Heading West out of San Sebastian in search of surf and the famous Mundaka.
Mission accomplished. I arrived in Mundaka in early November and there was hardly a soul in sight. It was tough to get to, mostly because I came across roads that where closed for maintenance so I had to go through Bilbao, Getxo, Mungia and Bermeo before I could feast my eyes on it. It’s a beautiful place.
From there I headed back up to the south west of France because I wanted to see for myself how straight that coastline really is. France had even less camping sites open, with majority closing at the end of October for the winter. There was nothing open at all in Biarritz so I drove back down to Saint-Jean-de-Luz and found the mother of all ocean camping sites. I can’t remember the estate name, but search for Avenue Napoleon III just north of Saint-Jean-de-Luz off the D810.
On the straight section of beach that goes from Bayonne towards La Rochelle. Apparently there are some pretty good beach breaks along this southern section.
After that I headed up to Tours to pick up my girlfriend for the final French leg. The camping attendant in the La Rochelle camping ground rattled me a bit, perhaps I caught him in a bad mood because I knocked on his door at 7:30pm when 7pm was the closing time. In any case, he went on to explain that my Wicked Van was not a camper van and was, in fact, a car and further, it is forbidden to sleep in cars in camping grounds for safety reasons. Got to love it. After I put my sad-puppy-dog face on and explained that I had nowhere else to go he let me stay for one night. But I had to leave early the next morning because he didn’t want this forbidden practice to be noticed by the police.
I picked up my girlfriend at Tours airport and we headed straight to the wine country to sample some produce.
Another sight I wanted to reach was Mont Saint Michelle, impressive from every angle. It was a real treat to get there.
The Normandy D-Day coastline is amazing if you are into recent history. We only spent an afternoon here, but I would have loved to spend several days to take in all the museums, sites and cemetery. There is a lot of ground to cover.
I particularly recommend Pointe Du Hoc because they have tried to keep it as it was after the D-Day invasion.
10 days was sufficient to cover the distance and destinations I did. I was driving every day, some long and some short distances. So if you want to relax more and go surfing, fishing, or play golf during the day I recommend adding on a few days. However 10 days in a car can also get tiring so it’s a catch 22.
Overall it was a great adventure and the Wicked Van held it’s own through the rain, hail and snow. Petrol and road tolls are the biggest expense to be mindful of when planning your trip.
Oh and ice to keep your beer cool is hard to find in France unlike in Aus so go to a supermarket seafood section and ask for a ‘le sac de glace’. AKA a sack of glass. They’ll grab a bag and shovel some in for you.
