Have scooter, will travel… 22nd September
We woke up late to find we finally have blue sky and sun 🌞🌞🌞 with no rain forecast, and although there is a really strong breeze the day is looking good.
We decide to explore the coast further west and picked a spot called Pointe de l’Estagnol, which has a beachside restaurant and there seemed to be some coastal footpaths winding through the pine forest.
It was a lovely drive of around 30 mins and knowing you can only get lunch between 12-2 in France, we decided to have lunch and then do a circular walk along the coastal path and back through the pine forest.
The beach was about 2 km from a public road and when we turned off the public road, we had to pay 7 euros for access and parking. We drove through vineyards which belong to Château de Brégançon and then the pine forest before arriving at the beach and car park.
Château de Brégançon is a Cru Classé Wine Estate which produces organic wine, so we will be popping back on our way to our next destination so we can pick up a bottle or two.
There was an absolute hoolie blowing off the sea, but the restaurant, Chez Richard was tucked behind the dunes and protected from the wind.
We had a fab lunch of grilled sea bass, followed by tarte aux pommes, only remembered to take a pic after we had devoured the sea bass, so …
After lunch as we set off on our walk, we quickly realised that apart from the car park, beach, restaurant and a few metres in from the sea, the rest of the peninsula was private property. So our plan of a circular walk had to be abandoned. Literally only the very edge of coast was accessible to the public, so we decided to walk to Plage de Grand Jardin.
The coastal walk was beautiful, but not quite a post-lunch stroll, more akin to a 2-mile rock scramble.
Once we reached Plage du Grand Jardin, our only option was to retrace our steps, unless we wanted to walk back via the main road. This beach was obviously a destination for kite and wind surfers and we watched one guy who was making it look easy.
We would have had a swim, but someone forgot to shove her bikini in the top box! 🤦♀️
We arrived back at Cavalière, ready for swim. The beach is just across the road from where we are camped, so takes about 1 minute to get there. The sea was quite rough due to strong winds but refreshing. The beach is just over 1km long and has a lifeguard station which covers one area of the beach. As we were drying off, a lifeguard came up, having walked from the other end of the beach, to tell us it wasn’t safe to swim, not because of the waves, but after the storm, the storm water run off meant the sea failed their bacteria test. Our old eyesight hadn’t seen the red flag flying much further up the beach!
Safe to say, I’m writing this the next day and we are both fine so far….
RoundandAbout 