Cycling The Velodyssee in Les Landes, France

Cycling The Velodyssee in Les Landes, France | St Julien en Born to Mimizan Plage

Join us and our two Jack Russells – Stanley and Rodney, on a scenic cycling adventure along The Velodyssee in the stunning Les Landes region of France!
Our journey begins in the charming village of St Julien en Born and takes us to the beautiful beach of Mimizan Plage.
Along the way, we make picturesque stops at Contis Plage and Plage de Lespecier, soaking in the serene coastal views.

Experience the unique gemmage area in the lush forest, where traditional resin tapping of pine trees is still practiced.
We then head towards Mimizan Plage and finally the tranquil Etang de Moura, a perfect spot for nature lovers.

Our trip also includes a visit to a remarkable 12th-century Commanderie of the Knights of Jerusalem, offering a glimpse into the region’s rich history.

Finally, we go through the famous Armagnac vineyards, where rolling hills and vine-covered landscapes provide a perfect end to our trip.

🚴‍♂️ Highlights:

Starting Point: St Julien en Born
Stops: Contis Plage, Plage de Lespecier
Forest Gemmage Area
Mimizan Plage
Etang de Moura
12th Century Commanderie of the Knights of Jerusalem
Ending Point: Armagnac Vineyards

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more travel and cycling adventures! 🌍🚲

#Cycling #Velodyssee #LesLandes #France #Travel #Adventure #CyclingFrance #Beach #History #Nature #Vineyards

so we’re going to take these two today on a cycle ride along the cycle path which goes right the way down the coast and follows the Atlantic Ocean and we’re going to get off I’ll just show you in a second um little Caravan the little trailer they go in uh along the way go they’ll be in here in a second quite happy to follow along on that not have much Choice really there they are all ready to go and we’ll be off in few minutes on the bikes hello dogs what do you think of it rubish so first things first we get a coffee in San Julian enborn and then we’re going to catch the vsy in cont Plage so this is part of fact there nothing quite on it yet we’ coming up to it it’s called The velody and it Coes from I think it’s Stavanger or Bergen in Norway to virtually Portugal I will find this out and I’ll put it on the video but now we’re going to head off we’re in contis PL now now and we’re going to head off to towards mimon see how far we get I think it’s about 15 kilm but it’s on a road like this so path cycle path dedicated cycle path you don’t have to even touch a road it’s brilliant anyway let’s go this is the Lighthouse at contis looks like a big humbug look [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so we’ve got a 14 km ride we’ve just gone about 10 um but it’s through this forest and then you see a break in the forest and you see the Atlantic Ocean it’s absolutely fabulous so if you do come along here you can actually Park your bike cup and go on some of these beaches which are totally totally deserted nobody can get that cuz they can’t take their cars people don’t often go so even in like the high season of July and August you can still find places which are totally abandoned I mean this is absolutely [Music] gorgeous so all the way along we’ve got really good sign posting as you can see we’ve done we’ve done 9 km since contis and it’s about another seven before there and we’ve got we’re going to go to mimon but we’re going to stop somewhere for a picnic uh there’s a nice Beach up here you have to leave your bikes quite a way away um so we have to decide if we have a picnic on the beach or to carry on to mimon so this is one of the beaches which are just off the cycopath just cycled right the way up to here and if you look we parked here which is great and if you look along this beach it’s not too full and there is these fabulous beaches going all the way down to Spain superb and not only do you get a fabulous view it’s AB absolutely clean as anything but you also get on these beaches a public Wi-Fi free public Wi-Fi which is you know if you need it it’s great and there’s a nice little coffee down there it looks a bit steampunk but it’s really quite nice I don’t know it was open now it looks like it is you can get a breakfast there uh coffee and beer and whatever it’s really the amount of wildlife you see along here bird and insects and reptiles and things it’s absolutely amazing as seen about three different types of woodpecker a green a black and a spotted there’s lots and lots of other birds here and you can hear them it’s absolutely fabulous this is where we are in the middle of the forest it’s that sort of magnifying glass thing there it’s called Les Les and I will show you stuff that’s here you can see on these trees there’s some grooves being cut and there’s a bit of metal there this is for harvesting the pine um sap in frenly call it J I’m not sure what we call it in English that’s what they do here it’s absolutely beautiful unspa Forest kilometers and kilometers and kilometers of it there they explain the jash but I’m not really sure what it’s used for afterwards and that’s what it looks like when it’s coming out of the this Gage okay so it says here that the pin sap was used to stop leaks in wooden boats and then they were used to make torches and also candles and up until it says in 1920 the production of this resin in theand which is where we are which is guni so where you see the sea earlier it’s the Bay of bis was 178 million liters amazing and this is what we have this is great because in fact a few years ago in France you could go to these places and not find anything and here right in the middle of the forest you’ve got this magic sort of information center which tells you all about the mushrooms that you should be eating about uh the fact that most of the uh snakes that you see are inoffensive uh even though they look a bit dodgy but they’re not this is what they look like because we’re starting to go into an area a wetland area with some uh lakes and stuff so there’s lots of water and there’s lots of wildlife uh because of this this is great off was just south of contis about 7 km San Julio born in fact we started which is here gone all the way up here we’re going to go up to mimon Plage and there’s quite a bit of wet land before we get there and it’s really funny because they’ve got a carfor which is a Crossroads of um okay we can see some which are normal car for count is car for duar which is the carfor of the lighthouse then you’ve got uh Shen this is the um cork Oaks but at the top it’s really strange because it says car marash marash are the people that come from Madagascar how weird unless they were maybe working in the forest a long time ago out and then once again you just ride along oh let’s hope I’m not going to break my neck here it’s a load of sand [Music] there you have the sea again lovely just a MIM it’s the other side of the sea I’m just going to go for a coffee on the seafront in mimon as you can see it’s absolutely brilliant for people who want to walk or take their bikes or whatever and it’s so clean it’s fabulous W this is miman PL I think it’s the north PL North Beach imagine in summer this will be absolutely packed but end of May it’s lovely we stopped off halfway on our way back home at a place called leonura it’s in the middle of nowhere and as you can see the sky doesn’t look too kind but it’s quite warm and we’re going to go and discover this Edon is a is a pool or a pond or a lake a mini Lake let’s go and have a look that was the lake from the observatory and all the way along there is this hedge it’s not a hedge but it’s like a fencing it’s quite a long way along and it’s protect the birds that come out of the water to lay their eggs and just behind it there’s only some sheep you may hear the bells as they keep the grass down at the end there there is an observatory and they do a lot of this in France now is they protect stuff wildlife and habitats and all of that but they also make it really pedagogic there’s like signs everywhere that tells you what’s here there are signs that tell you what they’re doing to protect the biodiversity and it’s really really good and it’s 20 years ago they never did this it’s really brilliant they do this now not only is everything clearly signposted and as I said really pedagogic but also if you look it’s also for people with um Mobility problems so people can actually get here in a wheelchair which is great there’s lots of fishing places like this as well where people can go and fish um part the cars right up close and then it’s all flat and generally quite Tac to a little platform where they can fish in the wheelchairs it’s brilant yeah fenced off of Marshland which is really important for biodiversity and this is a type of thing that are in there which is a a titon is a mute there’s um spiky toad maybe and lots and lots of stuff we can’t see it on this film but there are a couple of frogs there in the water looking up see if I can zoom in in post and just see their eyes looking at us when you arrive there’s this car park where you can park easily and all of these notices which tells you how to go to these places clearly clearly marked and what is there it’s absolutely [Music] fabulous as in a lot of these uh places it’s a European Union um initiative that protects these places and also they use a lot of students from uh Master’s courses Etc to help uh uh with the you know what is here Etc and apparently here there are 118 different species of bird there are also otter various amphibians and snakes um there’s also some traditional water wheels and lots of fish as well apparently carp Xander and Pike and if you speak oxitan they also have it all in oxitan but if you read it if you know a bit Spanish or bit of French or bit of Latin you can probably get get through it and if not you can just read it up here it’s in French it’s not in any other language which is unusual but there you go I’ve Just Seen A Sign saying Chael deal and normally these things are for the knight’s Templar but we’ll see and I’ve noticed some people who were some pilgrims of uh Sak compostelle walking up the road and this is also part of that route so let’s have a look I’ve got no idea where it’s going to so I can’t stress how much this is in the middle of nowhere but it’s on the pilgrimage route of San sanjac de comos Dale and it was a commander of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem but it was destroyed during the religious wars 100 Years War and this is what was left of it and it is a place where pilgrims can stay as well on the way let’s go have a look so you can see inside this is inside this Chapel very simple [Music] so this is Shak Martino he was a su tenant in the 88th Legion and he died in Tunisia at 26 years old in 1881 and the the chapel dates from the 12th century see pilgrims are still going there this is what they call the bus armc basically lower armanac this is where the grapes are grown to make armc armanac is very similar to cognac apart from the fact that it goes through the distilling process what they call the alambic once whereas cognac goes through twice so this area is the area of the Three Musketeers there you go [Music] he