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Published: October 29th 2010
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Famous blockhaus on the beach at VVF, Hossegor.The west coast of France has a very laid back surfing culture. We visited the famous surfing towns of Biarritz, Hossegor and Lacanau. Biarritz and Hosseger were really cool places and only about half an hour drive between them. There are countless beach breaks around this coast and all of top quality when the correct swell, wind and tide combine. All of the beaches in the region vary and different stages of the tide, so at high tide it was good in Hossegor then at low tide you'd drive to Biarritz and it was good there. I had one really good surf at both of these places so i was happy with that and looking foward to going back down there next year. No photos of the surf though cos it was raining most of the time. Due to the rain, everything in the van was damp so we decided to cut our trip short. Plus, the swell forcast said "No incoming swell" for about a week, not to mention the lack of funds. Instead of staying an extra week we decided to head off north towards england.
We hadn’t actually planned it but after Lacanau we went to Bordeaux
to check out some vineyards. In true European fashion they were all closed. We never quite figured out the standard open and close times anywhere in Europe. We went to a small family vineyard that had been passed down generations. They didn’t speak English and we don’t speak French so the conversation was very basic accompanied with sign language. We did some tasting and bought some wine and had a brief tour of the wine making shed. After that we were going to stay in Bordeaux but the GPS couldn’t find any campsites nearby so we decided to head north towards our ferry departure port. Looking for places to stop for the night on a map, Dini came across the town of Cognac.
The region around Cognac is rolling hills engulfed by grape vines. All of which are used to make Cognac, not wine. The grapes they use are too acidic to make wine. Cognac is an nice old town and we stayed in the car park next to the Hennessy cellars and across the river from the Hennessy head quarters. We did a tour of Hennessy and sampled some of their cognac... very nice, but expensive!! There was
one bottle called the Ellipse which cost 7000EURO. From day one at Hennessy, there have been seven generations of cellar masters all in the same family and each have picked their favourite cognac during their career. The ellipse bottle is a blend of the 7 favourites, one from each generation... Amazing!! The bottle it comes in is made of Baccarat crystal which probably contributes to a fair chunk of the cost.
Our last stop on the 'to do' list was Mont Saint Michel. It is an amazing castle/monastry built ages ago on a small lump of land surrounded by flat, low lying plains. The water actually travel tens of kms in at high tide and surrounds the Mont Saint Michel. It is a place that has been mainly used as a monestry for monks. It was also a jail and fortress that survived many attempts to concquer by the english. We did an audio guide of the place which was interesting. Dont know that i could fulfill the duties of a monk though, i'll never complain about my job again (when i get one!!).
The day we visited Mont Saint Michel was the day we had to leave
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Small vineyard in Bordeaux on the ferry from Cherbourg (france) to Portsmouth (UK). We were excited to get back to Hinton Fields (Dini's Grandparents) and stay in a nice warm, dry bed after 10 weeks on the road (See the last photo. It shows our joureny on a map stuck to the inside of the van). When we got back, Dini's Grandparents had chilli con carne prepared for our dinner and cold VBs (Victoria Bitter) to wash it down with...a very good welcome back!!
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