…at Camping Pio de Pelle, near Saint-Julien-en-Born, just like with Rolf’s Youth Club 40 years ago: 1980.
Johanna was born 20 years later, in 2000, and is camping nearby with her friends.
Lukas remembers the family holidays at Cap de l’Homy, and we remember the Müllers.They also holidayed here on the Atlantic coast 45 years ago.
Saint Jean de Luz is still inundated with tourists, with streams of vehicles exiting the motorway and congesting the town. We recall numerous family stories: our holidays at the brilliant Camping Interplages, when the boys collected all kinds of creatures for their aquarium with a plastic bucket at low tide, when the non-swimmer jumped into the tempting pool and was rescued, as well as fishing for roach with the two boys and their mother on the high seas, and the bullfight, where the two rascals bravely ran into the arena.
Today, the city is called VeloVille, which is a joke.
The area with the campsites and the coastal cycle path remains unchanged. Even our favourite beach looks the same as it did twenty years ago.
The couchette car we took to Saint Jean de Luz in 1989 now terminates in Bayonne. But otherwise, everything is as it used to be.
In Hendaye, we stay at Camping Alturan, as usual. The reception, the shop, the sanitary facilities, the sloping terrace pitches, and the magnificent view of the sea. Everything is still the same. Fascinating!
The Grand Plage in Hendaye, where thousands of swimming and surfing enthusiasts gather today. A day at the beach today is not different from a day at the beach 15 years ago. The swimwear is the same. Fathers build sandcastles with their children, and the incoming tide causes the beach to shrink.
And, of course, the Atlantic is just as it used to be, just as we know it: stormy, with great waves, heavy downpours, mountains of clouds in the sky and then bright blue again, currently summery warm at 22 degrees Celsius.
We leave France, a holiday destination with diverse, magnificent landscapes and fantastic coastlines, beaches and cliffs, great cities and the highest density of campsites in Europe. Cycling is a pleasure in most areas. To get to know the country and, above all, the people, you need sufficient language skills. Almost all the French people we meet while shopping, on the street or at the campsite are extremely friendly. However, we are unable to engage in conversation beyond the usual greetings, which is obviously due to our poor French skills. Typically, interactions go like this:
- Either a Frenchman who does not know that we are not locals approaches us, asks us questions about our bikes or where we are from, etc. We respond in broken French. He realises his (!) mistake, turns around and walks away.
- or they have already heard that we speak German and will not talk to us under any circumstances.
Although many French people could certainly speak English well enough to converse with us, it is a shame. How much happier we are to have the Bigoudins Edwige, Mathurin and Toma, with whom we have spent so many wonderful days and from whom we have learned so much about the country and its people – thank you and big kisses to Le Bigoudin.
We made it through the peak season, still managed to find a spot for our tent despite the campsites being fully booked, survived the heat, and will miss the baguettes and croissants.