Untimely advertising

Well we're in the middle of clearing up and getting ready for the off tomorrow. Its probably lucky that we are completely housebound as there is a storm raging outside with lightning, thunder, big wind, driving rain etc. Thankfully it is to moderate by this evening and in many respects I am glad it is here today and not tomorrow!

We got out between showers this morning and took a quick walk down the pier. We didn't get far as there are waves coming over the top! That's the view towards the little restaurant where we had lunch yesterday! What a difference 24hours makes.

I'm cleaning up and throwing out stuff from my office. I came across a very untimely ad from Fortis who were one of the first serious casualties of the global financial fondue (i.e meltdown!). I remember laughing on the beach at Alamanarre when I spotted it.

I reckon the marketing people were fired after this.

Weekend lifestyles of the carefree french

It has always amazed Una and I that no matter what sort of bad weather we get during the week in Hyeres, bang on schedule Saturday morning there are clear skies and the sun blasting you out of bed and into 'lifestyle' mode. While the world fretted about melting down in late Sept, we (along with everyone else down here) sat on Almanarre beach and read the FT (aghast) between dips in the cool med. It's quite incredible and I'm putting it down to that old adage that 'life is what you make it'.

We paid another visit to Grand Var early last week to pick up some last minute items. I visited Decathlon and got a fleece top for €10!?. As usual it was packed with people trying on runners, snow boots, ski suits, trying out walking sticks, tents, guns.. everything to do with the outdoors and getting out at the weekend. and this was tuesday morning when you would expect most people to be in work!

Its only a theory, but maybe the same way that a dark mood can attract dark skies over a house, the same thinking about the weekend and good weather by a populace can create the perfect atmosphere for the lifestyle loving french when the weekend comes around!

This morning.. blue skies, no wind, bright sun. Quelle surprise! I'm off driving since I have to sit in the same seat for over 1000miles next week so a walk from Hyeres to L'Ayguade (for lunch) along the beach sounded just fine! After less than a quarter of the way the day was so lovely that we stopped and just sat on the beach staring at the sun. We were joined there by another local so we know we're in the right frame of mind!

After a quick recce of L'Ayguade and the fact that no one was sitting outside we took a big gamble and headed back for home and towards a little place called 'Café de Plage' which is on the beach near the entrance for airport.

We've passed this Café a few times and I've never been completely convinced it was even open! Today our luck was in. Not only did they have a plat du jour but it was sangliere aussi!

To sit outside, eating wild boar and penne, drinking delicious Cotes du Provence in glorious sunshine with the waves lapping against the shore and a clear view of the Ile's de Hyeres... I could not have scripted a better second last day for us.

As the clouds rolled over we bid our farewells and not content with the distance travelled headed for a last look at La Capte and Lido (the weather forecast is not great for tomorrow - it seems there are flaws in my theory or there is a religious balance to be struck).

20 mins after we got home the wind started howling and the rain is now coming down in sheets.

Ireland, we are ready.

Who said.. 'You see what you want to see'?

We must have driven past a particular hill set back from the road on our way from Les Salins to La Londe 20, 30 maybe even more times at this stage. All we have ever noticed is the little winding track that we have always wanted to climb. Today since Ireland is already shut for Christmas I took the day off. It helped that the sun was shining too. We had a few jobs to do in Hyeres afterwards like working out how to cancel our internet account - here's the red tape answer - so it was ideal to get out in the light and conquer this hill for once and for all.

Imagine our surprise as we got close and noticed not one but two, three, four world war 2 fortifications staring at us! We had basically stumbled upon a largely intact fort which looks over the whole of the Bay of Hyeres and its only 10 minutes from the port!

After checking that we were ok to go up to it with a local farmer, we parked the car where he indicated and set off. It's incredible that you can still walk around it and its massive.

Afterwards we tried to reach the winding path but got held back by some dense scrub on the mountainside, We may try again tomorrow as having looked at google maps now I can see a clearer route.

We followed the back road into Hyeres Centre Ville so that we could visit Orange and since the weather was so bright decided on having lunch there - it's an easy life.

We found a great little restaurant serving Brochettes de Bouef as part of a Formule du Jour for €12 and sat in the sun eating and watching the world go by. Very relaxing indeed for our last Friday en France!




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Port Cros Route

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La Route de la 15 Aôut - Operation Dragoon(a)

It's been one of those weekends that you just want never to end. Of course clear blue skies and bright sunshine always help and we've had plenty of that, or at least as much light as you can have in each day as we hurtle towards the solstice. As it is also our second last weekend I guess there is an air of finality about too..

I've been fascinated with what went on down here during world war 2 since my dad found this plaque on Rayol Beach commemorating the first landing of troops there. My appetite was further whetted by the gun emplacements in Les Salins, just up the road from us.

I did some research on the web and while it threw back the usual 16,890,427 results I was barking up the wrong tree with my search words and was therefore 16,890,427 marks wide of the target.

Last week I tried another search and found this site detailing 'Operation Anvil' which was later to be renamed as Operation Dragoon. The site gives details of the background, build up, landings and aftermath of the Allied invasion of the South of France on August 15th 1944.

Reading through it I started to piece together some of the things we've seen during our stay here and thought that it might be interesting to visit all of the places that featured in the invasion.

First up on Saturday was Fort de la Vigie on I'le du Port Cros. The weather forecast for the crossing was windy but in actual fact it wasn't too bad and I think it was really interesting for us finally to sail out of Hyeres Port and have a chance to look back at our home for pretty much the last 9 months.

Port Cros is much smaller that Porquerolles and bikes are not allowed. Its also much more mountainous, incredibly lush and amazingly tranquil. Maybe the tranquillity had something to do with us being the only visitors to the Island for that day. The captain of the boat laughed when we bought tickets!

We ended up visiting each of the forts and in true Paulunas style even found our way into one of them! .Well the gate was open and no one said don't come in here - until we met this fella and he told us it was 'Prive'. He didn't seem too mind so much so no harm done.

The trip back was rougher but I got some great shots of the sunset and coming into harbour in Hyeres.

Part Deux
Today we were again greeted by clear skies and while we didn't need to set off so early we got on the road fairly sharpish with the bikes on the back. First stop was Le Rayol where my addiction to swimming literally spilled over. I couldn't help myself. Calm water, my favourite place in the world, warm sunshine, soft sand, the middle of December. In I went with Una taking snaps of the proof. Two locals appeared on the beach about 15minutes after I got out asking if I had really got in the water. In my best french I told them it was 'un peu froid mais incroyable aussi', they did not need convincing. Those mad tourists...

In the invasion it was on this beach that the French Commandoes were landed. There is a much larger memorial on the road going west towards Cavalaire - it's on the route map shown. Apparently the Commandoes were supposed to land on Cap Negre (further to the West) but due to a navigational error and they came in here.

Next stop was Cap de la Vigie. This is a headland that overlooks Cavaliere sur Mer It also has sweeping views of the whole bay all the way To Cap Lardrier. I'm guessing there were some guns up here and with 1300 ships (juicy targets) in the vicinity you can understand the importance of taking this headland asap.

We could not find any memorials to any action up here, only big (big) houses with stunning views and quiet little hotels tucked sneakily away behind the rather dull main town.

The latest Hike Credits Rating poll results have me at an all time low. The trip to Port Cros was actually Una's idea so all I had to do was tag on the visit to Fort de la Vigie with no loss to any credits I have been accruing of late. Today I had a 'little' cycle planned from Cavalier to a beach called Gigaro. While techincally Gigaro had nothing to do with the landings I though it would be good to have a look at it and see if it would be worthy of a mention in the Pauluna plage top 5. This trip would require plenty of credits.

On the map the route looks flat and while I was immediately busted for saying it was only 2 kilometres (more like 7) thankfully Una didn't spot the 'gradient' changes and after a delightful lunch we set off at a very agreeable pace along a very smooth 'piste cyclable'.

The first few kilometres were fine, then we got to the first hill and operation Dragoona began! I'm being a little unfair here and in actual fact Una was a very willing participant on this and all of our other adventures. There were actually some tough little hills but we made it to Gigaro in one piece where I toyed with the idea of another swim but bailed as I was happier sitting in the sun!

As we walked on the beach Una spotted this plaque which made the trip really worthwhile. The return trip (as always) seemed shorter and there was no walking up the hills.

In Cavalier sur Mer which really was the centre of all the action on the 15August 1944 we found some more plaques. It is interesting how little attention is paid to this invasion compared to Normandy. Reading through the complete chain of events it seems to have been a very pivotal move for the Allies to make.

While up on Cap de la Vigie I noticed a very tall wooden rig in the harbour. Before leaving we popped over to have a look and it turned out to be Moonbeam, one of the classic J Class Yachts and also a boat I raced against in Cannes in Sept. I will leave it to Uffa Fox, arguably the greatest ever yacht designer to sum up:
"No matter whether she is under way or at anchor, Moonbeam is beautiful to look upon and, combining the speed of a racer with the comfort of a cruiser, is a vessel any sea-man would be proud to own."

Sure. We'll have 2 please.
We're playing Euro Millions next week.
P+U.x

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Toulon

Its funny that we live so close to Toulon yet we have never visited so with a dodgy weather forecast on Sunday we decided the time was right to disregard the hilarious description in our guide book.. "Toulon provokes the reaction a tramp might get in St-Tropez: its seedy rought cut demeanour doesn't fit in with the glittering Cote D'Azur" .. and make our own minds up!

We drove via Carquerainne and Le Pradet then followed the signs for Le Mourillon. Everything was looking good and this is clearly where the moneyed folk live. Big beautiful beaches and winding roads lined with Palm Trees and towering gates into Villas that rock stars would be proud of.

Then we got to Toulon. We had lunch, nothing fancy, very straightforward, a walk around the old town, a walk on the Rade (or Port) to have a look at the, ferries, speedboats and the aircraft carrier just sitting there..

Then we 'got out of dodge'. The description unfortunately is pretty much bang on.

On the way home we completed our exploration of the beaches around Le Pradet. It's hard to see how this little cove called 'Pin de Galle'..

Can look like this..

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The summer view is definitely more appealing.

T- 2weeks

We've less 'things to do' this time round as we prepare to leave Hyeres. Sometimes its nice to do the simple things close to home. At the weekend we walked from the North end of Almanarre to the south, a round trip of 8kms. It was still stormy and there is plenty of evidence of the recent harsh weather around. Clearly this is not an ideal place to anchor so we'll be taking that advice with a pinch of salt.

On our way home we explored the area around Costebelle which is tucked away on a mountainside overlooking Hyeres. What a viewpoint to discover. As I said, the simple things close to home! Thats the view over the airport looking towards Ile du Levant. It must be a super train(plane)spotters place!

There is a monument to the Men and Women of the Air Force and also a great direction thingy pointing out the various sites to be seen from up there.