Day Twenty Three

France: Avignon to
France: St Tropez

Sunday 27th July

My My how time flies when your having fun. Havn't posted for ages. But I have been writing the blogs each day so I'll catch up with loads of posts today. I’ve decided my blog entries need a little more of a chapter title, especially considering I seem to be writing a chapter every entry.

The Escape.

We awoke, with dull heads and that sense of deflation you can get after a turbo charged Saturday night out. Knowing how bad the campsite was I didn’t want to get out of Priscilla and spent an hour or so with the guide books trying to find a luxurious 4 star campsite we could go and pamper ourselves in. Feeling hung over and travel weary I wanted to put down some roots down for a few days, somewhere that would be home for a while, somewhere that was far away from this campsite from hell.

We mustered ourselves together I think my first words to Ian on stepping out of Prscilla were “I want to go”. We had hatched a plan over drinks the previous night, to take in more of Avignon and walk onto the famous Avignon Pont (bridge for those that don’t know the song). We’d been signing the song and felt as though a visit here just wouldn’t be complete without standing on said bridge. But all I wanted to do was get the hell out of this campsite and have a shower and swim in a pool. With a look of total relief on his face, Ian said good and jumped up to pack.

Within 30 minutes (we literally threw everything into Priscilla) we were back on the open road again, destination Cote D’Azur. I had aspirations on visiting Cassis and the calancales, having dreamed of swimming in the turquoise blue waters of a secluded cove. But after 3 phone calls to campsites in the vicinity, all with no availability, we needed a new plan.

Valiantly (and battling his hangover) Ian scoured the guide books, recognising a campsite he had been to several times set back from the famous Pampelone beaches of St Tropez. A phone call later and our new destination was secured.

We arrived at camping Domaine ?????? and were immediately impressed by the efficiency of the camping reception, a friendly young Dutch receptionist utilising her database to give us options for sea vies, shade or a combination of the 2. We were both smiling again, a massive site with over 450 places I was a little concerned that it may be heaving and over run with people, but these fears were easily overcome. Its an absolutely super site and the pitch we finally chose did indeed have an amazing sea view. The site is set back on level terraces into the hillside of a pine and eucalyptus forest shielding, campers from the sun and preserving the landscape. As we pitch we peered out at our sea view, the weekend yachts and boats of the rich and famous moored in the bay, stunning and all very exciting.

It was another beautiful day, clear blue skies and intensely hot, and we were soon showered refreshed and down by the pool complex swimming and sunning ourselves. We ate pizza and drank wine in the camp restaurant that evening, reflecting on the last 24 hours of madness relived at being able to spend 4 nights in one spot and pamper ourselves a little.