Distance walked so far: 849 miles (1366km) in 45 days
Just realised (due to a few people nagging, sorry enquiring) that it has been a while since I last wrote a blog! I think I have just been very busy, with um… walking I guess.Â
After a day’s stroll from Les Arcs around an impressive hill called the le Rocher de Roquebrune I ended up at the coast again, this time in the town of Fréjus. Quite a lively town with lots going on but I couldn’t get past the fact that they have done a really strange addition onto the amphitheatre. I don’t mind some modifications if it means these historical buildings can still be used but this one looks a bit odd for my liking. Not sure why it annoyed me so much! Let me know in the comments if you think this is a travesty or actually a good way of keeping an ancient site useful.
The walk out of Frejus and then Saint Raphael seemed to go on forever, though because I had left early, I was out in the wilderness by about 10am and into the Esterel mountains. These were stunning. Only took me a day to walk across them but the views were fantastic and the sea started to turn into proper Côte D’Azur sea, a wonderful turquoise colour. Some of the summits in this range were awesome as they often had rocky columns at the top which made them look more dramatic. I really wished I had found some time to camp here as there were so many good spots. When I reached civilisation on the other side of the Esterels the towns went up another notch in terms of how swanky (sorry for my technical language) they are. I have said before that the coast seems to get wealthier as you head east and Theoule-Sur-Mer certainly seems to prove me right. Some of the houses were incredible and what I like about super rich type places is that every now and then you get architecture for architecture’s sake. Just to show off. And some of these houses had all manner of towers and large windows and swimming pools - basically all the essentials. I did however feel like a bit of an idiot walking past all of these beautifully dressed people who were getting in and out of some very swanky (there really is no better word for it) cars and dining out in some very expensive restaurants. I, however, was drenched in sweat as it had been a very hot day and I had walked a long way, was covered in dusty mud and (this almost became an Idiocy of Mark section) I also had bits of spider splattered across my face. Quite a big spider as well. I have no idea how it got there or for how much of the day I had been wearing said spider. I think, judging by the fact that various legs were spread out across my face and the contents of its body splattered across my forehead it may have been before the least time I had put sun-cream on which meant about 1pm. It was then close to 6pm… So, as I said, I felt slightly out of place, even before learning about the spider.
The following day I said what would turn out to be a premature farewell to the Mediterranean. I went for a wonderful swim in front of a hotel/castle type thing, dried off in the warm morning sun and started to walk North. It got slightly cooler as the morning went on. And then clouded over. And then there was a big thunderstorm. I love thunderstorms anywhere, but with the mountains nearby they get even better as you hear the echoes working their way down through the valleys. I got drenched but had the best time walking up to a town called Peymeinade, which is near a bigger town called Grasse. Both towns are on the sides of mountains as they are the start of the Alps and Grasse has the privilege of being the start of a few big hiking routes, including the GR4 which is my next big route. The problem with this however was that, when I arrived in Peymeinade, the mountains were covered in snow! Even the little ones! I panicked thinking that the snow hadn’t melted and, as the GR4 route quickly rises to heights of around 1,500m, I thought it might be a long time before I am able to do this part of my walk. I also couldn’t get my head around the fact that in one day I had swum in the sunshine, walked through a thunderstorm and then trekked up to the snow level in the mountains!
I came up with a new plan (which was actually my original plan anyway) which is to walk to the very end of France and do some of the places like Menton and Monaco which I really want to see. The reason I had abandoned this plan was that feeling of being out of place with all of my walking gear and the fact that, when I go to these nice places, I can’t go in all the cute little shops with my massive walking rucksack. I plan to come back and do these places properly and also make sure I budget on that trip to allow for a few nicer restaurants and hotels than the ones I am enjoying on this trip. However, for now, I am mainly walking in the mountains behind them, but when I do go in I will just do a whistle-stop tour and plan for when I return. I also had a good bit of news as I was leaving Peymeinade which was that the snow on the tops of the mountain was actually just a bit of a freak weather event which was part of the storm that had been happening when I was arriving. It should also melt within a few days (it already has in a lot of places) and shouldn’t cause me too many issues when I come back for the start of the GR4. Fingers crossed!
Since leaving Peymeinade, I have done three days of beautiful walking as I travel in the mountains behind Cannes and Nice. As I have said before, I am trying to avoid the big cities and I have to say I have made the right choice as the views up here are stunning. Looking inland you get glimpses of the high Alps, all covered majestically in snow, and when you turn South you get wonderful views of the oceans and sometimes even the cities look rather nice, from a good safe distance of about 15 miles.
I also managed to camp a couple of times on campsites which was a first for the trip. They are now starting to open though the second one actually opened especially for me so I got a kind of VIP experience where I was the only person on the site. The first night camping I had a wonderful reminder of how unpredictable the weather in the mountains can be. Here is me figuring out what a less than 5% chance of rain might actually look like if there are summits nearby…
I’ll probably write a very short blog in a few days describing my last few days along the Med before I head back to Grasse and start the GR4 for which I am incredibly excited and yet also very nervous as that is where this walk gets BIG!
Recommendation:
I said that I quite like Peymeinade and this was definitely helped by the accommodation that I stayed in for my two nights there. On the AirBNB page the owners describe it as a shed in their garden but it is way more than that. It is cute, it is tiny and it is just so peaceful. It’s also not what I would call a shed, more of a renovated outbuilding. Sitting outside it is wonderful as the world is so quiet, all you can hear are a few birds singing and you have some truly lovely mountain views. You also get a choice of sunny or shady spots all day which was great for me. The owners are lovely but I think the best bit is that you can reach some amazing places really easily: If you had a car you could in one day go for a swim in the sea, go shopping in Nice (not sure why you would want that but I am told some people like that sort of thing), walk up any number of mountains and be spoilt for choice as to where you would eat that night.Â
