WEEK NINE

Two exciting things happened this week. One, we didn’t pay a cent for accommodation (!!!) and considering we have been travelling through the notoriously expensive South of France, we reckon this is an amazing feat. Two, well, we’ll get to that later…

Monday through Friday was spent exploring the famous Cote d’Azur which we were really excited about. First stop was Marseillan Plage (just outside of Montpellier) and to say we were underwhelmed would be an overstatement.

The beach left a lot to be desired having come straight from Portugal (think rocky shores and cloudy water). It was definitely not what we were expecting so we packed up Pegs after a little lounge on the beach and headed further east.

We ended up at Martigues and drove around the coast in search of the perfect bay to stay at. There were a heap to choose from, some more populated than others, so we chose a small cove that was a bit more quiet. We played around in the cool, shallow waters before driving further down the road to a small hidden carpark, hoping no one would move us along because there were literally no other campers around.

We left Martigues and SOMEHOW landed the most perfect spot in a little town outside of Nice by the name of St Laurent du Var. There is literally NO parking in Nice for motorhomes (as we found from many a google search and a few chats with the locals) so we got extremely lucky.

The area is reserved for a maximum of 5 motorhomes (3 of which were being used by aforementioned locals) and as we rounded the corner, one spot was left! There is no limit to the parking times so we made the most of it and spent the next three nights here.

The train ride into Nice cost 2.20€ each and took about 10 minutes so we weren’t far from the hustle and bustle. We hopped off the train and jumped straight on the tram which took us into the heart of the old town.

We headed straight to the beach because it was approximately one million degrees and ended up renting two chairs at Opéra Plage Beach Club. It was 16€ each but worth it for the novelty plus, we didn’t have to lay on rocks. Win, win.

We left just after lunch and grabbed a bit to eat in the middle of the old town before meandering through the streets and up to Castle Hill for panoramic views of the promenade and port.

On Thursday we spent the morning at the local beach in St Laurent du Var before (unwillingly) dressing up and heading to Monaco for the afternoon. The return train cost close to 20€ for the both of us and took a little while because of how busy it was.

Once in Monaco, we walked uphill (in the searing heat) along the port to reach the Monte Carlo Casino. We (Jack) perved on all the cars parked in Casino Square before heading down to Mirabeau Corner (for all the formula one lovers out there). Back up to the casino, we each paid the 17€ entry and decided to grab a drink first and scope out the place.

We decided that we’d have a crack at roulette and found the table with the smallest possible buy in. After a bit of back and forth we left the casino with grins on our faces and headed off to the train station.

On Friday morning (our 7th anniversary, no less) we hit the road again and started heading north to the French Alps. As we’d taken some toll roads to get around the South of France, we avoided these on this occasion and were lucky to make some pretty incredible pit stops along the way.

First was Lac de Castillon, where we met a German couple having a swim in the blue as blue waters. We joined and it was SO nice to be in fresh water after days of sun, salt and non stop heat.

The second pit stop was a rest area on the river in Serres. Someone had gone to the huge effort of creating little pools down the river so we sat and ‘became one’ with nature (according to Jack). So amazing and we are still kicking ourselves that we didn’t stay the night.

From here, feeling super refreshed, we jumped back in the car and drove through to Grenoble where we camped overnight in a car park with a million other motorhomes.

We hit the road early on Saturday morning as Jack had picked out a hike to do that was about an hour away from Grenoble.

We arrived and climbed all the way up Chamechaude (about 730m elevation, 7km round trip, constant up hill battle with only some whinging) and at the top (after a snack of course), Jack popped the BIG QUESTION and of course I said YES (after recovering from the shock and shouting a few choice swear words)!!!

Unfortunately, the ring doesn’t fit (still crying) so we are on the hunt for a jeweller to resize and make my life (and left hand) complete – wish us luck. Once we had both recovered from the proposal, we made the long journey back down the mountain to Peggy and onward to Chamonix.

We stayed just outside of Chamonix in a village called Argentière, in a car park with a (super clean) public toilet – again, completely free! We celebrated the day with a few bottles of wine and lots of calls back home.

We woke to gloomy weather on Sunday so had a quiet day in the van, recovering from the hike and enjoying the fact WE ARE ENGAGED!! Much love to everyone sending their congratulations and well wishes – we so wish we were home to celebrate this moment with our loved ones but I settled with having a quiet day in Pegs with my fiancé.

Until Week Ten! Au Revoir x