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A life less complicated

Featured / freedombird / 13 Comments

Having completed a large chunk of the British coastline and visited 1467 beaches on the way, ventured into the unknown, crossing the English Channel for the first time and seeing what the coastline of France has to offer and adding a further 459 beaches to our tally, we are off again. This time, as a complete change we are on the pursuit of stunning scenery and again crossing the channel and meandering down the core of Western Europe to see what we can see…

If you would like to see our earlier journeys around the UK, they have loosely been grouped together by location and you can find the links below.

NB some of the links below are not yet working properly as it is a work in progress….

Beach Guides:

To catch up with our earlier adventures in:

  1. North coast of Cornwall from 5th October 2017 to 11th February 2018 –   Freedombird in Cornwall
  2. Back in Cornwall at various times to complete the coastline – Freedombird back in Cornwall
  3. North coast of Devon from 11th February to 19th March 2018 – Freedombird in North Devon
  4. Somerset from 19th March to 29th April 2018 – Freedombird in Somerset
  5. South Wales coast from 29th April to 14th August 2018 – Freedombird in South Wales
  6. West and North Wales coast from 14th August to 21st October 2018 – Freedombird in West and North Wales
  7. North West England from 21st October to 26th November 2018 and 27th January to 4th February 2019 – Freedombird in North West England
  8. Cumbria from 27th January to 5th April 2019 – Freedombird in Cumbria
  9. South Coast of Scotland from 5th April to 25th May 2019 – Freedombird on the South Coast of Scotland
  10. West Coast of Southern Scotland from 26th May to 17th July 2019 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Southern Scotland
  11. Edinburgh and surrounding area from 18th July to 30th July 2019 – Freedombird in Edinburgh and surrounding beaches
  12. East Coast of Southern Scotland from 28th July to 15th September 2019 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Southern Scotland
  13. North East England from 12th September to 20th November 2019 – Freedombird in the North East of England
  14. Yorkshire from 14th January to 22nd February 2020 – Fredombird in Yorkshire
  15. Lincolnshire from 23rd February to 13th March 2020 – Freedombird in Lincolnshire
  16. Norfolk and Suffolk from 15th to 24th March 2020 and 28th June to 18th July 2025 – Freedombird in Norfolk and Suffolk
  17. Inland England on various dates travelling through – Freedombird in inland England
  18. West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1 from 11th September to 14th October 2024 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1
  19. North Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys from 15th to 27th October 2024 – Freedombird on the North Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys
  20. East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1 from 28th October to 15th November 2024 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 1
  21. In the Highlands of Scotland from 15th to 26th November 2024 and 10th to 21st June 2025 – Freedombird in the Highlands
  22. West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2 from 8th to 17th April and 31st May to 5th June 2025 – Freedombird on the West Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2
  23. Outer Hebrides Part 1 from 22nd April to 12th May 2025 – Freedombird in the Outer Hebrides Part 1
  24. Outer Hebrides Part 2 from 10th May to 30th May 2025 – Freedombird in the Outer Hebrides Part 2
  25. East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2 from 15th to 18th June 2025 – Freedombird on the East Coast of Northern Scotland Part 2
  26. North and West Coast of France from 11th September to 7th December 2025 – Freedombird on the North and West Coast of France

Sunday 19th April 2026 – Menton and into Italy with a walk along the seafront to Bordighera….

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Another fine day but with a little cloud around as we leave the mountains and make our way back down to the coast, a pity that we are unable to safely pullover and take photos of the views we experienced (when daring briefly) to take our eyes off the road. Arriving in Menton we are able to find parking just a short walk from the long sea front and enjoy a lovely stroll along the promenade catching as many of the pebbly beaches along the way – Plage Solenzara (to the west), Elsa Plage and Plage de Roquebrune….

Plage du Borrigo and the central Plage du Menton….

As we pass the last beach, Plage du Fossen before entering the old part of Menton where the street bars and cafes are filled with the lunchtime crowds….

The beach, Plage des Sablettes, is busy and sheltered by the old Port of Menton walls…

After a little break here (again all the beaches are not dog friendly) we make our way back to the van through the old Town….

From Menton we take the windy coastal road and are very soon crossing over the border (only the incoming french side is manned) into Italy – whoa a first for me…

A short way along the coast we arrive in Ventimiglia and our campsite (Camping Vallecrosia) for the next 3 days and are settled in with enough of the now sunny afternoon left to enjoy a walk along the sea front – disappointingly the beaches here are stony rather than sandy, with lots of driftwood making them appear quite scruffy. Though there are several bits of earthmoving equipment showing signs of a pre-season clear up in progress. Immediately outside the site is Spiaggia (beach in Italian) di Vallecrosia which is the area of Ventimiglia that we are in and not the prettiest but it is dog friendly for which we are grateful and will enjoy over the next few days….

Heading eastwards along the promenade passing a few beach cafes and bars, we pass Spiaggias dei Cani, di Ponente Verbone and Libera Bordighera….

Before arriving at the small resort of Bordighera and it’s beach….

At this point we run out of promenade and decide that it is time for us to head back to site for the evening – our first impressions? A bit lived in but charming none the less.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 22
  • Miles walked – 8
  • Beaches – 12
  • O/N – £26

Saturday 18th April 2026 – Sospel….

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After yesterdays rather long one we have opted for a relatively quiet one today, doing a few household chores and then taking a leisurely stroll around the outskirts of Sospel…

Enjoying the peace and quiet of this beautiful green scenery and imagining what it must be like to be this cut off when the snow comes – I wonder if the roads in and out of the village which lead through some pretty scenic but equally terrifying switchbacks and significant inclines and declines are cleared regularly as I didn’t notice any snow gates?

The village itself has a lovely local atmosphere with the cafes along the road all offering tables and chairs by the riverside and never appearing to be short on trade and little groups of older folks just passing the time of day, watching the world go by in each others company or playing an animated game of boules.

In fact the only noise making creatures are the frogs or toads maybe? – usually well hidden in the greenery alongside the river but wow do they make a racket and have plenty to say – we managed to capture one, a little fuzzy as with a high zoom….

They are beasts!

Whilst spending time here in the mountainous areas both in Sospel and previously in Montauroux the nightime has been filled with the sound of Scops Owls which make a single but repetitive hoot seemingly all night long and on arriving in Sospel on Wednesday we heard our first cuckoo of the year – wonderful sound of nature and a welcome sound.

A lovely peaceful and reflective day approximately half way through our European roadtrip.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles walked – 4
  • O/N – £14.25

Friday 17th April 2026 – Nice didn’t evade us after all….

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Whilst wandering around the village yesterday, we popped into the Tourist Office to enquire about catching the train down into Nice and so today that is exactly what we did….

It was an hour’s journey meandering down through the mountains, passing and stopping at many valley villages on the way and arriving in a considerably hotter and sunnier Nice….

We wandered along the seafront (another fantastic french promenade) and around the headland to the beautiful old port, suitably complete with a number of gin palaces but a large number of brightly coloured smaller wooden boats as well, giving a fine mix of new and old….

Returning to the main town past the WWI Memorial carved into the rock face….

We wandered back along the sea front….

Catching views of the (surprisingly to me at least) shingly beaches as far as the eye could see – Castel Plage, Plage le Paillon, Ruhl Plage and Plage du Negresco….

Sitting for a while, watching this speed boat giving it’s parasailers an aerial view of the city…

Before making our way back to the station, passing Hotel Negresco and the 14th July 2016 Memorial Garden on our way back through the city….

A good day out and I’m glad we made the effort to visit Nice, would I go back? Probably not.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles walked – 10
  • Beaches – 4
  • Train – £17.08
  • O/N – £14.25

Thursday 16th April 2026 – a relaxed day wandering around Sospel….

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After the chaos of yesterday, we are just happy to potter around the village of Sospel, enjoy this glorious sunshine and just be….

Many of the streets the buildings are only a meter or so apart so it is definitely one of those places where it is pretty essential to get on with your neighbours but seems a nice social town with plenty of folks enjoying the sunshine and outside tables and chairs of the bars and cafes by the river….

Today’s stats:

  • Miles walked – 4
  • O/N – £14.25

Wednesday 15th April 2026 – Antibes and a birdseye view of Monaco….

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A beautiful day as we leave Montauroux behind and make our way back down to the coast with Antibes and Nice in our sights – well that was the plan.

However the reality was indeed somewhat different as first Antibes attempted to sabotage things with no parking anywhere near the centre, in the end though we found parking in a residential street near the Juan les Pins area, south of the main old town and took a nice stroll along the promenade above Plages Golf Juan, Pont de Lys and Juan les Pins – all three beautiful white sand beaches with dog bans!….

Too hot to attempt to cross to the otherside of the headland and find Antibes Old Town and we also wanted to visit NIce today so time wasnt really on our side. So we made our way back to the van and headed off for Nice….

Well there was an hour and half of my life that I will never see again as we followed fruitlessly every road sign for parking to be confronted at the last moment with a height barrier – much of Nice’s parking appears to be underground and as we ended up on the outskirts (still no suitable parking) for the third time, we gave up and joined the motorway heading east towards our park up for the night.

The bonus and saving grace for the day was the motorway Aire and viewing point perched high above Monaco (where there is definitely no parking) affording fab views to the Principality below…

That is as close as we are going to get…. Returning to the motorway for a short distance until we took our turning up into the mountains following the hairpin bends all the way up and backdown again to our Aire in the small valley village of Sospel….

In time for a nice stroll around the village in the slightly cooler late afternoon sun – more of that tomorrow.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 85
  • Miles walked – 4
  • Beaches – 3
  • O/N – £14.28