Day 17, 16th June, started out sunny so we decided to go to the beach. I actually wanted to sit by the pool, but Calv wanted to cycle to the beach. He rarely states an opinion so when he does then that’s what we do! Even if I didn’t really like the look of parts of the cycle path (being on a busy road..) After a half enjoyable, half not, ride (on my part anyways) we arrived to find the market in full swing. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it but markets aren’t really my thing, and it stood between us and the beach!
We had to go round a few back roads to make it to the front (because the market was busy and I would probably have run someone over..!) It was pleasant enough, but the water was COLD. There were people going in, but there’s no way I was going to join them… Toes only J
It wasn’t long before the clouds won the battle of the skies so we decided to head up for something to eat, and found a lovely little place (called Le Canne a Sucre). The owner came over to admire our bikes (tbh we’ve had no negative comments or looks here – unless, of course, you count the ‘professional’ cyclists who don’t seem to understand leisure cycling at all!) Calv had an omelette – on toast.. Which he was very impressed with. I finally found out what a gallete was – it’s a pizza with a crepe as the base. It was absolutely scrummy, and I fully intend to do this myself at home sometime.
After lunch we cycled down the seafront a while, naively thinking that we’d find another way home. Well there was another way home, but it was probably 10 miles out of our way. So we turned round and went back the way we’d come – sort of. Getting lost has become a definite hazard for us over here – but we made it back in time for the 2nd half of England v Wales. Well we got back just before half time actually. Popped our heads in the bar to see the score (0-0) and went back to the van to sort out the bikes before going back to the bar for the 2nd half. As we got back to the van a massive cheer was heard – “Wales have scored” says I (although I had no idea..) Obviously I was right, but we did enjoy the 2nd half. Mostly spent trying to watch the match while talking to a guy who was spending 7 months travelling round Spain & France.
The Welsh guy in the bar (I swear it was Elton John. He’d made David Furnish put on a dress and a blond wig, left the kids at home, was very affectionate with his dog and made a good show of pretending to be Welsh, but his cunning disguise didn’t fool me one bit!) He lay down on the ground with his dog and refused to speak to anyone for half hour L
We tried to get partly sorted as we knew we had a long trip the next day, and I think we might have almost had an early night too – but that’s debateable.
Day 18, 17th June. Moving day again, this time for 1 of only 2 overnighters, a Yelloh Village in Charlevals, just north of Salon de Provence (although I had in my head we were going to Arles, which was about ½ hour before our final destination – oops).
We started out on the motorway (which was very reasonable really) but decided to leave the motorway for some lunch. We ended up on Frontignan Plage. Not necessarily a beach we’d choose to spend a day but a perfectly lovely place to spend an hour or so for lunch – I think I made us bacon butties J
We then stuck with the coast road, which was rewarded with a sighting of a flock of flamingos J
After a long day travelling we arrived at our next site, Luberon Parc, a Yelloh Village (these are good sites). It was 28 degrees, the site had a lovely feel and the pool looked very inviting. So in we went – it’s amazing how quickly you can relax in some circumstances!
We sort of thought we might have liked a bit longer here, but Day 19, 18th June was another moving day (with the advantage that we knew we wouldn’t be moving for another 10 days this time). After the trials of the previous day we opted to take the motorway the whole way down to Agay (near Frejus, St Raphael). We just stopped the once en-route at an Aire that was in the middle of the motorway! Very confusing. Again we made some lunch in the van – I think I did egg mayonnaise sandwiches.
We arrived at our site – this is the most difficult to get to once you leave the main roads. It’s now Friday 24th and we really have no idea of the geography of where we are!
Thinking that we were arriving nice and early and would have time to jump in the pool (although we’d had a bit of rain on the way the sun was out by the time we arrived), we were dismayed at the pitch we were given. We tried to make it work, but couldn’t get anywhere near level. So up to reception we went to ask if we could move pitch. No problem, we were given a choice of pitches that were available, and off we went to investigate. Our mood was getting more and more sombre as we were really disappointed with the site (bearing in mind this was our ‘holiday’). We tried another pitch, with the same issues and eventually settled on 1 that we’d initially dismissed as it was right in front of a toilet block (which turned out to be closed) and the kiddie’s playground.
We did however get level here. On going back to reception to inform them of our pitch we were informed that we had to pay the remainder of the stay, which was a bit of a bummer as we were discussing whether to stay at all (even though we’d already paid a hefty deposit of 220 Euros). We said we’d have to come back with the credit card and when we did we got to see THE receptionist. This was the woman that I’d read about in reviews, and how people couldn’t believe she still had a job! They were spot on!!
Anyway in the morning we had a good look round, the sun was out and we started feeling a whole lot better about the place – still not too sure about it’s 5* rating though…..
Will be back with Days 20 & 21 tomorrow. Still can’t get any photos on I’m afraid, but hope to get a better signal at some point 😦 (photos have been put on FB though if you want to go and look 🙂 )
See you all soon – love to all xx
turnrightoutofportsmouth 