Soulac-sur-Mer

Soulac is a typical French seaside resort, developed in Edwardian times. Lots of villas for the wealthy and small bungalows for the middle & lower classes. You can walk along the promenade and feel the bracing winds coming off the Atlantic, but unlike further down the coast where the winds cause big breakers and unpleasant troughs & currents, here I guess as a result of the outpouring of the Gironde, the beach is sandy and recedes a long way when the tide is out. Almost on the tip of the Gironde peninsular, its an easy 5 minute drive up to the tip itsself where you can get a ferry across the mouth of the Gironde to Royan (a much larger more commercialised resort). Every so often the Tall Ships race comes through here and if you are lucky you can get a great view from the harbour walls as they are all constrained by the sand banks into a narrow parade as they exit into the Atlantic proper.