We continue our slow travel to the east along France’s beautiful coast through Provence and into the French Riviera. For the most part, weather has been fantastic with temperatures in the mid-70s and sunny skies. Our days were spent meandering through the quaint towns, hiking, swimming and biking. Life is good!

Bouc-Bel-Air, France: We had a faucet failure in the kitchen but the local Hymer dealership in Bouc-Bel-Air had the part in stock, gave us the first appointment of the day and in under 2 hours everything was fixed and we were back on the road. We don’t love that our new van already needed a new faucet, but we also understand things do go wrong and we were very pleased with the efficiency of getting warranty service with just a few days’ notice.

Cassis, France: We knew immediately when we arrived that the Cassis crowd was a different crowd then we were used to seeing as everybody was Millennial-aged and there were lots of young families. There was only 1 place to stay in Cassis and it was a huge full-service campground with 300 sites. Teeny tiny sites, old facilities and not a dime has been invested in any infrastructure in decades yet their prices were high and it was completely full! The owners of the campervan next to us obviously had covid or some type of respiratory ailment and continually hacked every few minutes the entire time they were there. Luckily, we travel with earplugs.

Our main objective was to visit Calanque National Park to experience the calanques which are narrow, steep-walled fjords found only in the Mediterranean. The calanques did not disappoint as they have beautiful, steep dolomite and limestone canyon walls plunging into the turquoise blue water of the protected inlets. We decided to do a big hike and forego using the bus to get us to the trailhead which resulted in almost 10 miles of walking and hiking including lots of elevation changes. We left early in the morning and we were very excited to have the loop trail to ourselves which we accidently did backwards; however as the morning progressed swarms of people, I would estimate to be over 500 people, started passing us going in the other direction.  We hiked to three different calanques including Port-Miou, Port-Pin and d’En-Vau’. The weather was warm so Tony stripped to his underwear and swam in the Calanque Port-Pin while I hiked up my shorts to mid-thigh and waded in. The water was crystal clear, calm and refreshingly cool. The last part of the hike was the most challenging as the smooth rocks were surprisingly slippery on the steep sections along with loose gravel and lots of tree roots protruding out of the ground. Our day ended with a mile uphill hike back to our campsite which took almost every ounce of energy I had left, but Tony is an Energizer Bunny so he ran uphill the last ½ mile to get to the grocery store in time before they closed.

If the 10-mile hike and ½ mile uphill run wasn’t demanding enough, Tony decided he wanted to go for a bike ride, too, after we got back. The ride was short-lived as he returned a short-time later with PTSD from the ride. He still only has his big chain ring on this bike so hills are a challenge, but he said the roads had no shoulder, the cars were driving faster than usual, there was a lot of congestion and the drivers were not giving cyclists buffer when passing. This is a change from what he has experienced everywhere else in France, but felt it was better to play it safe than risk an injury or worse. A thunderstorm developed overnight and brought high winds and high humidity. We held our breath that our skylight did not leak again as it did in Cadaques, Spain on our last trip and it did not leak this time. We do have an appointment in a few weeks at another Hymer dealership in Mulhouse, France who is going to repair it under warranty by taking it out completely and reinstalling it with additional weather sealing. Due to the weather shift, our plans to kayak the calanques was foiled as none of the rental kayak establishments were sending out any kayaks due to the wind. We decided to leave Cassis and head a short distance away to try to find a place with lower humidity and quieter surroundings.

La Ciotat, France: Although only 10 miles further east than Cassis, it was a world different. Lower humidity and less crowded. We checked into a very small campground on the water which had older facilities, but was clean, quiet and had friendly staff. Our muscles were still feeling OK after our 10 mile hike the day before, so we took on another 8-mile city walk and hike to another calanque called Figuerolles which was also in the Calanques National Park. This excursion took us through the city and along the waters of the Mediterranean to get to the trailhead.  Many vessels in the harbor were huge yachts, but one stood out from all of the rest for its enormous size which literally dwarfed the other mega yachts. It even had a side panel in the rear “quarter panel” which held a 30-40’ foot powerboat. We later learned this was a 512-foot-long super yacht that had been seized from a Russian Oligarch at the start of the Ukrainian war with Russia. This thing was massive!

We made it to the Figuerolles Calanques, but it was not nearly as beautiful as the ones we saw near Cassis. We sat on the beach for a while relaxing and people watching before walking back as the weather was so warm and pleasant. Tony attempted another bike ride upon our return but again it was foiled quickly as the roads were just too steep for his big chain ring to handle. He spent more hours than he will admit sourcing a new small chain ring which will be waiting for us at a local bike shop when we pass through Nice. OK, let’s talk toilet seats or in this case lack of toilet seats. We have found now that we are in Southern France public toilet seats don’t exist. At first, we thought they were just missing, but then we started noticing it everywhere. After some research, we learned that they feel toilet seats, not being made from vitreous porcelain, are unhygienic and can’t be properly cleaned so they remove them entirely. So glad our van has its own toilet with a toilet seat!

Le Lavandou, France: Located 1.25 hours east of La Ciotat, Le Lavandou was a cute coastal commune directly on the water. Our campsite for the next few days was another no-frills Camping Car Park with views of the water. The owner of the campervan in front of us was a local living only 30 miles away and assured us that although the skies were gray, it was not going to rain. He was wrong. We headed out to explore the village when the clouds opened up on us. Thankfully, we were not too far away from the van and we had an umbrella with us because it was quite a storm. The main purpose of coming to Le Lavendou was to jump on a ferry to visit Port-Cros Island which is part of Port-Cros National Park, the oldest marine park in Europe.

The weather the following day was picture perfect with low-70-degree temperatures, sunny skies, light breezes and low humidity. Our plan was to take the bus to the ferry terminal but a last-minute check of the bus schedule, as we were walking out the door, revealed that we had both looked at the schedule wrong and the first bus was not going to come until after our ferry was going to depart. We checked Uber, nothing available. Downloaded and set-up the Bolt app (a local Uber-like app) but no cars where within 45 minutes of us. After realizing we could just drive our van to the ferry terminal (duh!) we set out only to find all of the parking lots height restricted and no parking signs for campervans for the street parking. We illegally parked in a nearby paid parking lot that did not allow motorhomes, but we fit inside the lines, so we felt OK about it as we did not have any other options.

The 30-minute ferry ride was pleasant and deposited us on the small 1600-acre Port-Cros Island which is in the Mediterranean and part of the Hyeres archipelago. There is a small village at the port with a few shops and restaurants, but most of the island is entirely undeveloped. There are no bikes or cars allowed outside of the village. We did a fun 6-mile hike around the island, including a stop off at Plage du Sud (South Beach) for a quick swim having been drawn to it by the white sand beach and turquoise water. Our swim was cut short when we began to notice the presence of brownish-gold jellyfishes in the water around us. Neither of us wanting to have to pee on each other’s jellyfish stings, we elected to move on with our hike instead of further swimming in the area. The terrain of the island was quite rugged with a steep rocky shoreline that was dotted with foliage before plunging into the turquoise water and we felt it was reminiscent of Maui in Hawaii. All in all, it was a lovely day on the island that ended with a picnic lunch sitting on the wall of Fort du Moulin overlooking the village and marina. A relaxing ferry ride back to the mainland where we found our van without an illegal parking ticket. We woke up to cool morning temperatures but with uncharacteristically foggy conditions. In the distance, Tony tells me there is a bear roaming around near our van. The creature comes out of the fog and it’s not a bear, but a giant wild boar. We have continued to not see much wildlife in France. Where have all the animals gone? It is quite eerie.

St. Tropez, France: Our route took us up and over the mountains on a road which is technically two-way, but not much wider than a US one-way road and had no pull-outs, guard-rails or significant shoulder and steep drop-offs on one-side. The conditions were foggy, and the road was the most twisty and turny road we have been on in France. I prayed the entire 15 km that we would not meet another car coming towards us and we were lucky that none appeared. We are finding the roads in the south of France to be even more narrow than the ones we complained about when we first got our van in northern France. And the drivers! For some reason, the drivers down here drive crazy fast almost to the point of being reckless. As a larger vehicle, we are typically at or below the post speed limit and I am sure these drivers are yelling nasty things at us, but we wouldn’t know as we don’t speak French. 😊 We decided to stop off for the day in St. Tropez as US pop culture makes this place out to be the crème de la crème. We parked on the outskirts of the city and rode our Bromptons into the city center. We found this area to be the least bikeable area we have encountered thus far on our travels. Normally, there are bike lanes or at least a bike shoulder, but there was none of that on this route and we were stuck in the traffic jam of cars, buses and trucks. We spent some time walking up and down the streets (walking our bikes) through the La Ponche district with its fancy shops and restaurants.  Narrow cobbled streets intersecting at all angles, outdoor cafes and a lot of trellised plants made for a picturesque place, except for the incredibly crowded streets full of tourists. There was a cruise ship in town so I suspect many of these people were cruisers. There were certainly large and mega yachts docked along the harbor, although none as big as the super yacht we saw in La Ciotat. There were lots of people trying to be fashionable and wanted to be “seen” but who we think are probably HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet). It just wasn’t our scene. We continued on with a bike ride up to the Citadel which did offer lovely birds eye view of the area.

Saint-Raphael, France: We stopped in Saint-Raphael for a few nights and stayed at a 5-star campground (yes there is such a thing!), not by choice, but because that is the only place that was open this late in the season and had availability. Our campsite was quite inexpensive with the ASCI off-season discount card and included a private bathroom, private shower, electrical connections, potable water spigot and private dishwashing station all at our pitch/site. This facility was very busy with families who were making good use of all of the sport courts, lazy river and pools.

We took a Bolt (like an Uber) to the trailhead to explore the Cap Dramont area which was a coastal hike ascending on the red volcanic cliffs above the Mediterranean waters with the highlight being views of Ile d’Or, a private island where in the early 1900s the iconic Sarasin designed tower was built. This was quite a popular hike but very enjoyable with different terrain and more gradual elevation changes than our last few hikes.

We hopped on the city bus to take us to Saint-Raphael city center and ate at one of our new favorite all-vegan restaurants, Happy Green Food. A small establishment with a limited menu and limited quantities of food but a delightfully joyful owner. We had a carrot curry and a mushroom risotto and both were delicious. We took another short Bolt ride back to our campground from the city. We attempted to go to the pool for a quick swim, but Tony was scolded and not allowed in the pool due to his loose-fitting swim trunks. We were not aware that the French find loose swim trunks to be unhygienic.  So while sitting at the pool I ordered Tony a pair of the fitted swim trunks which we will pick up at an Amazon locker in Nice. Interestingly, the lifeguard later came and told him that the trunks were fine after 4 PM, but not before. We are still trying to understand the logic of this, but c’est la vie.

Onwards!

Cumulative Wildlife Spotted on this Trip: flamingos, wild boar, jellyfish

Up Next: Gorges of Verdon