Our ride from Royan to Hourtin started with a short ferry ride across the Gironde Estuary to Verdon on this big peninsula between the Atlantic and the estuary. The Velodyssey #1 route runs right down the coast here and into Spain, which is what we are currently following. It is easy cycling I must say, hardly any climbing, which I don’t mind when we are carrying all our gear and food/water for the day.
Most of the route today was through forested areas and some right against the Atlantic ocean. There are lots of sand dune areas and again huge beaches. Today was blustery and the water was wild with big waves. No swimmers seen but there were a few brave souls out kite surfing. A lot of the forests here are not natural, instead they have been planted in rows, quite funny looking. We have seen a few deer but nothing else. I don’t think there are bears here thankfully. We also see old bomb shelters and bunkers along the coast from WW2, more reminders of difficult times. It does put the Ukraine/Russia conflict into perspective.
We are staying in a campground on Lac de Carcans-Hourtin for a couple of nights in a cute little camping cottage. This is the largest fresh water lake in France but not that big by Canadian standards. We had hoped to hope to do a little paddleboarding or some other lake activity but the weather didn’t co-operate. Instead we had another rest day and just wandered around the port and the town a bit. We saw some people kite surfing on the lake and some others learning some trick wakeboarding in a small pond being pulled by a mechanical tow rope.
It looks like better weather for the next several days as we head south to Archachon to meet Erika who is flying from London to meet us for a few days.
geeteetravels 
Thanks for including your route map at the beginning of each post, it is really helpful for following your route. Enjoy, love the pictures!