Sunday 7th and Monday 8th January 2024.
It was quite a long drive on Sunday through some amazing scenery.
We stopped in the town of Java for lunch but didn’t explore, for Michelle and I felt we needed to cover a large distance as quickly as possible as we retreated from the snow in the Pyrenees.
After lunch we drove on an eventually reached an enormous lake, as we drove alongside it we realised we had been there before about 5 years ago in August whilst Layla was still much of a puppy and she enjoyed a swim in it.
We eventually reached our Sunday night stopover in a town called Sarriguren near Pamplona, it was a very modern town and looking it up on Google I found out that it is a pioneer design committed to bio climatic architecture and urban design. It’s designed to create open shared areas, pedestrianised walkways with nature all around the new dwellings. They aim to reduce the levels of energy consumption by influencing energy demand and the use of renewable energy sources. It couldn’t have been any more different from last nights medieval town which was in existence when Catherine of Aragon grew up in the area.
Today we drove from Spain into France, the road again took us through some high areas and there was evidence of snow to the sides of the roads etc.
Sometimes you entered a tunnel and when you emerged some time later the climate appeared to have changed.
Tonight’s parking aire couldn’t be any more different, we are about 3 metres from a sand dune and 100m from a gorgeous sandy beach, it is however the Atlantic and not the Mediterranean sea. After arrival we walked into Capbreton which is a sea side resort, as is quite common in these resorts the majority of shops were closed for the winter and not opening until March.
One shop sadly not open had some wonderful chocolates in the window.
Of course I was terribly disappointed that the shops weren’t open and Michelle couldn’t spend time browsing. Instead we headed back to Homer and went to explore the beach which is extremely popular with surfers.
Layla had a wonderful time on the beach she ran round almost non stop for an hour carrying a large pebble, burying it, digging it back up and then running on again.
My camera isn’t quite good enough for some shots but there were quite a few surfers in the sea.
Of course there’s always time for a pose.
We walked quite some distance along the beach and then turned back and went in the other direction , we came to what appeared to be a large rock but I think it may have been a second world war defence building.
There was quite a lot of large drift wood on the beach and the surfers had been quite inventive in building with it. I would imagine this beach must be crowded in the summer, but for us today it made a pleasant change to walk on it after being in the mountains over the past five days.
taraabit 