Menton to Plage de Saint-Clair
On Sunday afternoon we said goodbye to four members of our party, Chris & Fiona returned to the UK and Greg & Anita started their journey back to their home outside of Toulouse. As our friends left, the beautiful weather we had enjoyed over the weekend, was replaced by showers and clouds.
On Monday 13th, we checked out of the hotel and returned to our motorhome, parked on a campsite, in the hills above Menton. Charlie did a couple of runs with bags and we spent the morning catching up on work before meeting Norman, Sue, Jim and Jane for an afternoon in Italy!
We took the train for the short journey into Ventimiglia. It was noticeably different, Menton was clean and the railtracks clear of rubbish, as soon as we crossed the border, the railtracks were awash with litter and the station platform looked like it hadn’t been maintained since WW2, although the station is housed in a beautiful building. We headed for the old town, wandering through the open air market and then crossing the River Roia, which divides the new and old town. We stopped at a harbour side cafe for a drink and contemplated the long walk uphill, as the ancient medieval city centre is perched on high, overlooking the new town on one side and the harbour on the other. By chance we discovered that there is a ‘town’ lift that takes you up to the top, we had seen locals disappearing into a doorway, hidden halfway down a tunnel which separated the harbour side from river side of the old town. The medieval town has tall buildings, in the now familiar ochre colours, shading the narrow streets.
Tuesday, the weather was not great so we waited until the rain had cleared before using our moped to drop into town to meet the others and take a walk to Italy, more for some exercise, as the town, after the lovely weather and the excitement of the Monaco Historique, was quiet, many shops and restaurants shutting up early as the rain threatened constantly.
Menton is a border town and if you take a short walk of no more than a mile, you reach the Italian border which you can walk across, which we did, and then walked back again. We had an early dinner in town and said goodbye as Jim, Jane, Norman and Sue were taking an early flight back to the UK the next morning.
The next morning we packed up the motorhome and headed out of Menton for a week by the beach just outside Le Lavandou, down the coast between St Tropez and Toulon. We booked into a campside just 100 metres from the beach. We have been to this area before so we have spent the week catching up on work in the mornings, taking the moped out to explore or spending the afternoons at the beach.
The campsite is at Plage de Saint-Clair, and on one side is the town of Le Lavandou, which is a 5 min moped drive or a 10 minute walk on the coastal path. The coastal path hugs the rocky coastline and takes you directly to the town. In the other direction, is Plage de la Fossette. The path to Lavandou is easy to navigate, through the rocks on a wide, even surface that skirts underneath the headland that separate Saint-Clair from Lavandou. When Charlie suggested we go to La Fossette for a swim, I agreed and just put on my flip flops as the other path was easily navigable I presumed this would be the same. It was not… the path had been cut into the rocks, with some parts only a shoe’s width wide. One misstep meant at best a sprained ankle or at worst, the end of a lot of things! The path wove up and down, with thick chains attached to the cliff edge to use as hand rails on the steepest or narrowest parts. There were stone and metal bridges across wider crevices and you were either no more than a few inches above the seashore with its jagged rocks or 10-20 feet above it. If you did this walk on a dark and stormy night, I swear you would think you were on the way to Mordor! As I have got older, I have become clumsier, in my younger days, I was quite good at gym and climbing, and could pull off a cartwheel on a 4″ beam, now I can trip over a rogue piece of straw on the ground! Charlie swears I have developed Tourettes and Dyspraxia in my ’60’s, as every time I stumble, trip, or lose my balance, there is a lot of swearing!
After the 40 minute rock scramble, we arrived at a lovely beach and had a much needed swim and sunbathe. We couldn’t stay all afternoon, as Charlie had an appointment with the Italian Grand Prix, which thanks to my efforts via a VPN, I managed to get Sky F1 streaming on my iPad. After the race we headed to a bar where Charlie somehow ended up with pink beer… and to go with that I’ve posted a couple of photos of pink and red flowers
Monday 20th May and the weather has changed again! Cloudy skies and a chilly breeze blowing in, so no better day for working, washing and shopping. Even on the French Riviera you need clean underwear!
Tuesday 21 May – our last day by the sea, tomorrow we head inland. It was a bright, blue sky day but with very gusty winds. After tackling some work, we headed out, I’ve had an eye infection for a couple of weeks, which despite treatment is not clearing up, so another visit to a pharmacy for more medication. Fingers crossed it will clear up soon. Then we went up into the hills to a pretty village, which we have visited before, Bormes Les Mimosa. A lovely walk through bougainvillea laden streets and a lovely lunch, before a supermarket stop and then to the beach. Although the sun was warm, it was an exfoliating experience due to windy conditions, we swam, which was bracing and chilly when you got out because of the strong breeze.
Then out of the blue, 2 yellow planes made a steep turn into the bay and flew low over the water, not far off-shore, pulling up, making another tight turn, coming in low and skimming through the sea, collecting water. As they pulled up, they dumped the water. The planes were fire fighting planes, practising their water pick ups, in preparation for bush fires later in the season. It was very exciting to watch.
After a Zoom with the office back in TW, it was BBQ time and then we took down the awning, put away the outdoor furniture ready for tomorrow’s departure.
Next stop the Verdon Gorge area…
RoundandAbout 