Wandergliding: A Driveby of Dune de Pilat

November 2^nd, 2025

Today was mainly a driving day, trying to get some miles under my belt as I continue towards Lisbon to pick up Naomi on the 6^th. I’ve been going slower than originally expected in France, but I was fine with that as my plan is to spend most of my time on this trip in Spain, Portugal and Morocco so taking some time in France on my way to those countries made sense.

I passed by Bordeaux and decided to take a slight detour to Dune de Pilat, which I had visited back in 2010 with the original camper van Betty. It is the biggest sand dune in Europe, rising about 100 meters the ocean and it’s almost 3 kilometres long.

The view of the dune from the road.

Starting the hike up...thankfully there were stairs on the left which made it much easier to ascend the dune.

It is an impressive dune for sure.

It is a playground for paraglider pilots. You can fly, you can ground handle, you can let the wing pull you like you’re skiing in the sand…super fun. But this isn’t the time of year for that, I was mainly coming back to check it out again, and perhaps for sentimental reasons as this was where I killed Betty (you can read about it if you follow that link). This amazing couple, Christophe and Sasha, helped me change the entire diesel engine over the course of a week and a half in their backyard. What amazing people!

At the top of the dune...it was windy!

Looking south, towards the part where you can fly a paraglider.

Sand blowing over the top of the dune.

After walking up to the top of the dune, on a very windy day, I headed back towards the nearby town Teste-de-Buch. I thought I’d be able to find the location where Betty died as it was at a roundabout near a grocery store at which I had stopped at, and half of its parking lot on a hill which is rare to see. But alas, I could not find the spot.

There are some cafes and shops on the way back to the parking lot.

I drove for the remainder of the afternoon and ended up at a “camping car spot” by the ocean in a town called Capbreton. It was going to be the first place that I was going to pay for camping (only 8.50 Euro) and I was surprised to see that it was about 2/3s full, with approximately 40 motorhomes and campervans. I hadn’t seen that many at the other places I had stayed, but they were smaller and free, so they lacked in amenities.

The beach at my camping spot in Capbreton. Thankfully Octi was sheltered by another dune, but not as big as the one earlier today.