After five days of riding we are starting to feel like we are getting into the swing of this. While laying in bed this morning we roughed out a route to Dax. We having been trying to straighten out the many twists and turns of the Eurovelo 3 route by circumventing it with some highways and smaller roads. So far, the results have been some pretty nice cycling but at times we share the road with cars. On the positive side we do find the drivers have been very courteous and at times have an overabundance of caution and patience.
Looking out our hotel window in the harsh morning light. This was clearly not the place we wanted to go to bed last night. But the sun is rising on another beautiful day!
We began the day by retracing two kilometres back to the centre ville of Mont de Marsan. Stopping at a small grocery store and a patisserie shop we bought some fruit and two great toasted cheese sandwiches. We immediately consumed one for our breakfast before making our way to the river on the EV3 route. It was a very well marked cycle route out of town. We left the EV3 just beyond the town limits when it again turned off into the bush. We stayed on another local cycling route, the C9, to Saint Perdon. From Saint Perdon we found our way on quiet secondary divided highways and some small country roads. Thirty kilometres in, we reached Tartas. It was past noon and had not yet had our morning coffee stop! Tartas was a small village with one cafe which worked out as a good place to have our coffee and our lunch at the same time.
Mont Marsan is right at the confluence of La Douze and Le Midou rivers. This bridge is Le pont Gisèle-Halimi. over the Midou.
On route to Dax somewhere between Saint Perdon and Tartas. It is a heavily forested and agricultural area and not much in the way of convenient coffee shops but no complaints on the cycling.
Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesPretty sure you’re right here. We saw them this far south on our first tour through here years ago. Reply to this comment 7 months ago
Pat FenwickThere are lots of geese in this area which is famous for it's foie gras. Pretty delicious if you don't think about how it's made. 🫤 Reply to this comment 7 months ago
After lunch we rejoined the EV3 route that took us to the village of Buglose and the biggest surprise of the day. No, it was not to find a coffee shop, that would have been a surprise, but it was even too small for that. Looking for a break and some shade before continuing on we arrived at a large church that we discovered was the Basilique Notre-Dame de Buglose. The large building seems out of place as it really is in the middle of no where. It turned out that we had this amazing Basilica to visit all to ourselves. We are really not at all knowledgeable of churches and tend to just peak inside for a bit but we did find this one really quite special. We were feeling very hot and maybe the very cool temperature inside had something to do with it but the stained glass and other monuments seemed to be of a very high quality. A lady who appeared to involved with the facility grabbed on to Pat and enthusiastically explained to Pat its history. Pat thinks that she understood some of what was she was being told. It was a touching encounter. Here are a few of the pictures:
Finishing up the ride, Scott`s Garmin was reading a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. Finding our way into the centre of Dax we took two chairs in the shade and ordered a couple of cold beer. It really was a great ride today. Dax has a number of thermal baths which seemed to be attracting a bit of an older crowd but it was by no means busy.
One lane bridge over the Adour River. It is control by a signal and we were the last in a small row of cars. We were so slow that that the traffic in the other direction had to wait for us well into their green light. They just wave and smile.
We took our time and checked into our small hotel around 5:30. Our host was quite concerned that we were to be there at 4 pm. Her rough exterior melted away when Scott began to play with her small brown dog as he is so likely to do. For dinner we walked back to the centre and settled on an bustling Italian restaurant that had no more seating available outside so we took a small table just inside looking outward toward the street. Quite amazingly, the wind picked up and the outdoor seating was much less appealing. We were happy to be protected from the wind as we enjoyed our large plates of pasta.
We are off to Bayonne tomorrow and the wind this evening was part of a change in weather. There are some showers forecasted in the area for morning. It has been an incredible run of sunny days!
7 months ago