After yesterday’s long walk and coupled with the fact that it is hot outside, we decided against another drive and long walk, opting instead to spend the morning doing bits and bobs around the van and then in the afternoon, driving the short distance to a lakeside car park, with a view to taking a walk along the shore.
It didn’t turn out to be much of a walk as there doesn’t appear to be much of a footpath around the lake but we did however enjoy the change of scene and shelter from the full sun and for Tilly the opportunity for a potter and good sniff….
Then having discovered a laundrette not far from the Aire we spent a delightful but necessary couple of hours doing and waiting for said laundry, before returning to the Aire ahead of what looked like a massive thunderstorm which seemed to echo around the hills for a quite a while, before shedding a few tears for about half an hour and carrying on on its merry way. Shame really, the van is so dusty it could do with a proper downpour – now it just looks all smeary!
A slightly overcast day for us, still warm but actually ideal for the long walk along the seafront that we ended up doing today.
We started (after a fairly hairy journey over the hills) with a brief visit to Theoule-sur Mer as we were unable to find anywhere suitable to park, though we did get a couple of pics when we pulled into a viewing area…
The hillside properties have unbelievable views out across the sea but you would need a good set of lungs to get anywhere on foot! A little further along the coast we found suitable parking in Mandelieu and set off along the promenade towards Cannes. Unfortunately all of the beaches had dog bans in place (though there were a few dogs on the beaches) apart from this first one – Plage du Robinson….
After a little play, we were happy enough to walk along the promenade, as I’ve mentioned before there is no firm sand to walk along which makes it heavy going. In quick succession we walked by the other beaches of Mandelieu – Plage des Sables d’Or, Plage Troude l’Ancre and Plage de la Bocca….
There was a whole string of beaches (all really part of the same stretch of sand) leading up to the centre of Cannes – Plages du Rubine, Font de Verde, des Rochers, de la Nadine, du Midi and Festival Beach….
We took brief wander around the Port of Cannes – filled as you would expect with some pretty awesome gin palaces (I wonder how much use they actually get?), edged with beautiful terraces of Provincial buildings with the castle sitting up above…
Around the corner to the uber modern Palais of Festivals and the path of fame….
And onto the last couple of beaches of the day – Plage Palais de Festivals and Plage de Croisette….
At this point we stopped for a well earned drink and rest, before making our way all the way back to the van and ultimately back to the same Aire as the past 3 nights as we were unable to find anything any closer.
Thoughts of the day:
I may be being a bit paranoid but I have read so many reviews about campers being broken into, both when parked and when actually occupied overnight that I really don’t want to stay in or around the coast for the rest of this little adventure along the Cote d’Azur.
The old town’s are really quite pretty in a sunbleached kind of way – at least they have character unlike so many other resorts I have visited.
Today’s stats:
Miles driven – 45 (pretty hairy ones at that but I am trying to avoid tolls)
Overcast for most of the day, still warm but in fact a bit of a relief for the walk we have planned today.
After a slight detour to take a look at Chateau del Colle Noire – famously redesigned and owned by Christian Dior from 1950 and still owned by Parfums Christian Dior it wasn’t easy to get a look but….
We then started the 3 mile climb up to the old town of Montauroux, which sits at about 1300m above sea level, using a network of quiet residential lanes and footpaths to wend our way to this historic old town with it’s narrow cobbled streets…
Some of the streets were barely 2m wide, with others (closed to vehicles) not even that – I’m so glad I left the van down on the Aire. It was quite quiet on this Sunday afternoon, though a few people sat outside the cafes or pottering around the table top sale in the main square…
After a little mooch, we wandered along the deserted streets to find the ruins of Chapelle St Bathelemy….
And to admire the views from either side of the town….
Before we had had our fill and it was time to start to make our way back down, this time sticking to the quite lanes as the footpaths had been rather sketchy on the way up….
Well I had thought that it might have been a bit cooler away from the coast, but that certainly was not the case as it remained warm until sundown last night. However it was a little hazy and cloudy this morning but still very warm and so we had a bit of a lazy morning and set out to walk down to Lac de St Cassien mid afternoon.
We had a couple of false starts as there wasn’t any clear information on either Apple maps or the skeleton version of Ordnance Survey but essentially we took which ever footpath that seemed to be going in the right direction and after an hour or so we made it….
We aimed for and landed on Plage le Rocher, where there was some kind of activity centre (although closed and by looking at it it was hard to determine whether that is permanently or just not getting ready for the season yet) and a few families picnicing, so we found a quiet spot on the rocks by the lake with a bit of shade to sit and rest up for a bit….
Before attempting a circular route back (successfully I might add) – it wasn’t a particularly long walk but it involved a fair incline on the way back – we earn’t our supper….
Time to move on from our little campsite on the coast….
We make the short drive to the other end of St Aygulf and find parking on the edge of Frejus and start with our first beach (and as it turns out the only dog friendly one!) – Plage du Pacha – just a little further on than Plage St Aygulf visited on the 8th….
After a little paly and relax we wander along the wide promenade to Plage de la Base Nature….
Around Port Frejus – catching a couple of Bears enjoying their morning coffee…
A glimpse of Old Town Frejus up the river and one of the many beautiful splashes of colour along the promenade…
Next a string of 3 beautiful sandy beaches – Plages de Frejus, Republique and Sablettes….
Here we merge into St Raphael with the stunning Notre Dame de Victoire, completely hidden from the promenade by new buildings…
A quick lap around a few blocks in the centre to make sure we aren’t missing anything – very nice but no so back onto the colourful promenade we go….
Plage de Veillat in the centre looks absolutely stunning, before we end our journey at Plage Beau Rivage just before Port St Raphael and wend our way back along the seafront to the van….
A lovely walk along these 2 resorts both mostly modern but clean and appealing all the same. After allowing the van to cool down a bit we are off heading inland for the weekend, hoping to avoid any weekend madness on the remaining busy stretch of this coast – namely Cannes, Nice and Monaco.
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