Two days in Arcachon, France

We were all going rather crazy by the end of the first week of the winter school holidays. The weather has been cold, windy and rainy for 7 days straight. I was googling the weather all over France to see where we might be able to go to get a respite, I was almost prepared to drive to Spain, Africa, where is the sunshine!? My mom suggested Arcachon, only 1.5hrs drive from us, sunshine was predicted for Saturday and Sunday, magic!

The car was packed Friday evening and we woke with the baby at 8am in a bit of a panic because this was, for the first time, and hour later than she normally wakes, of course! Out the door by 9am, arrived in Bordeaux at brunch o’clock - we might make this a regular thing, the pancakes and coffee were worth it.

1 more hour in the car and we were ready to hit the Dune du Pilat, a 110m high and 3 km long sand dune on France’s SW coast. The weather was spectacular, sunny, warm and not a lick of wind, just what we ordered!

The dune is incredible, it’s an almost vertical ascent to wonderful views across the spine of the dune and down to the ocean on the other side. While the parents caught their breath the children were gone, only to be found again paddling in the Atlantic.

By Sunday the weather had packed in, clouds had rolled in and our sunshine was gone, but it wasn’t raining, yet. We strolled along the boardwalk to the town centre, a carousel on the beach could not be walked past, maybe our children will have photographs on every carousel in France!?

After a brief nosey around the Sunday market and a quick lunch on the beach everyone was cold and tired and ready for the warm car and a wee doze.

The weekend recharged the parents’ batteries, and wore the childrens’ out! Ready to tackle one more week of winter school holidays…