Monday July 3, Gastes

Archways in the town centre of Labastide d’Armagnac

Couldn’t believe it when I woke to hear rain on the roof, hadn’t read that in the forecast, and it had rained quite a bit during the night as well. It cleared a bit later in the morning so with our umbrellas we walked up the road into the old town where everything seemed to be very sleepy. It truly is an old medieval town, old cobbles, arched walkways and half-timbered houses, very sympathetically restored. There was a town square with the church on one side, the only place where much was happening – obviously a major restoration project as workman were wheel barrowing rubble out the doors and there was much scaffolding in the outside. Walked around to see if we could find the boulangerie but no luck so back to the van.   

Plenty of time for a chat!

The church was undergoing a refurb.

Decided it was so grey and gloomy that we would forget the bike ride and head west to Gastes where we had seen a very god Aire recommended in “All the Aires” book we have.

Called into a supermarket to stock up on our way and continued on through very flat sandy country. There is a big area of pine forestry, even spotted areas being harvested. Gastes is on the edge of a reasonable size lake, very close to the west coast. Very surprised to see oil rigs out in the centre and when I looked at the map could see a number throughout this area, on the land as well. Quite a bit of boating activity with a large marina.

It really is a very nice Aire, lots of shady trees, all grassy and campers can park wherever they choose. We nabbed a really good spot overlooking the marina and the lake, a great place to relax.

A glorious sunset.