Mediterrannee!!

19 May – Today, after some domestic duties and some light rain, the sky cleared and we caught the bus in the other direct to Cannes
The film festival was still on so we strolled around the water front where most of the broadcasters etc had their corporate areas. Did not see anyone we recognized amongst the beautiful people. Cannes is much like Nice. The yachts in the marina are unbelievable.
We sat beside the driver of the bus on the way home. The skill he showed piloting the bus down the narrow streets was remarkable.
When we got back, after a swim, we managed to book 6 days in a camp in Paris in August.

20 May – Our trip today was by train (9 euro each return) to Monte Carlo/Monaco. The Grande Prix was here last weekend to they were still dismantling the barriers and grandstands. Probably should have made more of and effort to be here for it but did not realize!
We walk some of the circuit. Can not believe the GP cars can negotiate the narrow streets. The whole country is wedged between the sea and the towering mountains with buildings on every conceivable piece of land. They reclaim some areas and increased the land area of the country by 60%!!
I know these facts because we paid for a hop on and off bus tour. Well worth the money.
We had lunch at the Café de Paris in the Casino Square. 6 club sandwiches and two bottles of Heineken for 44 euro!!!! (that’s about $80 NZ). Talk about location!! Still it had to be done.
The yachts in the marina are the biggest yet. They back right onto the public areas so you can get a good ogle.

21 May – We have decided to dodge some of the narrow roads in this area so have opted to go down a toll road to Port Grimaud, the turn off to St Tropez. Here, we off loaded the bikes and had a glorious 8km ride to St Tropez. This is a beautiful little port town with cute little buildings and the now usual huge yachts moored. We wander around the village with many of the passengers of two cruise liners anchored off shore.
Back on the road and after a slight detour over a winding mountain road (bloody GPS) we arrived at Cavaliere Sur Mer, a holiday town. The “Aires” here is on the beach and has capacity for 100 campers. (10 euro/night)
The beach is lovely, more like an NZ holiday destination.
Our GPS is now reading co-ordinates fine. We stupidly had it set to degrees and points of degrees instead of degrees, minutes, and seconds.

22 May – Had a really relaxing day. A bit like a Kaiteriteri day! Down to the beach after breakfast, back for lunch in the heat of the day, and then back to the beach.
We have had our first swims in the Med. It is still a bit chilly however.
Most of the ladies have no shame! Lots of bare breasts. All shapes and sizes - not that I have noticed!!!

23 May – Woke to a surprise. The parking area in front of us had turned into a giant Boot Sale. We had a wander around. Mostly junk but I bet there were some bargains hidden away.
Back down to the beach for a couple of swims before lunch and heading off to our next stop. We bypassed Toulon and Marseilles (second larges city in France) both thru huge tunnels under the cities. Our plan was to spend a night at an “Aires” at a lovely beach at Carro. When we arrived the place was packed. We had forgotten that Monday was a public holiday. We decided to head down the road to another “Aires” at Port Louis du Rhone. We parked by a canal on the Rhone River with other campers who were fishing. No idea what they were fishing for, as no one caught anything! A nice spot though.
We are now at a camp in the beach resort town of Frontignan-Plage about 30kms from Montpellier, to charge our batteries and do the laundry. Unfortunately there are no washing machines so it will have to be done by hand. There is also no internet so the blog will be quite long by the time we get to upload it.
The beach here is a series of small sandy beaches separated by stone groynes. The water is now nice and warm.
From Marseilles to here has been flat as it is the delta of the Rhone River and around the city very industrial. (Oil refineries and power stations) The country is all salt water lakes, channels, locks and surprisingly rice paddies.