Frejus

The trip to Frejus was two weeks ago, and we have done so much more since then.   No time for writing blogs.

Walter and I visited Frejus years ago, well the edge of Frejus anyway.  We were on our way to Monaco, via the coast road, without much success due to the usual heavy traffic.  So we stopped at Frejus and went to a cafe for lunch.  But it certainly was not the centre of the town. 

On this trip we realised we had not visited Frejus, not really, as there was so much more to see, then the cafe on the edge of town.

A delightful old French town.  

The old city walls.  Also an old Roman square, I think.  The sculpture symbolises pulling a very heavy load

The family all ready for the day.

Plenty of colourful houses and clean streets.

Frejus Cathedral.

Lunch in a delightful cafe.

A cool looking square.

The ancient Bapistry.

The cloisters.

Reflections in the very deep well.

Richly decorated ceiling panels.

Walter and me, standing in the cool of the cloisters.

Another narrow street with interesting shops.

One should make notes.  I know this statue was important but now I have no idea as to its significance.  Oh dear.  A lovely square though, with an equally lovely church on the edge of it.

The inner corridor of the amphitheatre, with the Roman wall on one side and a modern wall on the other.

The Roman amphitheatre was in ruins until about twelve years ago, when an innovative plan was developed to restore the walls, and add modern concrete structures to it so that it could be used for equestrian and bull fighting events plus concerts.   A very powerful construction.

The old Roman ramparts.

Finally we visited a Roman theatre, with a very modern outdoor theatre in amongst the ruins.  We sat for a while and watched the rehearsals for the evening performance.

It was a really lovely family day in a beautiful and interesting town.

At the beach - Le Lavandou

Gorgeous days at the beach.  Clean sandy beaches and clear cold water.  And plenty of fish to look at.  No sharks.

A very hot day.  Out to lunch, followed by a paddle in the water.

Le Lavandou beach.   Still very early in the season so plenty of spots to put our towels.  However we still managed to kick sand onto someone's towel.  There is an art to carefully laying out the towel, and removing shoes and outer clothes without stirring up the sand. and I have not mastered it yet.

Mia, Abi and Raphy.   The only children wearing sun tops on the beach.  The Cote d'Azur does not promote sun safe, unlike Adelaide, Australia.  They are also the only children wearing sun tops in the swimming pool at the campsite.   And the sun is just as fierce here as in Adelaide.

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Raphy tentatively testing the water.

And now he approaches it with more confidence.  It was very cold water.

As I found out when I took the plunge and slowly waded into the water.

After we dried off, it was time for ice creams.   Aaron had spent the time drinking coffee and reading in a cafe, while we were at the beach.

Beaches, always fun.

France and Camping Manjastre

We have been at Camping Manjastre for ten days now, and are well and truly settled into the camping routine.  Aaron, Kylie, Mia, Abi and Raphy are here also, and we are having a lovely time.  But we are busy; swimming, out and about, eating plenty of food,  and playing cards in the evening. 

And the problems in Britain seem far away, however I still feel angry about the recent antics of our leaders, although the new prime minister appears to be keeping a a lid on things now.   I am not proud of having a British passport.   

Sadly events in the world have overtaken the problems in Britain, and the recent tragedy in Nice has been too awful to comprehend fully.    

We started our trip with a few dramas and as always, bad luck happens in threes. 

 Our first drama occurred as we were about to line up at the Port of Dover check in.  Two German truck drivers realised they were in the wrong lane and drove across in front of us, without checking if there were vehicles in their path.  We stopped, and the trucks slid past us, with barely a gap between us and them.  The second truck smashed our wing mirror.  The driver did not care, just shrugged his shoulders, and sped off.  There was no use taking the number of the truck, as there was no way we could track it.  A new wing mirror will cost us £550 when we return to the UK. Expensive.

Walter taped the wing mirror up, and ever resourceful, bought a cosmetic mirror on the ferry, which he stuck, using velcro tape, onto the wing. Amazingly the wing mechanism still worked.  Thank goodness, we had sticky back velcro in the car,  bought in the UK to fix the new mosquito netting onto the caravan windows.

Walter's resourcefulness stopped as we tried to drive off the ferry.  The car battery was dead, due to forgetting to unplug the two car fridges, which then drained the battery.  Luckily the ferry staff had a strong battery and charges, so we did not have to wait on the breakdown services.  And hold the ferry up on its next trip.

And the third drama concerned the electronic badge for the tolls.   It worked as we entered the toll, but malfunctioned as we tried to leave at the other end.   Luckily I was not trying to travel through the automatic toll at the recommended speed of 30 kmh otherwise we would have connected with the gate. But it would appear that malfunctioning badges were a regular occurrence as we quickly received assistance and the badge was scanned.  We now have a new badge, sent to the campsite.
Obviously they only last about five years.

The journey was very slow between Lyon and Valence, quite normal, with the usual stupid drivers, driving at reckless speeds, tailgating and passing on the inside lanes.  A few French drivers used their fingers to tell us how to drive on the road.  We were feeling especially vulnerable, with our GB numberplates, one of the few British cars on the road.

Finally after about sixteen hours of driving and a short overnight stop in a run down, but cheap, hotel, we finally arrived at Camping Manjastre.  And such a wonderful feeling to be here, and to be greeted by the owners and friends.

Setting up took longer than normal, due to me having a previous cleanout and tidy up, and then not knowing where I put things.  But we kept our cool.

And talking of sites, we are on the top level, behind the restaurant and not far from the pool and toilet block.  We are right in the middle of the action, which is kind of exciting really.

But there is a downside.  Eighteen months ago, the owners made the sites on the top level and the bottom level, into super sites, or serviced sites, so that each site has a water tap and sewerage facilities.  And they charge more for them, which is understandable.

But the problem is people on the cheaper sites forget that we are paying more for the luxury of using the sites, and hook their hoses up to the taps.  Of course should people ask if they can fill their caravan tanks up, using our tap, we would be more than happy to oblige, but a hose permanently attached to our tap, without asking, is a bit much.

Now people may think we are nit picking, but it rankles somewhat when one is paying for the privilege of having a tap but find you cannot use it because someone else has their hose permanently attached to it.

So early Sunday morning we were the first people at the garden shop to buy a hose, and I must say we are really enjoying the luxury of not walking a few metres to the tap or a few more metres to the water point.  Sadly it does affect friendships, as the owners are not willing to enforce the new conditions related to the 'serviced sites', even though they collect the money for them.

Kylie relaxing in the shade.

Raphy eating lunch.   And a line up of the gadgets on the tables behind him; an oven, a coffee machine, and the new acquisition, the water cooler.

Preparing lunch.  Always delicious.

And not to forget the beautiful swimming pool.  Such luxury.

Love it.

Ready for France

Yes we are off again, to the south of France.  The Cote d'Azur, blue seas and skies.   Destination Camping Manjastre.  But not towing a caravan this time as we have one in storage at the campsite.  So it will be cruising down the motorway in our lovely comfortable car.  Keeping to the speed limit of course.  

This last week has been frantic.   A quick turnaround, from one trip to the next.   It went like this, mow lawns, trim back shrubs, weed garden, check watering system, clean caravan, organise for caravan fridge and hot water unit to be fixed, yearly boiler check, take car for service and then back to garage twice for boot repairs, unpack and repack again, clean house, do the finances, and catch up with family and friends here plus family in the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.  

Thank goodness I still had time to have these two lovely dogs stay for a couple of days.

And as we head off to France, we are still in a state of shock about events in Britain.

For those who do not live in the UK I will recap.  Current events in this country are frightening, however farcical it all appears to people in other countries.   First there was a referendum which should never have happened, but the Prime Minister called it to appease some right wing factions in his party and UKIP.    Of course he never expected a majority of people would vote to leave the European Union. Silly man.  But it happened, although not in Scotland or Northern Ireland.  However their collective views do not matter, it would appear.   Counting overall was 52% to leave the EU and 48% to remain. Lots of false promises were made by the leaders who were pushing to leave the EU, but they have turned out to be false promises.   And a lot of hot air.  There were no exit plans.  At all.  So the Prime Minister resigned, the Chanchellor will go, as they do not want anything to do with implementing an exit plan, which was non existent anyway.   The people who were the leaders of the Leave the EU campaign have disappeared, cowards that they are, as they know full well that the difficulties ahead may be insurmountable.  The Labour party disintergrated, with a vote of no confidence towards its leader.   Which basically leaves this country up the creek, without a paddle, right at this moment.

Although slightly on a more promising note, a new prime minister is being voted for, by the Conservative party members, and there are two candidates, both female, so things could be looking up a bit.  It is going to take a very strong woman to even begin to deal with the current mess

And the pound is still dropping, which will make our trip to France considerably more expensive.   Plus the embarrassment of driving a GB registered car.  At the moment I am not very proud of my British citizenship.