Ride to Biscarosse

On Sunday June 25th the group of regular bikers met for a ride to Biscarosse. We left Cozes at 8.30am to take the ferry in Royan which was scheduled at 9.30pm. On that day bikers from all over France were queuing up to embark because their meeting place was Montalivet . That is why we couldn't board the 9.30 ferry and had to wait for the next one which left at 11.00am. We heard that there were about 8000 motorbikes in the Montalivet bikers rally. After a smooth crossing ( the Gironde looked like a lake that day) we reached Le verdon and headed for Arcachon. On our way we met lots of bikers waving at us as we rode past. It was a nice morning with mild temperatures and at that time we didn't know that the following day would be scorching !!
Around 1 pm we decided to stop and have a picnic in the shade. So when we reached a quiet village we stopped and had our lunch on benches in front of the church. We relaxed a little bit before hitting the road again. As we approached Arcachon the temperatures got higher and we had to stop in the forest to stretch out our legs and have a rest. This part of France is characterized by the Landes forest and the ocean. Wherever you go you can smell the resin from the maritime pine trees.
Apart from forest roads we also rode through villages but the traffic was so heavy that we didn't enjoy it . We rode through Andernos , Ares which are villages with no interest for people who like old houses of character and traditional architecture with old stones.
Then we reached Biscarosse and the hotel where we stayed overnight.
The hotel was just in the centre of the town and the traffic was quite heavy. The rooms were provided with air conditioning so we enjoyed relaxing in a cool environment. It was about 6 pm when we decided to swim in a lake called "Mayotte" Biscarosse is characterized by forests, lakes and the ocean. The lakes are about 10 kilometres from the town so are the beaches. As it was scorching at that time of  day we decided to ride the bikes without jackets , we rode at low speed to the lake and enjoyed swimming . The lake was about 25� but we all thought that it was not deep enough if you stayed in the supervised area , inside the markers.
So after cooling a bit in the water we returned to the hotel and met again outside for a walk to a restaurant called "*Uncle Sam's saloon ". The restaurant is a steakhouse and offers Mexican foods. we had a special menu at 35 euros per person composed of a margarita as ap�ritif, tortillas, chicken drumsticks, chili corn carne, barbecue ribs , two enormous cakes Californian wine ( which was not good ) and a tequila as a "digestif".( after dinner liquor) Some of our group walked to the town centre to watch the parade of men walking on stilts and walked back to the restaurant to have their dessert! The people of the Landes used stilt-walking to move from place to place in the wet terrain , the shepherds on their stilts drove their flocks across marsches and they could easily watch their sheep which were scattered over a wide surface.
Today " Les �chassiers" ( men on stilts) are considered as part of the local folklore.
We all stayed up late that night there was a "bal" in Biscarosse so some of our group went dancing.
On Sunday after a short night's sleep we went to the beach and some had a swim in an 18� water. Some of our group didn't ( included myself ) as it was too cold for us ! The ocean was such a lovely blue colour that we all enjoyed the scenery. Then around 12 pm we left the hotel and headed back to Charente Maritime. On that afternoon it was scorching again about 40� and the ride was quite difficult one of our riders didn't feel well and had to continue the trip by car , so she parked her motorbike next to a caf� to pick it up the next day. We reached Lamarque two hours before boarding so we had drinks on the terrasse in the shade.
There was a little breeze so we all felt better. The crossing was smooth as usual in this area and we took the "green road" on our way back to Cozes. We all kissed goodbye in Blaye and rode slowly back home. We were all exhausted but all in all we had a really good time in Biscarosse which deserves another visit in the low season. Biscarosse is famous for aeronautics. Mermoz, Saint Exup�ry .... met there and around 1930 Pierre Georges Lat�co�re reached New York City from the lake of Biscarosse using a seaplane.
Until World War II, Biscarosse was a large seabase where flights to New York or the West Indies departed from. Today air activities are still organized, and every other year in May ,Biscarosse welcomes the biggest international seaplanes reunion.