While down in the south of France we had some great days at the beach. Emma, Steve and Rachel were always keen to spend a few hours on the beach. I especially enjoyed being with family as often I have to go on my own. Walter is not keen on visiting the beach. Too much sand for him. Although we had to drag the children along with us, they enjoyed it once there.
The inflatable floaty thing was a hit. A unicorn shape, I think. Not easy to get onto, or stay on, in the choppy waters but it was very popular. And a lot of fun.
Not sure who was trying to stay on, in the photograph below. We were at Le Faviere Beach, in front of the camping ground that was evacuated during the recent bush fires.
I spent a few hours on my own at the beach in Le Lavandou. I first had a coffee at the beach cafe, from where I took the photograph below.
Then I put up my new umbrella with the special base that screwed into the sand so that the umbrella did not blow away. A great invention. It was a very small umbrella, and only shaded my head. I should have bought a larger size.
The view from my spot on the beach, which was not too crowded either. No worries about flicking sand into other people's eyes. Always a problem on such closely packed beaches.
I took a 'selfie' and ended up with some terrible photographs, which I have since deleted. There is quite an art in taking 'selfies'. And I do not have it. Mind you I was trying to discretely take my photograph by pretending to take a photograph of the sea.
One evening we went for a walk along the seafront at Le Lavandou, just after sunset. There was a full moon and the setting over the sea was perfect for photographs. We joined all the other amateur photographers trying to get the perfect shot of the catamaran sitting on the sea under the full moon.
A line up of children, Jackson, Isabel, Elliot and Emily.
New beach umbrellas, which I think one has to pay to sit underneath during the day.
There were plenty of expensive looking boats in the harbour.
The silhouettes of masts standing out against the evening sky.
And before we left we all took a photograph of the moon and its shimmering reflection on the water. Amazingly we had a degree of success too.
We had a day at Cabasson beach, where we were able to park in the carpark that was saved from the bushfire. When we arrived the beach was not busy but more people arrived during the day, however it did not get as busy as I remember it from a few years ago.
The view looking towards the President's holiday home on the island. Fort de Bregancon was once that, a military fort, which became the President of France's retreat. Now it has been opened to the public, and guided tours are available during the day. We went on one two years ago, and it was fascinating to have a look around the very comfortable house and barracks. A good history talk too, but we missed out on much information due to our poor grasp of French.
A view along the beach to the bush covered land at the end. Sadly this part of the bush was destroyed by fire. Not that it is possible to see this in the photograph below.
There was once a restaurant at the end of the beach, with its area of sun loungers and umbrellas in front. These sun loungers were relatively cheap to rent for the day. We always ate our lunch at the restaurant, with our feet on the warm sand. And most of our family and friends will remember this place, as we always went there once during our August holiday. Sadly the owners must have decided it was not a profitable business as it has been gone for at least the past two years, if not longer.
Emma, Steve and Jackson in deep discussion about how to fit the snorkel and goggles before taking off into deeper water.
Aah, that inflatable unicorn again.
Emma relaxing under a family sized umbrella. My small one person, keep the head cool, blue umbrella looks a little ridiculous.
The beignet seller pushing a trolley on the firmer sand by the edge of the water. A beignet is a solid doughnut with a filling of your choice, chocolate spread, nutella or jam. Steve chose a chocolate spread for his beignet but the rest of us decided to be more conservative and eat ice creams instead.
Walter and I took Jackson and Isabel up to Mt Faron, high above Toulon. Next time we will drive up as it took an hour to get onto the cable car at the bottom and we queued for more than an hour and a half to get back on once at the top. An afternoon of queues in order to spend a ten minute journey on the cable car.
The views from the top were quite breathtaking, and the sky was beautifully clear.
We managed to have a drink at the cafe with an excellent view of Toulon. Isabel spent most of the time waving wasps away from her pancake. Wasps can be such pests.
Everyone else went out for an afternoon of go-karting and a day trip to Aqualand, which Walter and I were thankfully excused from participating in. We spent both of those days relaxing at our campsite. And listened to the stories when the family returned home.
I nearly forgot about the mini golf tournament between Emma, Steve, Jackson, Isabel and me which ended in a reasonably close score at the end. I think Steve won, but not by much. All great fun.
And there were the usual trips to the market, and the hypermarkets in Hyeres and Toulon. A little bit of shopping is always a great distraction when it is very hot. And we all like to spend our holiday money on items to take home with us.
Another lovely holiday.
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