Saint Paul de Vence

Traveled:23km
Stay: 1 night - 29 April (free parking for motorhomes - no services) 43.6981, 7.11767 

Very heavy rain this morning. Waited it out then walked to the village. Then we drove to Vence and promptly got lost in the windy narrow roads. Ended up doing a 10 point turn with cars waiting both ways and resulting in our first scratch on Bluey and an argument. Finally found our way back to parking for Bluey and walked to the old village. Had a look around all the streets then headed off to Saint Paul de Vence. A very pretty hill top medieval town. Very touristy with lots of art galleries and souvenir shops. We found a parking area, at 5 mins walk, dedicated to motorhomes with the ability to stay overnight. Quiet night with 2 others.

Tourrettes-sur-Loup France

Stay: Tourrettes-sur-Loup 

No rain in the morning so we had a chance to walk in the beautiful village that is famous for its Violets, and yes, they make everything with violets, even ice cream and alcoholic syrup! There are also many artists. Had lunch the French way... in a restaurant! Yummy meatballs and red wine! Got a chance before it started raining again to go for another walk. Now we are going to wait it out here until tomorrow as we don't feel like driving on windy narrow roads in the rain.

St.Aygulf to Tourrettes sur Loup

Traveled 92kms
Stay: Tourrettes sur Loup : 1night: 27th April ( Free in sports ground car park) 43.71763, 7.06299 

Yesterday we stayed in St. Aygulf and walked along the coastal track then back into town to the market and bought some boules to play pétanque and some paella for dinner. On the way back we bought a bike from a man in the camp that does up old bikes and had one for sale for 20 euros.

Today we decided to take the auto route to Mougins, then did some wifi at McD. Headed into Grasse, but didn't come across any parking, so we kept going to Vence. On the way we found a spot in car park in a lovely hillside village of Tourrettes sur Loup and we decided to stay as it was raining. Did some organising etc. Hopefully weather will clear enough tomorrow to go for an explore.

Collobrieres

More narrow winding roads today. Visited a turtle rescue centre. Then went to Collobriere, a village that specialises in all that is chestnut. We bought some yummy creme of chestnuts and glaced chestnuts. We walked across a stoned arched bridge built in the 1100's. So much history. We then drove to the Monastery de la Verne, also built in 1170. It is very isolated and specialises in numerous crafts, leather, pottery and wooden statues. Then more windy roads and traffic jam again on the coastal road. No wonder we need a drink when we get back to camp! Oh la la BBQ on the Cadac again. Last night crispy skin duck breast. Tonight chops and sausages. Cheers to all.

Saint Tropez

Had an enjoyable day strolling through the streets of Saint Tropez and seeing all the expensive boats in the harbour. Then we went to a Grimaud to explore its ruins and wander through the old village with great views of the coast.

L' Estrele mountains

Had a lovely walk in the L'Estrele mountains with some wonderful views of the Mediterranean coast.

St.Aygulf

Traveled:50km
Stay: 6 nights - Sunday 21st to Friday 26th April- Camp Ground St.Aygulf Beach - 15eu/night 43.39355, 6.72386   

The trip to the camp ground from La Motte was quite quick. We had a walk around and met up with my cousin and her family. On Monday we went for a drive along the coast to Cannes and had a walk. We enjoyed the typical views of the Mediterranean, with its red rocks and emerald coloured water.

We then got stuck in a traffic jam, did some shopping and cooked a BBQ dinner.

Avignon to La Motte (Var) France

Traveled: 223kms
Stay: La Motte (free parking, € services) N43°29.794' E6°31.894' / 43.49692, 6.53167  

It was a wet start to the day. On the way to Leclerc to get some Diesel, Mark noticed the Blue lights flashing. We pulled over and we were a little concerned about what we had done wrong. Mark got out to greet the police officer and said he was from Australia. He told us that we had not pulled over quick enough into the right lane. He asked us where we were headed and he started to give us directions and then said ‘Just follow me’. So we ended up having a police escort to Leclerc! After a little top up of shopping, it was still raining. We were advised that it would not be worthwhile to visit the ancient town Les Baux-de-Provence, so we headed to Aix-en-Provence. We tried to get to the Tourist Office, but it was located in the centre of town and didn’t offer convenient parking. So on we travelled. Next destination was a French Passion (we paid a yearly subscription to allow us to stay at a farm for free) in Cabasse. So we drove along some narrow roads and then a narrower track to arrive at a very secluded winery. Quite pretty, but it was still early in the day, so we decided to head a little closer to our destination for tomorrow. Finally we arrived in La Motte, an aire next to a quaint village that was pleasant to walk around and we even bought a bottle of local red at the towns’ winery co-operative. Santé!

Avignon France

Travelled: 50km from Chasclan

Stay: 2 nights 18 – 19 April Camp Bagatelle 16 euros/night  43.95318, 4.79905                

Woke up to another beautiful day. Had a fairly easy drive into except that Camy (GPS) tried to take us onto the auto route to Lyons or Nimes. Lucky there was a gap for service cars before the pay booth so we could do a U turn. Then as we were trying to get to the Camp Ground we missed the turn off and then we had to drive 20 mins to another bridge to get back. We dared not contradict her as we were unsure of the size of the roads in these small ancient towns and did not want to get stuck as we nearly were yesterday! oh la la… Any way the so called Aire in Avignon which near the camp ground is only a car park and was currently occupied by Gypies or Romanians, so we decided to spend a little cash and go for the comfort of an unpowered site at the Camp Ground Bagatelle which is just over the bridge from the main attractions of Avignon.

 Avignon is a lovely, but quite large, walled ancient town. It is very easy to walk around and enjoy the sights of cafes with there tables and chairs on the foot paths, all the shopping any one would want to do and of course to visit the Palace des Papes, all the Museum and the famous Pont d’Avignon. We spent the first hour on McDonalds WIFI to finally be able to skype (reception not that great but better than on 3G). We didn’t even need to buy food there. We will be visiting McD a little more often! Then we got seriously into sight seeing and went to visit the Palace des Papes (took a couple of hours) and then after a coffee and cake (needed the energy to go on) we went to see some great art work at a Museum. Then it was Moules and Frittes time and a beer at O’Neills Irish Pub!

It was alot lot colder the next day. The locals call it the angry wind. We went to visit the Pont D’Avignon and found out about the bridges’ history.

Then went and walked around the garden  ‘Rocher des Doms’ which offered great views of the surrounding district. 

We then went and  had a look inside the church next to the Palace of the Papes. 

Had a walk around town and as it was too cold we headed back to camp. Later we ventured out again and walked around town and had dinner. 

PS. The reason the bridge in incomplete is because it was damaged many years ago by the Rhone River and was never reconstructed.