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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3071 |
28th April 2012 Hiking - Walking: South of France Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: Max Speed: Distance Covered: Saturday 28th April 2012 – travelling, sightseeing and walking **** We finally left our lovely little corner of Cap d’Antibes today! Unfortunately our last night there wasn’t the best as there was a digger moving sand and weed all night! The high winds and rough sea has brought lots of weed into the bay and the restaurants need to have nice flat sandy beaches for their posh clients so the digger driver was working away all night! It didn’t stop us going to sleep but at 4 when we woke up it was really loud and monotonous so we turned the radio on to drown it out with RFM! Soon went back to sleep then :) I hurt his back yesterday when I was sailing (or getting the stuff off the roof) so I was feeling very rough this morning with that and the disturbed night:( We went to the Spar on the way out and got a paper and a few bits then hit the coast road which runs right along the rocky coast to St. Tropez and beyond. We went through Cannes and it was supposed to be windy but not many at Palm Beach only a couple of kiters and some stand up paddle boarders in the light wind!!!Then we saw the theatre where they hold the film festival and lots of big designer shops – Dior, Dolce Gabana, etc.. We realised how lucky we were to find the wonderful spot to park at Antibes because we saw nowhere to stop along the way. Although the sea and scenery to the left is lovely everywhere on the inland side of the road is really built up and commercialised, nowhere wants camper vans and there are lots of height restrictions we wouldn’t have been able to get through. There didn’t appear to be any Aire’s either which is most unusual for France. We stopped at the Pic de Cap Roux for a cuppa as I had a headache :( and the wind had picked up really strong now!!!As the name explains it was a big lump of red rock which went down into a very rough and blue sea. Very beautiful. We scrambled down the rocks after a rest and S started to feel much better. We drove on to Boulouris near St. Raphael and spotted a lay-by giving easy access to a small beach so we went round the roundabout and went back to have our lunch and a paddle! We spotted loads of kiters near Frejus and some windsurfers at Beauvallon. More scenic sea road and we eventually came to the St. Tropez bay with Ste Maxime on one side and St. Tropez on the other. There was a cruise liner and lots of other boats in the bay and it did look lovely with the sun on the water. We drove right through the middle of St. Tropez – sort of looking for the Aire which we thought was on the harbour. We didn’t find it but we had a close look at the big yachts in the harbour with the posh people sitting on the back drinking wine and looking down on the public! There were lots of people but as it is Saturday and the liner was in it was hardly surprising. Looking for a road out we were lucky enough to choose one that lead to a lovely strip of sandy (and weedy) beach leading to the Cap de St. Tropez (Baie des Ganebiers). Unlike Antibes where they move the weed here they have decided to use it as a natural sea defence and there are huge banks of it on the shore – we were surprised as it has such a posh reputation! We parked up and decided we could probably get away with staying the night too. We had a cuppa and a read laying in the sun on the beach and watching life go by :) Later we walked round the Littoral walk on the rocky coast – very similar to the place at Antibes with big houses and private gardens but a good path round the edge. Back to the van for tea and watch the liner leave just before it got dark and the whole bay lit up. Sunday 29th April 2012 – relaxing and walk around St Tropez - sunny Spent the whole morning on the beach in the sun which surprised us as it poured with rain all night. Something on the roof was dripping and at 5 a.m. it was like water torture which is a shame because I always like the rain on the roof but could have done without the dripping! The bird we can’t identify (because we can’t see it) that is living in the hedge also sang all night! We did our exercises, read our books and had breakfast and lunch. It is a lovely beach – if you don’t look at the weed. However, it is very thick and spongy so does make it comfy and there is a gap which has made a natural windbreak so we sat in there. We saw hardly any people at all. At 3 we put some slightly smarter clothes on and drove nearer to St. Tropez to a parking space near the cemetery we had spied through the binocs! Walked in and round the town with its narrow streets and harbour (Mag had to go back to the van because we couldn’t remember if we had locked it or not!) Although we enjoyed our stroll St. Tropez isn’t half as nice as Antibes. The beaches are surprisingly quite dirty, weedy and covered in dead blue jellyfish (tiny little things with a fin on their back so they just get blown into the bays :() There was lots of dog pooh and one filthy toilet! On the flip side there are lots and lots of very expensive and exclusive designer shops – Dior, Dolce Gabana (where the outfit in the window would have set you back about £2,000 even in the Gaastra shop sweatshirts are over a 120 Euros!!! Rich people are just plain bonkers!!!! A tiny bikini was 250 euros! At Louis Vuitton they even had two bouncers on the door! There were lots of big boats in the harbour but it is definitely the poor relation compared to Antibes. Out of curiosity we walked to have a look for the Camper Aire which is supposed to be on the port with 100 spaces. There were no campers anywhere to be seen and the only sign was one saying no campers so we assume they have changed their mind since our book was published. There were a lot of people about which you would expect at the weekend especially as it is a bank holiday either tomorrow or Tuesday (not sure which). On the way back to the van we walked up to the ruined citadel. Drove back to the same spot as last night and sat on the beach with a coffee and read until the sun set. The bay is like a mill pool tonight and there are 8 yachts and the big motor boat moored but no liners. Monday 30th April 2012 – travelling and walk **** rain then sunny with lovely sunset :) We had another disturbed night with the bird singing in the hedge next to the van (we think it might be a nightingale but we still haven’t seen it!). I actually got out and threw a rock in the hedge at one point! It flew off but came straight back. It also absolutely poured with rain and the board bag on the roof was dripping onto the bumper – you can’t believe that one drip in that one place can be so loud and so rhythmic! The rain hammering on the roof is fine – just that one drip!!! We packed up and went to the Casino Geant Supermarket on the outskirts of St. Tropez. It was enormous and took us a long while to fight our way round as everyone in the area was there!!! It was quite a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours as it is still pouring with rain so we weren’t missing anything. Left St. Tropez over the hills towards Ramatuelle before joining the coast road. It was a shame that the low cloud and rain made the visibility zero because there were acres of vineyards and very spectacular views :( The coast road was quite built up and we didn’t see anywhere we would like to stop until we got to the outskirts of Hyeres. There was an interesting road out on a spit of land to an island. We went to investigate and thought we were in for a disappointment because you couldn’t actually see the sea even though it was on both sides of the road! However once we got the end and started to come back on the small road running along the etang des Pesquiers it was a lot better – etang on one side of the road and kitesurfing beach and sea the other. The rain had let up for a while so after lunch we went for a long walk on the beach. There were about 8 people learning to kitesurf and because there was absolutely no wind – not a ripple on the water – they were being towed behind boats on the kiteboards – like wakeboarding. They were having a really good laugh. There was a lot of weed on the beach again; it seems to be a real thing in this part of the Med. There were flamingos, avocets and black winged stints (which we hadn’t seen before – fantastic red legs!) and hundreds of swallows. We got a bit wet before getting back to the van as the rain had started again :( We moved down the road a bit and there was a car park with several campers in so we decided to stay here, had a cuppa and a doze then went for another walk along the beach – no weed on this bit. The evening was lovely; the rain had stopped leaving a beautiful rainbow and the views across the bay to the mountains quite spectacular. Beautiful sunset too:) http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3318687598670.2140694.1012660562&t ype=1&l=112c704a5a http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3245995981425.2139602.1012660562&t ype=3&l=1bf5305e7c http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.3129837677540.2137243.101266056 2&type=1 |
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