13/08/18 – 14/08/18, Ondres, Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
It felt slightly strange coming back to France having spent nearly a couple of months without paying for any overnight accommodation. When we checked this time, it seemed that most of the aires in southern France (At least close to the coast) carried a fee.
If we were going to pay for it, we wanted it to be 1. close to the beach, 2. have full facilities 3. allow dogs on the beach and 4. Not be more than a 3 hour drive from where we currently were in Spain. This pretty much narrowed down to the area surrounding Bairritz & Bayonne. We chose Ondres as it fulfilled all of these. (GPS 43.576248, -1.486290)
We arrived mid-afternoon and it was relatively quiet – only about 10 Moho’s in the carpark when there was easily space for 30. We got plugged in, set-up and headed off to the beach – a wide long strip of sand with a fairly choppy Atlantic crashing on the shore.
There were a few beach-side restaurants and snack bars along the promenade along with a place to hire bikes and another couple of stalls. Pretty much as soon as we had arrived, the heavens opened and we ran back to the Moho to avoid a drenching.
By late afternoon, the aire started to fill up and people were using a serious number of extensions to plug into the electric hook up – it cant have been safe. There were only 6 outlets from one box, but by the evening there must have been 20 Moho’s plugged in….eeek. I was glad our batteries were fully charged.
Once the rains had stopped, we went back out and onto the beach to have a proper run around with Marley. He even braved some of the shallow pools of water to fetch his ball – I don’t think he’ll ever love the water, but he at least now seems tolerant to it and doesn’t run in the opposite direction!
We had a quiet night in the Moho, listening to the rain bouncing off the roof before heading off the next morning Bordeaux bound, but not before using the service point where some guy was determined to stand over Lorraine whilst emptying the loo. She doesn’t like being crowded at the bet of times, so swiftly told him to back off (Not so politely though). I hid in the Moho until the coast was clear. Then someone else came to do their washing up using the water for rinsing the loo…..eeeew. Hygiene people, hygiene!
Dear Dan
I mean sat by the side of a lake in Nottingham fishing and taking tthe opportunity to read your diary.
Did I miss some postings , it is a major change in your life to quit your jobs, sell the house and travel round Europe in a mobile home. What made you decide to do it? And what are your plans if you have any once you have finished your journey.
Regards to your mum and dad.
Roger Skinner.
Hi Roger,
I hope you and the family are well.
We just fancied a bit of an adventure and as we don’t have any kids, we just thought what the hell and went for it. We havent really got any plans when we get back – we havent thought that far ahead yet. It will most likely be something to do with property development though as I’ve been working in that area for a few years.
I’ll pass on your regards to mum n dad. They are both well, visiting their house in France as often as they can!
All the best
Dan