Vieux-Boucau-Les-Bains to Anglet-Biarritz

Vieux-Boucau-Les-Bains spends the day as a surfer and sunbather paradise, at night turns into a busy tourist spot, and wakes up as a quiet village for locals. All tourists probably still at their hotel or camp breakfasts. The ideal time to go for a coffee at a local coffee shop.

The road continues south, still over asphalted separated bike tracks, and still surrounded by lots of trees, but the endless Landes pine tree forest has now given way for a more suburban park like environment, with towns following each other much quicker, and always within sight or noise distance of a major road. But it continues to be bikers paradise.

Lake Hossegor is the spot for catamaran addicts, windsurf aspirants and peddleboard fans. Nice beachside bars offer shaded terraces and pleasant patios for a bite or a drink.

Then there is the crossing of the towns themselves. About half of the people will be driving in your direction while the other half comes from the opposite side on the allways narrow bike path. Of the half driving in your direction, about half go faster and overtake, and half will drive slower and need to be overtaken. Sometimes the bike path will just stop and the normal road needs to be followed, queueing up behind cars waiting to negotiate a roundabout, often waiting for the next car to show up on the roundabout so that they can wait a little longer. And then there are the priority rules. Here, bikers need to yield to cars. Even if the bike path is along the main road and cars are coming from the side road, they still appear to have priority. Most cars will actually yield, some don’t. This is not biking for faint hearted.

Further down, one needs to pass the Bayonne. harbour industrial area. Not the most scenic part of the route, but still very good bike trails. Just a sour bite to get through before getting to the pleasantness of Biarritz city.

Trip is part of my collection Côte Francaise covering the French Atlantic coast from Dunkirk to Biarritz.

https://www.komoot.com/collection/1752987/-cote-francaise