What Google suggested would be a 4 hour drive from La Rochelle turned somehow into 7 with some heavy traffic around Bordeaux and a ‘necessary detouring ’ into Saint Emilion wine territory!

A stop at Cap Breton beach for a play and some dinner turned more dramatic when we encountered a Portuguese man o war in the sea..hopefully won’t have put the kids off sea swimming for life!

We started heading up into the mountains at dusk and having booked this part of our trip somewhat of a whim embarked on the descent with a level of trepidation. We need not have worried as this place is a hidden holiday gem!

A beautifully restored 3* chateau (which deserved a higher rating in our opinion) set within a nature adventure playground.

The views from the hotel across the northern Pyrenees were amazing and calming even with two over excited kids literally zipping around!

Tibetan Bridge Walk

We took an early morning walk before the park was open over the bridge and down though the forest and across the valley and back which had a suspect charcoal museum but served as a good resting spot at least.

Exploring playgrounds

The kids were determined to make the most of our short stay and headed straight for the climbing frames and activity centre and we got a small beer or two to chill off from the balmy 30 degree sunshine!

To chill off the kids headed to the water play daily and even coaxed us in to try and squirt them with the water cannons, an opportunity we could not turn down!

Zip Wires & Tree Top Walks

The tree top walks were essential apparently for all of us as the kids needed adult supervision so we all got kitted out and headed up the hill and into the forest. Not everyone was so excited to be suspended from a rope hanging over a steep valley.

The youngest was determined she wasn’t scared to try the zip line across the valley. So again supervised we took the zip lines zig zagging across the valley. The kids just hold on, I had to try and slow down as I zoomed into the landing post.

This was the most surprising part of our trip as the hotel was fantastic, the facilities were perfect for our kids and the weather apparently an anomaly and we had a lot of fun pushing our boundaries, playing in the pool and water play and some competitive family games across a fantastic 3 days.

Donostia-San Sebastian

On our way across Spain to our next stop Leon, we stopped at San Sebastián. There’s a lot of anti tourist sentiment in the news but we didn’t experience any of that but from the traffic in the small city and nowhere to park, their sentiment is understandable.

We parked out of town and took a stroll through the town as we got some lunch and headed back on our way.