GK Tours. Day 11 Thursday 14th November 2024
Montfort to Cap Breton
This morning was chilly and the grass was very damp but no frost, which, I have to say I was half expecting.
Meg and I took a walk down to the river to see if the white birds were still on the tree, but as we approached we could see them flying off for the day.
Where the path ends is at what we think, in the summer is a rafting stop off. There is a toilet and a large covered seating area with lots of picnic benches and a big BBQ. It must be a very busy place at times.
The river bed is visible from the bank here and it’s quite strange because it’s not a muddy one, but rather a rock one 
. The rock slabs are on their side, a bit like you see the rocks at Bude and Sandymouth. Thinking about it, we are in the valleys of the Pyrenees so it would make sense.
Anyway, because of this it sends back a very strange sort of lightish blue colour, which I expect is really pretty when the sun is shining on it.
Our destination today was going to be Bayonne but we couldn’t find anywhere decent to park the van for the night so changed our minds and headed West to the coast and for CapBreton. Another new destination for both of us.
You can tell when you are nearing the coast because the terrain changes to Pine trees and sand underfoot. Cap Breton has some pretty houses, a few old ones but mostly holiday home blocks. There’s a river running to the sea and a very big fishing harbour and marina.
Our park up was right on the beach up against sand dunes. It’s a massive car park, sectioned off for motorhomes in one area and cars in another. There is space for at least 100 motorhomes. The only issue is that you are quite close together, not touching but not the 6m safe zone.
Still, the sun was shining so we hot footed it to the beach. Once again, a glorious sight, miles of sand and no-one to be seen – not at that moment anyway – the surfers had all just come off the beach as we were going on. A lot of the vans here are surfing dudes and were busy going backwards and forwards the whole day.
Meg was loving the freedom as we turned right and headed towards the port. Dotted along the beach are some old abandoned blockhouses, built by the Germans in WW2 but never used. So they have been left to rot on this beautiful beach. Some of them have been adorned with very colourful grafitti, those that are easily accessible anyway.
Coming up on to the boulevard, we passed surf schools and hotels and then reached the not so busy promenade. Luckily there was a bar open and so we stopped for a drink.
Aha, my chance to try an Armagnac 
. Well, I did, Gareth had a sip too and we didn’t like it 
, too much like whisky we both thought, obviously being of Smiffy origin, I had to finish it .
What was funny was the lovely waiter we had. I had my Hugge on to keep my head warm with scarf and jumper (another dressed myself day 
), and as he was trying to guess where in the UK we were from, I got out my little bag of treats for Meg, and he said ‘is that weed?’ we cracked up. Anyone that knows me knows that weed would be the last thing I would carry, he was a little embarrassed but we brushed it off.
When he had gone Gareth was being polite and said that’s because I looked very Bohemian today .
Walking on we followed the harbour onto the river walk into the town and back to the van. There are some really nice properties here, you can imagine them bustling with people in the summer and how hot it must get 
.
It’s funny how, once you are aware of the Camino sign you spot it in odd places. On our way back to the van, I saw two on the back of road signs, though we didn’t spot any pilgrims.
Once the sun had disappeared it got really cold, I cooked some lamb chops in the air fryer for dinner and we had a couple of glasses of Bordeaux 
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