Ah, travel days.

Ah, travel days. I always plan them as if they are lost days, where we get ourselves from point A to point B, but really, they inevitably become bonus days, where we visit things we did not expect to visit, and still get to a new destination. Today, we begin the trek to the Italian border, which I decided to divide into 2 smaller driving days, to be able to not only enjoy the drive, but also have the chance to camp along the side of a cliff in between some of the bigger towns along the French Riviera. There are not a lot of opportunities for overlanding along this coast - in fact, most of the parking areas are so limiting, we can't even drive into them due to height restrictions - but there are a few spots, and tonight's stay will be in one of them.

Step one - leave the Tour Fondue campground. We make another stop at the local bakery for croissants and a baguette to fuel the trip, then empty and fill all the tanks to be ready for some off-grid camping.

Driving out of the Giens Peninsula

Gorgeous tree-lined roadways

I think this cat is judging our parking job

Step two - pick up some foodstuffs. We are out of ham for sandwiches, so we navigate - or Google does - into the town of Hyères to a grocery store with a big parking lot. Again we are hit with the height restriction bars, and too narrow to drive through lanes, so the challenge becomes finding a spot on the road that will accommodate the largeness of the campervan. This is not a surprise - when researching this trip, I knew parking was going to be a challenge, but we are up for the challenge, and find a spot maybe 10 minutes away on foot. No problem. We get to walk in a new city this way, and appreciate a REAL location.

Step three - make our way to our first pitstop, Port Grimaud. I chose this place based on some #vanlife vlogs I watched while researching the trip, and reviews were mostly positive, so it seemed like a good like waypoint to aim for.

Step four - pause for lunch. On our way to Port Grimaud, we passed a good-looking parking lot next to the park in the middle of a small town called Le Môle, and so we park in the shade so I can make sandwiches. I know nothing of this town, we just happened to be passing through while following all the twisty-turn roads leading from one coastal town to the next. We eat, then walk up and down the main to investigate. Le Môle has one grocery store next to its Mairie(city hall), 2 restaurants, 2 coffee shops and a skate park next to the soccer field. And I think it would make a nice place to spend a night off-grid, if we were heading in this direction, but it was completely off my radar until this very moment. Even in travelling between points, there is so much to discover.

Cute little archways	Quiet back alleys
View from the top of the church tower	The main square of Port Grimaud

Step five - find parking. Again, arriving at Port Grimaud, we are faced with height barriers on all the parking lots. Almost giving up, we driving the length of the main street leading to the beach and happen upon a spot that has just opened up, and just big enough for our van. With a little manoeuvring, we squeeze in, I pay up 2 hours of parking and we head into the cute little Venice-wannabe to wander around. We climb over all the bridges, down all the public laneways(some are off limits - this is still a residential neighbourhood), we even climb up the tower of the Ecumenical church to get a full 360 view of Port Grimaud from above. We top it all off with ice cream(this is slowly becoming the theme of the trip), then head back to van.

Tough to capture the twists and turns of the road

Driving through l'intérieur of the towns

Step 6 - Get through the traffic jams. Google has been proving its worth this trip, though I am having to be constantly aware and following closely to make sure Google is also not leading us into a warren of Medieval laneways too narrow for our vehicle. Though we originally seemed to be following the coastal road through most of the towns, I notice we are navigating more frequently through the "intérieurs" of towns, through the newer residential areas, though I appreciate the wider roads and lack of tourists crossing the road without looking. As such, we leave a lot of the traffic behind on the coastal road, and instead get to see another facet of life in these places along the French Riviera. It's not all beaches and vacation rentals, sunhats and convertibles and luxury yachts. It's parents taking their kids to school through the crosswalk while waving at us, or men hanging out at the Boulodrome clubhouse, the one with shiny trophies inside. It makes me smile.

View down the coastline from l'Observatoire

Mario looking out towards Nice

Step 7 - Find a spot to camp. Along the coastal road between Fréjus and Nice are a bunch of viewpoint of the Mediterranean, spots to pull off the highway and gaze out at the azur blue water against the red rock cliffs. Nothing is posted as to camping being illegal, which means if you can go off-grid(self-contained), you can stay for the night. However, it's still afternoon, and so most of the spots are taken up by hikers, or people stopping to admire the view. We squeeze into one larger area, at the Pointe de l'Observatoire, an old WWII bunker location, and play the long game. We sit and wait. We watch cars come and go. We move closer to the our desired spot. I begin to cook dinner. More cars leave. I might have stored the pasta sauce in the drawer while we move again. Finally, we get into the best position possible to be safe, secure and able to exit tomorrow morning, but it took the whole lot clearing out for us to do so. The pasta sauce survived, and it was delicious. And we made a point of heading out to the edge of the cliffs to watch the sun set behind the red rocks along the coast, glass of rosé in hand.