This is a great one! A leisurely couple of hours on the road from La Rochelle and you get to the city of Bordeaux. If you keep off the highways the nav will route you right through the centre of the city.
This is a little strange as a contrast to the country roads we’ve been on, but also interesting to see. Not just for the main attractions but also the suburbs and, for example, an extended, unplanned drive along the docklands of the Garonne river. It is nice to see all sides of a town – not just the (well promoted) city centre!
Just head west
The directions are simple. When you hit Bordeaux – from a northerly direction – turn right and head straight to the coast. About fifty kilometres later, on the D106, you reach the town of Lège-Cap-Ferret.
Here you take a small road five kilometres further towards the coast where you will find that the road kind of runs out against forested dunes. You’ve reached your destination.
This is where you will find camping Brémontier and not much else. There is a private campsite next door – belonging to the Gendarmerie – a parking lot and a couple of beach-style cafés. And that is it! Excellent!
Camping Brèmontier
The campsite is under really tall pine trees and has about one hundred ‘pitches’. Meaning one hundred(ish) approximate areas numbered by a small plaque on the trees.
We need a guide to show us our ‘section’ as they are not bordered by hedges – because nothing grows under a pine forest, right?
We were lucky in that there were still a couple of sites available at the time, so we set up the Oztent in amongst quite a number of Germans. Must be a national holiday in Germany, or something. The ablutions are big and efficient enough for the size of camping and maintained very well. The drizzle forced us into our tent.
Looking around at the others in the camp there was a theme playing out here. Surfing and cycling. In about equal numbers. Walking a couple of hundred yards over the dune will give you a fantastic view of a beach that is unspoiled and stretches for miles in either direction.
Best beach?
There are a couple of small bars/cafés parked near the dune and a wide beach with good sand. Further along, there were surfing schools busy teaching new pupils how to stay on their boards. Which did not look easy…
There was some rain, which is typical for this time of year and has been following us all the way down the coast so far. But despite the weather trying hard to affect the mood we managed to get some work done and take some walks along the beach which is just beautiful. I didn’t realise there are still places like this in Europe where there aren’t many people, villages or tourists around…
This area reminded us of South Africa, especially the area of northern Natal near Sodwana Bay and the border with Mocambique. A little bit wild, full of green forests and the sea can rustle up some waves!
Now the Spanish border is beckoning and we are curious as to what lays over yonder behind them there trees…!