Sat 25th – Sun 26th June
The third day of our stay in the Arcachon area, saw us explore the area around to the eastern coast of the bassin.
Before heading there, we needed to buy some milk and visited the Grande Frais store, just alongside the hotel. Wow! What a huge choice of produce. Why can’t shopping be like this in the UK?
It felt a bit strange just going in for a small bottle of UHT milk!
The Domain of Certes-Graveyron
Just north of the small town of Audenge is the abandoned Chateau Certes, which is in the process of being renovated. The area around the chateau is now a wildlife reserve with a visitor centre in one of the chateau buildings. This man-made landscape was once used to produce salt, then later for fish production. The map view shows the extent of these activities:
We enjoyed a three hour walk along the edge of the workings. Water levels are still managed using the original sluices and channels, but purely with the intention of providing good habitat for wildlife.
Audenge Port
The small town of Audenge has a small port and a huge public swimming pool, with lifeguard oversight.
A feature of the port, are the many brightly painted cabanes (cabins), which are used by those having moorings in the port. Some just seem to be a nice place to hang-out and were being used as a place for the family to meet and eat.
Biganos Port
Biganos is another small town in the area, but a little further inland. It has a very picturesque port however, with more brightly painted cabanes, some of them two storey, one of them even had satellite TV.
"See-u-Later" 