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Wednesday 6th March – Saint Maxime to Bordighera

A beautiful morning saw us make a coffee stop in Cannes where we were planning on following the trail of celebrity handprints, but most of them were included in an area being set up surrounding the conference centre and were not accessible. We bought crepes to go with our coffee and ate them overlooking the marina. Then back into the van and to lunch in Nice.

Al found a couple of lunch options from “Where Chef’s eat” and although the first one was closed the 2nd did not disappoint. La Rossettisserie, Nice is a small restaurant (at this time of year, I believe there is a nearby dining room for peak times) where you pick 1 item from the 4 meat options and 1 option from the accompaniments. I had roast pork with ratatouille while Al had roast veal with mashed potato. The walls are covered in the comments of grateful customers. Al declared it one of the best meals he had ever eaten.

  • Roast Pork
  • Roast Veal

Next stop was Monaco, here we found a lot of renovation work to the extent that billboards with images of the sea blocked the view to the actual sea because there was building work on the shore. Even the world famous street racing circuit for the grand prix had been dug up, presumably to allow for resurfacing before the race later this year. We were able to recognise and photograph some of the iconic landmarks and to get into the marina to admire the yachts and superyachts. We had a drink in a marina facing bar before trekking back to the van and heading for Italy

From La Ciotat to Monte Carlo we had mostly followed the coast road (although the sat nav was fighting us on it) which meant that we hugged the cliffs and mountains, going up and down on winding roads to get into and out of each coastal resort. Al was doing all of this on the other side of the road in a right hand drive van. Crossing the border was less of a marker than we anticipated. I sat with passports in hand as we entered a tunnel in France and emerged in Italy, unsure of what checks, if any, there would be from one Schengen country to another and the answer, none at all.

We arrived in Bordighera as the sun was setting. We had booked our hotel, Astoria, during the Monte Carlo stop and we were pleased to find that once again, we had a balcony. The hotel was fairly central so we popped to a bar to consider our options and were pleased to have aperitivo* delivered with the drinks, ah Italy! Al had found the details of a restaurant up the hill and after a steep climb we found it in the back streets. Ristorante Magiarge specialised in wine, so we treated ourselves to a bottle and ate their tasting menu, the food was fantastic.

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Monday 4th March – Chartres to Saint Etienne

At the Chartres hotel we decided against breakfast, choosing instead to hit the road straight away and pick up coffee and sandwiches en route. Central France is in many ways like Central Australia, wide open and the farm equipment gets bigger the further you travel. The Central Massif is very flat and we watched the storms approach and pass over for hours.

We had pencilled in Lyon for 2nd stop but revised our plans when it occurred to us that Lyon is full of excellent restaurants, many of which would be quite expensive. We are travelling on a tight budget with our house in the van. We would not be able to properly immerse ourselves in the experience this time around, so we looked for an alternate stop. For a mad moment we considered Geneva as we could see how relatively close this was to Lyon. A quick check of booking.com brought us up sharply as we realised that the cheapest hotel would set us back a cool £500. So it was Saint Etienne, chosen both for the appropriateness of our route and the 90’s pop group of the same name.

Our hotel had been selected because it had parking, but on arrival the parking was not available, however we were directed to parking 2 minutes’ walk away. We are big fans of France’s underground parking. No matter how ancient the town or how significant the buildings, you can usually find and easily accessible car park underneath a city with reasonable parking charges. By the time we got back to the hotel with our overnight bags we discovered we had been upgraded to a junior suite on the top floor with a balcony, lucky us!

  • The First balcony…

  • Determined to use the balcony even though it is March

It turns out Monday night in Saint Etienne is not an easier place to get food than Chartres on a Sunday. Most places were closed and not opening until Tuesday or even Wednesday. There were some expensive Italian places open but we settled on a local fast food restaurant which sold fantastic burgers with beer and wine. There is something a little disconcerting about taking your burger out of it’s paper wrapping next to your long stemmed wine glass, but I managed.

Fast food French style
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Sunday 3rd March – Southampton to Chartres (via Newhaven to Dieppe)

  • Rough seas and a cold wind on our way out of the country!

Jennie, Al and a full Volkswagen caddy made their way from Hedge End to Newhaven for a ferry crossing to Dieppe. There was a storm brewing which made our initial departure a little uncomfortable, but we remained ahead of it, with the sailing smoothing out before our arrival. After landing at Dieppe we stopped only for petrol, mixte baguettes and water before heading straight to Chartres.

Chartres is a beautiful cathedral town. The hotel we found was central and the room was exactly what we required. We had a brief walk about before searching for dinner.  Looking for food on Sunday evenings is always a challenge and no less so here. There were a couple of expensive places open near to the Cathedral, but most of the restaurants were closed. We ended up in an odd American TV themed restaurant where Al enjoyed a burger and I was served a bucket of Caesar salad. Al found a new beer and bitters combo (Piconbiere) that made his evening.