long car rides, short stops

Yesterday I drove to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a lakeside town whose name sounds as beautiful as the place itself feels during a short stay - very beautiful, almost too fine. There are several clean bathing bays, a port, a very touristy pedestrian zone with the usual shops and prices - beautiful, beautiful. But somehow too beautiful. That's where I swam in the Atlantic for the last time on this trip - the van is still full of sand and the towels are sticky from the salt.

Today I continued on to Tours. On the drive, I passed Arcachon and Bordeaux again - the wildfires in the area seem to have increased even more, as the sky was completely grey for many, many kilometers and I had to close the ventilation. How bitter for this beautiful region!

After the long drive, I immediately grabbed my bike and went on a Komoote tour. Unfortunately, it mostly went through suburbs and industrial areas at the beginning, only the second half was beautiful, along the Loire, but only on the completely dried-up side arm and then a little through the city. Honestly, I'm quite disappointed because Tours doesn't have much to offer besides the cathedral and the Loire, and because I haven't ridden on such bad bike paths and encountered so many reckless drivers on my whole trip.

Tomorrow it continues - trying to cover as many kilometers as possible, because now traveling alone isn't as fun anymore. 😉