After 7 weeks out of the van, it felt strange to be heading off touring once again. However, we were excited to be on the road again with a new list of sights to see. We had a great break and enjoyed spending time with friends and family in India, Scotland and Royan.

We set out from Royan and headed south towards the "Dune du Pilat", the largest dune in Europe. We were planning on camping nearby and then seeing the dune the next day. En route, we were passing close to Blaye, one of Vauban's citadels (the last one we had seen was in Briançon). We were ready for a stretch break and figured we had enough daylight for a quick stop. We could tell that it was the off season because all the shops within the citadel were closed and we were the only people walking around, other than locals walking their dogs. We walked the ramparts and had great views over the town and out to the estuary. The fortifications built to protect the estuary consisted of three forts, two on either side of the estuary and one in the middle on a small island. On the ramparts there were information panels at several spots to tell a bit about the history or point out what it was we were looking at. We finished up looking out over the town once again and then headed back to the car. We then continued on past Bordeaux and then west to our campsite. We arrived in daylight which made it much easier to located and found a nice flat spot. We finished tidying up and putting things where they belonged before cutting up veg for a coconut curry. Unfortunately, as we went to turn on the gas, we realized we had forgotten to open the valve on the tank! So Anoop headed out with his headlamp, took the bikes off, turned on the gas and then put the bikes back on again. Dinner was nice and hot and well worth the effort!

We headed off in the morning to see the Dune de Pilat. The dune is the tallest dune in Europe and measures between 100-115 metres high depending on the year. It is 500 m wide, 2.7 km long and has roughly 60 million cubic metres of sand. We headed up to the top trekking through rather wet sand since it had rained earlier. Once at the top we got some amazing views out over the dune, the Atlantic and the sand bar below. We could see the oyster farms in the shallows and apparently the sand bar is used by many birds as nesting grounds in the spring. A ways away we could see people sliding down the dunes. It was quite windy at the top, but since the sand was damp it wasn’t whipping about like it was when Braeden and I had visited as kids. We admired the view for a while and then headed back down to the car.

We continued driving south and arrived in camp in Zarautz, Spain, a few hours later. Our campsite was perched on the edge of a cliff and looked out over the town and bay below. The view was incredible until the wind picked up and blew in the rain. Hopefully we will have some more clear weather tomorrow to go for a bit of a walk.