Following post written, but failed to upload due to dodgy connection, on 22 September:
It seems I cannot upload photos in our current location (again!) so the backlog increases as the time rolls on! I am not particularly impressed on either count as it happens….
After La Grande Motte we moved to Menton, via Port Grimaud – the so called Venice of the Cote d’Azur – a port town with canals, foot bridges and expensive waterside restaurants. We stayed in an Aire and walked in and around and out again – but we did get a lot of lovely pix from it. And met an American who represents a company in Bath – small world, as ever!
Now we are in Menton – actually, we are high above Menton in a former olive grove perched on a terraced hillside accessed via a hard to find narrow road with several hairpin bends and a restriction on the length of vehicle allowed as a result! Again, we felt quite adventurous until we got to the site and found that plenty other motorhome owners had also found and negotiated the route!
Its a lovely site, terraced with very old olive trees still in situ. Peaceful and with views across Menton and out to sea to the front, mountains looming to the rear. Another little piece of heaven. Breathe the moment.
This has been our base for attending the Monaco Yacht Show. Today someone told me they had calculated that there were approximately 4 billion euros worth of yachts at the show. Meantime we are paying 20 euros a night for the privilege of 78 steps between us and the toilet and 300 to get down into the town. We did it on the first evening (why? We have a scooter….!?) – after a bottle of wine we decided to go for it and not chicken out to a taxi. Fortunately there are lots of views on the way up so we stopped 5 times to admire them.
Since then I have trotted down and up again 2 more times in the vain pursuit of some morning fitness training. Funnily enough B was asleep both times and has now taken up visiting the loo on the scooter. Taking the crockery to the washing up area has, however, defeated him, so he has had a bit (unwanted) of exercise too!
Back to Monaco, which is a place we have both visited several times as a result of my work. It really is a striking place – blocks and blocks of astronomically priced apartments clinging to the steep hillsides, most of them unoccupied by their millionaire owners much of the time. This time we spotted 2 new buildings – one high on the hillside, and another right on the harbour, with a new Yacht Club in progress – amazing what they can still jam in!
After 3 days at the show, we are on a chill day before a 2 day 450 run to Basel in Switzerland! Taking deep breaths! So we jumped onto Kymi and followed our noses up the hillside between Menton and Monaco to the old village of Roquebrune Cap Martin. At the risk of using the same word far too many times this trip – stunning! Again, photos to follow. Lots of tiny alleyways between buildings all jumbled together, steps in little tunnels, everything old, pretty and higgeldypiggledy (new word there then).
Tonight we will eat at the restaurant next to the campsite for the last time – another view to die for, but we still cant get enough of them. Its getting a bit too chilly to sit out in the evening, but we did have a snack in the warm sunshine on a tiny terrace earlier, looking at more olive groves with another glimpse of Monaco. Perfect.