Summer holidays are best with a beach. And with 30°C, sun, the sea. While Hector tries to play it cool, I soak in the first beach day, with a green-blue Atlantic Ocean at my feet and sand all over.

If I were to spend weeks and weeks between pool and beach with nothing to do but – well: nothing, it would annoy me within less than 24 hours.

But after four days of travel, having seen quite some places and people along the way, it is great to fall back in the sands and let loose.

The beach is huge with only few people around in the afternoon, and I count even less in the evening.

Low tide offers even more of a beach, with a wonderful atmosphere and a wide range of colours. These days (mid June), the sun sets by 10:00 p.m. only, but with no stressful agenda for the upcoming days, this is totally fine by me.

The beach of La Couarde sur Mer may not be the prettiest one around, but still, it is wonderfully relaxing and offers enough grains of sand for the handful of tourists sharing it. Not before long I will find sand almost everywhere, Hector’s couch included.

The rest of the village is above all: unagitated. White houses, some shops, markets and a small choice of restaurants. French pensioneers are aprox. 92% of the crowd, making me feel like a jeune fille during the first camping holidays. Just without the open air disco and less short on budget. Very relaxing, I’d say.