I wanted to have a look in a couple of the shops on the seafront today. I ended up buying a hat (finally!), a bikini (of course) and a beach bag (my current one is very old, and far too small). I also bought one of those ‘under towel mat’ thingies for the beach. This is currently serving as a chair repair after Calv finally went through it! New chairs when we get home…
Shopping done we set out for a little town called Claviers, as recommended by the campsite, by way of the Cascade de Pennafort, as spotted by me on the map.
We got lucky by pulling off the road when I said to Calv that it must be close by. We’d stopped at a little viewpoint and it was just a quick trek through the bushes for the most amazing view! But there were people down there so we surmised that we must be able to get down ourselves somehow – scanning around we spotted a carpark, so off we set.
The first car park we found was actually a hotel so we kept going. We could see a carpark area, but not how to get in. It was this tiny little road that you could barely see – yet there were still camper vans parked up in there!
We found the dry riverbed and headed off down there, only to find it blocked. No worries, we looked around and there was a path on the riverside. Eventually there was also water! We had to keep criss-crossing the water and clambering over rocks, but it was all worth it. What a lovely little spot! We saw dragon flies, butterflies (so many different varieties), fish and even a snake! We didn’t manage to get a picture of the snake unfortunately but it was in the water hiding under a branch J A tree branch knocked a lens out of my sunglasses – but it’s okay Calv fixed it for me!
We spent a good 1 ½ hours exploring this gorge and it’s plentiful small waterfalls and were really happy to have stumbled across it – it was one of those views and experiences that you had to work for (and not that many people are prepared to do that). It’s generally worth it J
As we had driven into the car park I’d spotted a sign pointing the other way towards an old Chappelle that was being restored. Before continuing we decided to take a look. Halfway along the track we realised that we couldn’t take the car much further, so tucked it away and continued on foot. It was quite a slog upwards, but once again, worth it. Nobody else was up here and we couldn’t access the Chappelle ,but it was quite big and obviously served a decent sized area in it’s time.
We next continued to head towards Claviers, but first of all came upon another town called Callas – again very old and quaint and surrounding by vineyards (isn’t everywhere?!) We made it to Claviers, which was absolutely charming, but also pretty much closed! I think France were playing football or something?
We were now getting rather hungry, but there was nowhere to be found to eat. We followed some little roads back to main road down towards Frejus. By now we’d decided that we were going to have to head for the LeClerc that we knew again, as there was a McDonalds next door and we just HAD to eat soon! I have never been so happy to have a burger – I had a cheeseburger and 4 McNuggets and a sundae.
Quick drink in the bar – only 2 babies left in the nest.
Tired, but happy. Goodnight J x
(photos will be loaded shortly – WiFi issues again…)
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