France - part 3

From the Marais, we headed down south to Gastes on Lake Biscarrosse, about an hour south of Bordeaux and on the coast. This was planned to be a few lazy days of just enjoying sand and sunshine...
Biscarosse is France's second largest lake, and holds their largest oil reserves - which I didn't know, and it was quite a surprise to see all the little oil rigs scattered around. It was, however, very pleasant to swim in (I prefer the sea any day, though), and a sandy beach 5 minutes walk from our tent was great. We did also head to one of the Atlantic coast beaches; too much surf for any serious swimming but great fun.

Sunsets over the lake...

And evening light - with a wagtail

We were off to one side of the campsite - it was mostly chalets and cabins and where we were, there were pitches for tents and campers. Maybe there's not much demand for them - it looked as if there was a whole row beyond us which was being let go wild, and beyond that again was a little forested area which I walked through and came across this, gently rusting away.

These two photos were actually taken on the last morning, but I'm going to slot them in here...the tent is looking slightly the worse for two nights of heavy thunderstorms - but we had sprayed it with waterproof spray after getting it set up, and it stood up to the heavy rain. At this stage the kitchen had been taken down, we were packing ready to go - and thankful for the picnic bench (hidden behind the car) which we were able to put all our stuff on rather than the wet ground. We had bought an expensive 5-day cool box. It never did actually hold the ice blocks for more than a day, but even in temperatures around 40°C (over 100°F), the butter was sometimes almost too firm to spread, and we were able to chill our cider very nicely - so it was a worthwhile investment. Behind the tent you can see the above-mentioned chalets (there was a small ditch between us, and from the sound of it I'm pretty sure some frogs lived in there), and the second photo is looking to our left up towards the wooded part of the site.