Bikes, Beach & BBQs
Our base since Monday afternoon has been just over the road from a lovely beach. It is not a formal campsite but one up from a car park, which can take up to 20 motorhomes and provides electric, fresh water, grey water and toilet disposal. There are no formal pitches on the sand and rough grass surface so plenty of space between neighbours. The beach which has a couple of restaurants & bars is literally 1 minute’s walk away. The weather has been exceptional and as the season has just started, nowhere is busy.
To be honest we’ve has a lazy couple of days, after breakfast we have been out on the bikes for a couple of hours, cycling along to the La Lavendu, a nearby town. There is an excellent cycle path that follows the coast giving great views over the sea. This area seems to populated by retirees, all seem to have electric bikes and whizz past you on the hills, making you feel very unfit. One old boy came past at speed and shouted something like, “Go electric and go as fast as me”. The only other people, besides us, who didn’t have electric bikes were the road racer, lycra types who obviously thought they were in or training for the Tour de France!
La Lavendu has a small but busy port which includes ferries to Hyeres Iles d’Or, 3 islands just off the coast. The largest has hotels, shops and restaurants plus great walking and cycling. The smallest, a National Park, is a natural paradise with no cars or bikes allowed, with plenty of hiking and snorkelling in its clear waters. The third island is mostly given over to the military but it is also home to Europe’s first naturist resort and clothes are only required in a couple of the public spaces, so you enjoy long walks along the nature trails wearing nothing more than sunglasses and shoes if you want.
We didn’t have time for a ferry trip, but La Lavendu has a lovely promenade, beaches, shops and restaurants plus the old town is quite quaint, if small.
How a mid-morning mocktail can make you feel about 6 years old!
After lunch we have headed to the beach for a swim and a laze in the sun. The water is 10 degrees warmer than at home, a balmy 18 degrees, but hardly anyone swimming, a lot of paddling but the ‘ootchy’ faces on the paddlers meant it was still a bit cool for them to swim. As the old saying goes ‘it’s lovely once you are in!’, beats swimming in the sea at Bexhill in the winter any day.
The water is so clear and has a silver sparkle to it, like someone has dropped the biggest pot of glitter into the water. You can see the silver sand collecting in the underwater ripples of the sand. The sea really does sparkle.
We leave the beach early in the evening and although there are restaurants nearby, the local shops sell a great selection of produce so we have cooked and eaten outside every evening on our BBQ and camping gaz stove. Tonight we had sea bream & giant prawns, with a spicy tomato & olive sauce, wild rice and a tomato salad, plus a tart citron for Charlie from the Patisserie. Sorry, no pics, I keep forgetting to take them.
Tomorrow we’ve an early start, leaving the beach and heading for Montpellier, before turning North towards home.
RoundandAbout 