Post It from Camping Larrouleta, St Jean de Luz, Cote Basque, France. Sunday 4th May, 2014
We travelled here from Bordeaux on the Route Nationals as there had been a new toll section added to the A63 that we had used previously which meant we would pay around 20 Euros or more. The A63 is the one road I always hate to travel along in France because it is almost straight and very boring with only views of forests and felled trees for the most part so I was not unhappy to travel the extra 25 miles our journey took through some very pleasant countryside and coastal resorts. The only disappointing bit for me was that because of our weight we were unable to go across the old bridge at Biarritz and had to follow the ring road.
When we crossed the river at Saint Jean de Luz we saw the old harbour where we had once sat and had pizza for tea on one of our former journeys in car back to Spain. We also saw the Aire du Camping Car on the bridge over the river to Cibourne and it was full like sardines. From a quick glance as we crossed the Pont du Charles De Gaul I don’t know how some of them managed to reverse into their pitches. It also gave us the opportunity to check to see how easy it would be to cycle there from the site and we decided the road was too busy and there were more hills for our city bikes with few gears to cope with.
As it was the 1st May, and a National Holiday in France, almost everything was shut including the large E.Leclerc supermarket about half a mile from the site where we had planned to refuel and restock our supplies. The diesel was not a problem with auto service pumps but the shopping had to wait. Thankfully we had stopped in a small village for lunch on the way and managed to buy bread and Flan for our evening meal. The bread was excellent, as always here, but the Flan was disappointing but we always compare it to the best we have ever had from a little shop at Dieppe which was simply the best we had ever tasted.
The site is located very close to the main roads into Spain, just to the north of St Jean de Luz and is quite large with hard standing pitches for motorhomes, slightly larger ones for caravans and many grass pitches. It too had a fishing lake, which was free and had some pretty big Carp in it, a bar café, large shower blocks with hot water throughout and a heated covered swimming pool. The only disappointment was the Wi-Fi, which at 2 Euros for 180 any time minutes was cheap, but the actual connection speed was poor to say the least. It did however give me a chance to track the weather forecasts, send mail and post some of these stories on the Club web site.
The first night and early next morning we endured some more very heavy rain but the temperatures were noticeably warmer and with the help of the ear plugs we did not hear too much noise from the nearby motorway. The rain then stopped for the day and the sun shone through the gaps in the clouds as the reasonably strong breeze crossed the site. From our pitch we could see the summit of the 900m La Rhume with the TV aerial on the top, you can catch a small train to the top and from information in the reception there are lots and lots of activities in this area.
The full site was covered in trees planted and trimmed to perfection which would give generous shade to the pitches in the height of summer and there were plenty of hedges to separate areas and pitches in some cases. We generally liked the place and the family owners engaged you with warmth and a desire to oblige. We managed to walk to the supermarket on the Friday to buy the needed groceries for the weekend, and boxed wine for our onward journey; I bet we looked a right pair trekking along the edge of the road pulling our shopping trolley and carrying two golfing umbrellas. On the way there we saw two groups of motorcyclists that must have numbered 50 or more who waved and sounded horns at each other. One was heading south towards Spain and the other north towards St Jean de Luz.
On the Saturday we caught the local bus into St Jean de Luz where we had a very enjoyable 5 hours spent wandering the promenade and shopping streets and partaking of the café and wine in the old square with a bandstand. It was easy to recognise that the resort must have been a very important one in its heyday and it still remains very good and popular today. The weather had warmed and the sun brought many families to the golden sandy beach. Sailing dinghies were engaged in regattas in the large sheltered bay and Sharon enjoyed the shopping. My favourite purchase was a local ‘Gateaux du Basque’ cake made to a centuries old recipe in the patisserie Paris. We chose the traditional favourite one made with lashings of butter and almonds, it was good and we welcomed the time and effort the lady in the shop had taken to explain its history to us. She also gave us a free sample of their special caramels which she said were claimed to be the best in the world.
As we had a little time to spend before our bus back to the campsite we had a closer look at the Aire. It was full and there was hardly enough room to open the doors between the vehicles. Some had long leads to the free electric hook up where there were a number of connections via someone using a multi socket trailing lead. I can imagine that there is a big risk of someone disconnecting you to connect themselves during the maximum 48 hour free stay. We both agreed that this was not the type of camping we would enjoy regardless of how cheap it was. None of the Club’s fire regulation spacing here!
Back on the site it was still warm and sunny so it gave us a chance to sit outside and enjoy the last of the sun before our evening meal which had been cooking away in the slow cooker placed under the van to reduce the smells inside. Roll on getting our new kitchen tent out to try. Smokee enjoyed the sun through the windows of Bessie but it was not warm enough yet for him to sit outside with us, fingers crossed the weather was improving though.
On Sunday we caught the local bus to Handaye, which is right on the border with Spain and is separated from the Spanish town of Hondarriba by the river Bidasoa. This was a surfers resort and the long promenade from the river’s bank was the start of a 16 mile coastal walk to Bidart. We had visited Hondarriba before in 2006 when we were touring in our MX5 and we could see from our lunch spot, on the side of the marina, some of the places we remembered seeing then.
We had enjoyed our stay here and would definitely stay here again, the site was lovely and perhaps next time I could bring my rod and try to catch something.
Regards, Roy
