Wednesday 18th.

A very pleasant (and fast) trip up the Autoroute des Anglais to Calais. We found a very nice lunch spot and watched a deer ambling through a nearby field. 

Of course we arrived early but are on an early train so will get to Black Horse in time for a relaxing evening. 

Boarding.....

We are now settled on our pitch near Folkestone. 

We can't help noticing that there are grey skies and that it feels cold. Welcome to Great Britain. 

Tuesday 17th.

Safely on our pitch at Croix d'Arles. We travelled up the Rhone valley, as far as Lyon, avoiding the toll roads. Isn't the Rhone wide? And the Rhone valley produces some brilliant wines. We passed all my favourite wine producers....... Lidl, ASDA and Tesco but sadly no Waitrose. 

We had lunch in a very attractive spot.... near Lyon. Funny how all the best stopping places are on the other side of the road. 

We then joined the Peage. Well, in truth, we tried to join the Peage but didn't like the look of the ticket machine that wanted to take money off of us rather than give us a ticket - somebody ought to write a book about using the Peage. We reversed out and did a three point turn and nobody hooted us or seemed at all surprised. We went back onto the road and joined the Peage later when it had learned its lesson and gave us a ticket without any trouble. We then drove about 180 miles ( I don't work in kilometres) and it cost use €30 which seemed quite reasonable until you think about it, then you think 'why are we being charged to drive on a motorway? We should charge them when they come to England'. 

So we got to our pitch at about six and now Kate is cooking sausages. 

Another Peage day tomorrow all the way to Callais. 

Monday 16th.

What a lovely last day to our holiday, before we start our three day journey home. 

We had found a leaflet in Arles about a nature reserve about twelve miles away so we plotted a cycle route ( good old Google with its cycle route planner ). It took us down some farm tracks, unmade roads and a few puddles but kept us off the busy main roads. 

But it was hot; yesterday had been cooler and it even rained last night when we were asleep but today it was back into the 30s. 

Lovely views on the way....

And some very good birds....

And a coypu

And a turtle. 

But NO ICE CREAM!

So tomorrow 300 plus miles to Croix d'Arles, next day 300 plus miles to Calais for evening tunnel then back home after an overnight in the place where the tunnel comes up! We may not get to block again till we are home. 

Sunday 15th

We had a ride in a Mercedes Benz today! OK, it was a bus but it still....  

Wonderful service. It picked us up outside the site, had a display screen to tell us which stop we were at and there were plenty of seats. I could get use to public transport if it was always like this. 

We went to the amphitheatre first. It has been mucked about with a lot since the Romans left it to the nation. At one point it was full of houses and had towers for defence. Now it has a modern seating grandstand inside and is used for large events. 

We did a lot of wandering through the back streets....

and found a nice 10....

and we visited the convent where Vincent Van Gogh spent some time. 

And now for the the younger viewers....

We also treated ourselves to ice creams...

Kate had raspberry and I had lemon meringue, melon and Parma violet!!!!  

We were nearly attacked by wild animals.....

And the trees must have been feeling cold because someone had wrapped them up with wooly jumpers....

Saturday 14th. Supplemental.

The Robertson effect. We have just checked the weather forecast for Arles for tomorrow.......

Saturday 14th.

A pleasant journey from Agay avoiding tolls but using some free motorways, yay. Some coast road and some hilly bits, called Les Alpilles, apparently, halfway between an Alp and a hill. We drove through the back of Marseille so we stocked up on drugs, very cheap. There are French flags flying everywhere, can't imagine why!

We arrived on site in time for lunch and then found our pitch, nicely marked with our name and with shade on both sides. Free wifi on our pitch too. 

The kindly man on reception (who only speaks French ) told us about the buses to Arles and printed out a timetable for us, so that is the plan for tomorrow. 

Friday 13th.

We've been lucky so far, fingers crossed. 

A resting day. We took a walk along the coast path for a while, then Kate stayed in the woods to birdwatch while I carried on along a rocky path around the headland. 

The more astute amongst you will notice the green rocks in the foreground and the red rocks on the island. Very interesting. 

We had been hearing peregrines calling and I was able to get a shot of two young waiting for food. 

We have been getting desperate to see more orchids, well, any orchids in fact. We are beginning to think they have flowered early; these seed heads would seem to conform that - I am fairly sure these are orchid not asphodel, which is also around, flowers all gone and shrivelled. 

We plan to spend the afternoon with our books somewhere shady with a sea view. 

Thursday 12th.

A fairly Uneventful journey up and around the coast of the Med - the only excitement came when we thought that the frizzante water bottles in the hold had popped their corks...... But it turned out to be a motorcycle backfiring. 

We had lunch in Monaco, we think. We pulls in to an aire off the autoroute and I think we were still in Monaco then. 

Then on along the coast on Peage until we turned onto the coast road to Agay. The site is very crowded but we have found a pitch - it will do as we are only here for a day and it is on the coastal footpath. 

Wednesday 11th.

A boat trip day. We walked down to the sea front to book our tickets for the afternoon boat then did a little light shopping, mainly for beers. 

After an early lunch we walked back to the harbour for a two thirty boat. It called in at four of the five towns (Ciliglia gets missed out because it is high up a cliff, which is why I didn't go there either) then went on to Portovenere before returning to Levanto. 

This was the boat...

These are some of the towns....

The view on the way back...

Then pizza and beer on the way home and an early bed before we move on tomorrow when we drive to Agay, back in France. 

Tuesday 10th.

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Especially concerning the Cinque Terre cliff path. It is not as open as some sites say. In fact most of it is not open. This is why ....

The only section that can be walked is between Vernazza and Monterosso. Ok. Grumble over. 

I took the the train to Riomaggiore, Kate having decided to have a rest day. This is Riomaggiore. 

Having explored the town I jumped on the train and went to Manarolo..

I had an ice cream in the town - lemon, strawberry and cherry. (Sorry no photo)

Then I got back on the train and went to Vernazza...

This was where the path started so I clutched my water bottles and headed off.

The path is not up to UK standards (Health and Safety would have a fit) and considering that people were paying €7.50 to walk it it ought to be better. My train ticket included this charge and the ability to jump on and off the train at will (provided it was stationary at the time). 

On the way I assisted a couple of young Americans by taking their photo. They asked if I wanted my photo taken. I said no, I didn't want my photo taken, but that several of my grandchildren did. So they took my picture - here I am looking relaxed as usual, but holding onto the wall, just in case. 

Eventually I reached Vernazza 

and rewarded myself with an ice cream - just lemon this time. 

Then I hopped on the train again to get back to Levanto. 

Some young people may be interested in seeing some of the trains I saw today....

Those of you who can count and speak Italian may have noticed that I have only mentioned four of the five towns..... I skipped Corniglia (Levanto is not one of the Cinque Terre, but I expect you knew that). Tomorrow we are planning to take the boat along the coast to Portovenere so I will make sure to take some of Corniglia then. (Portovenere is also not one of the Cinque Terre, but you probably knew that too).