type of surfing this is but the guys and one girl slid on boards on the thin sheet of water after a wave filled the beach and sometimes caught a breaker. The light was excellent and the air was very heavy with humidity after the hot day.

Facing the mouth of the Bassin d'Arcachon is a huge dune, some 100 plus meters rising from the beach below. When I climbed the pre-fab stairs on the land side, I had no idea the dune would be so huge. It stretches for several kilometers along the coast and is starting to envelope the forest on the leeward side.

Many of us arrived to watch the sunset perching near the summet of the first dune which overlooks the mouth of the Bassin d'Arcachon.

Several recreational boats of all sizes and shapes traveled in and out of the Bassin.