Another beautiful day and sadly the day we have decided to move on – that is not to say we won’t be back as it has been so peaceful at this Aire and ideally located, but for now, onwards and a short drive to the outskirts of St Tropez.

We find roadside parking on the way into town and decide to not try and get any closer as there is a continuous stream of traffic heading that way. It only takes us about 20 minutes to walk down to the shore and may be another 10 into the old town proper which envelopes the main Marina.

We follow the crowds around the marina checking out the millions of pounds worth of craft moored there…

And then follow the coast line to visit the 3 small beaches – Plage de la Glaye….

Plage de la Ponche….

And on the edge of the town – Plage de la Fontanette….

The beaches themselves are not really very exciting but the beautiful almost tumble down peach houses that surround them are just beautiful.

As I suspected the main old town with it’s Gucci and like designer shops was very busy (the shops themselves not so much maybe the bouncers on the doors is a bit off putting to some?) but as we soon find out it is very easy to loose the crowds by just heading away from the main port and into the myriad of little streets running away from the centre….

Though busy I would agree that it is a stunning little town. We meandered our way back to the van and pressed on the short distance to our next stop – St Maxime….

No where near as busy or indeed as beautiful but nevertheless we enjoyed a lovely walk along the sea front promenade (a lot of the beaches are not dog friendly) with just enough sea breeze to keep us cool and checked out all the beaches on the way….

Plage de Croisette and de Maxim on the way into town….

Plage de Club Nautique and Plage de St Maxime on either side of the bridge in the centre of town….

And finally Plage de Saudan, a rather forgotton little bit of sand on the far side of the marina and town….

It is by now getting incredibly hot and the van was like an oven so we had to wait a while with all the doors open for it to cool down enough to be bearable as we drove the short distance, via a supermarket to our campsite for the next 3 nights at St Aygulf.

To give the van a chance to cool down before we settled in we took a brief walk to check out the 3 beaches in the immediate vicinity – Plages de la Galliarde, des Eclaireurs and de la Galliard Ouest….

The main sandy one and the one immediately outside the site, unfortunately is not dog friendly which is a real shame after being so spoilt last week on Plage de Pampelonne – but I’m sure we will cope.

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 27
• Miles walked – 9
• Beaches – 11
• Food – £25.86
• O/N – £23.12

Yet another beautiful day – this is certainly the best weather I have ever experienced at Easter and we are making the most of it with a couple of hours on the beach and then when it is a bit cooler in late afternoon we took a stroll down to the far end of the beach – Plage de Tahiti (still really part of Plage de Pampelonne)….

On the way back we picked up a bit of shopping before settling for another little while on Plage de Pampelonne…

Before returning to the Aire via the little footbridge….

Hoping that we have left it late enough to catch our little friend the Beaver….

We did just that and took a little video of him heading off into the sunset – which you can see on Instagram as my membership here does not allow videos.

Today’s stats:

• Miles walked – 7
• Beaches – 2
• Groceries – £6.05
• O/N – £20

It was quite a windy night last night, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect this morning – I needn’t have worried, another sunshiny day and without the wind which had blown itself out, a lovely warm one too.

I took the plunge and swapped some of my winter wear for summer wear – not a complete commitment mind as it is only the end of March but hey we are on the Med!

We pottered down on the beach for a while and then set off in an easterly direction along the cycle path that runs along the back of the Aire over the top of Cap Negre and down into the little seaside community of Pramousquier for a wander and play on the beach there….

Thoughts of the day:

• I have spent quite a while looking for possible places to stay, heading east towards and into Italy and it is not looking very good. The campsites (which are just opening) are all around 40 to 50 euros a night, which is way too much for me and the Aires de Camping Car Park which have held me in good stead throughout France do not appear to have a presence in northern Italy. So I’ve decided I’m just going to have to jump between the few coastal aires that are available and wing it for a while – time will tell.

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 0
• Miles walked – 4
• Beaches – 1
• O/N – £19.16

We awoke to a beautiful day in paradise, a little windy but reasonably warm (I’ve shed a fleecy layer for the first time since we were in France last year!) and oh the joy of taking our morning walk along the sea front….

After a bit of a lazy morning we set out for a walk in the afternoon sun – spending a while playing on the far end of Plage de Cavaliere….

The beach was surprisingly quiet but all the beach bars seem to be getting ready to open up for the season on the 1st of April which would appear to be the starting point of the season here. We then took a walk westwards along the cycle path – through a rather extensive tunnel….

With brief glimpses along the way, out along this magnificent coastline….

Past the little Plage de Jean Blanc of which we only caught a brief glimpse of, from above, as there were a lot of steps down (and even more coming back up!) and a couple of rather unfriendly guard dogs just on the other side of the fence….

Our destination did not disappoint as we were rewarded with this little beauty Plage d’Aiguebelle….

A little play on here to recharge our batteries (as we really haven’t done much in the way of walking so far) before heading back to the van.

Thoughts of the day:

• Even off season this area of France is considerably more expensive than I found things on the west coast last year and I am also a little concerned about the lack of and price (high) of potential park ups should we venture along the coast into Italy, as is the current plan. Need to think things through a bit.

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 0
• Miles walked – 6
• Beaches – 3
• O/N – £19.17