Meandering Through France to the Cote d'Azur

by Nick Parsons

‘A holiday with diving’ wasn’t quite what other members of our group had in mind, so while they were racing through France to the sun, we were bimbling along in the pouring rain! The plan was to stay in caravans at Port Grimaud, between St. Tropez and St. Maxime on the Cote d’ Azur, making use of the local diving operation, Port Grimaud Plongee/Cote d’ Azur diving.

We set out two days before the others so that we could amble along the back roads, stopping to look at places of interest. OK it’s still a long way, but making three overnight camping stops made it an easy run, and anyway our first night stop was at Cognac! Arriving just in time to go on the ‘English’ tour of the Martell cognac distillery, excellent value, FREE and including a tasting at the end, shame we were too late to go round twice! A very interesting tour, did you know 30% of the spirit maturing in the barrels evaporates…… .I walked round taking deep breaths.

Onward through the rain, passing towns and villages once under the rule of the English kings. We spent the night in a little town called Millau on the river Tarn. In the centre of the mediaeval quarter we searched for somewhere to eat, ordering in our best French (well we didn’t starve!) our waiter turns out to be the owner and from Swanage! Small world?

The trip through the Tarn gorge, a 700m. deep gash carved by the river through the limestone, is spectacular, the road climbing up the gorge side to the plateau above was memorable, hairpin bends galore, up a cliff face, the camper van following us was forced to shuffle forwards and backwards to get round the bends! Wow! Shame about the British car coming down the hill towards us on the LEFT!

Our next target was the Cevenne Corniche a road with spectacular views over the forest. Sorry about the short cut I found, Allen! It was so narrow it was touch and go getting the car between the farm buildings, and as for the hairpin bends….. Road signs warning of wild boar bring cries of ‘here piggy piggy’ from the back seat, who are these people?!

The Pont du Gard was the next tick on the visit list, this Roman aquaduct is well worth a visit, but the bridge tends to be obscured by tourists, good job it’s so big. At last the sun is shining. Camping in a pine forest was great, protected from the Mistral, entertained by the red squirrels, kept awake by the bloody owls…..!

Last day of travelling we visited the Camargue (briefly), paddled, saw some flamingos, white horses (Please stop singing that tune! "On white horses…") even the black bulls, what more could you ask? We travel east and finally cross the Massif des Maures range of hills and descend to our destination. This road would be great in the right car, a nice sporty number, rag top Lotus perhaps, if only I won the Lottery. We snobs are up the hill on a different campsite from the rest, they have the beach, shaded caravans in rows, Marilyn’s bar, we are in a pine and eucalyptus shaded caravan (no koalas though!), with our own, sorry Sarah’s, Olympic size swimming pool and bar, OK it’s further from the sea but it’s cheaper!

The Dive centre is an old farmhouse and barn by the main road, however the 08:15 meet is a killer after an evening exploring the local nightlife! This year the diving was to be based on Ty Morgane the outfit's new hard boat, something of a surprise as we had been expecting to use a RIB, this meant, because of the Mistral, the boat couldn’t go out, as the bay this side was too rough! The vessel will carry up to 22 divers, though that might be a little cosy, particularly considering that there is no loo! Sorry girls!

The diving is good, warm (usually!) clear water, (the viz was only 15m. this year, last year it was over 30m). One of the high spots is diving the Rubis an old submarine deliberately sunk by the French navy for training purposes, pictures of it appear in Jacques Cousteau’s book The Silent World. This 66m. long sub lies upright and almost intact in 42m., sometimes the whole thing is visible as you descend the shot! Surrounded in clouds of fish it also plays host to several large Morays the odd Conger and a formidable looking Ling. With deco stops about the same length as bottom time you can see the outside of the whole wreck. Some intrepid souls have entered through the open hatches, but it is a tight squeeze in full kit.

Dive List
* Sardineaux reef : Great scenery, nice drop off to 40m. (3 – 40m.)
* Rubis : Super sub dive 35 – 40m.
* L’Espingole : small destroyer/torpedo boat, still has 2 bronze props! AND 48mm shell cases. 40m.
* Le Prophete : an ancient coaster flattened apart from the boiler/engine, big flywheel, Conger with a headache (ask Mike!). 35m.
* Togo : Cargo steamer, DEEP 45 – 60m.
* Ramon : Cargo steamer just outside Cavalaire 22m. watch out for crazy charter skippers with big boats!
* Cardinal marker : Gulf of St. Tropez : 5 – 40m. ‘Like the Eddystone on a good day’. Loads of life.
* Relaxe : Small ferry? 30m+, good dive, bit like the western English Channel!
* LST 282 : Apparently a tank landing craft, at St. Raphael, first vessel sunk in action by a guided missile, 7 – 10m. a pretty shore dive.

  The night dives are good too with a different cast of marine characters, the fish are interesting too!

The nightlife is what you make it, eating, drinking, relaxing, partying, whatever, with St. Tropez so close you can even rub shoulders with the celebs! Drooling over the big yachts in the harbour is expected by their owners, even a big lottery win couldn’t buy some of them! If you decide to take pictures, a word of warning, the locals take a dim view of you using their dustbins as an impromptu tripod.

We took a day out to go to Monaco and see the Oceanographic museum, well worth a visit, the aquarium is fascinating and the museum enthralling if you are into ‘things that live in the oceans’.
The idea was to meet Ruth and Malcolm ‘by the Yellow submarine at 12 noon’, 11:55 we are struggling to park the car. We leave Allen to park it and dash up the 5 storeys of underground car park stairs, to reach the rendezvous point, arriving on the stroke of 12, to find Allen waiting for us, he had used the lift! Malcolm later navigated us out of the principality, he sat with the map on his knee, a finger pointing to the same spot as we got lost! Nice trip round the F1 circuit though!

The trip back to base went via La Turbie, a village in the hills behind Monaco, where in 7BC the Romans built a monument to Caesar Augustus, to celebrate his subjugation of the Gauls, so somebody managed it! The ruin looks down 480m. to Monaco, a spectacular sight.

Back at base ‘The great towel hunt’ was undertaken early one morning. Strong winds during the night had blown my towel from the washing line, where it had been drying. An extensive search ensued downwind, up trees, under caravans, in bushes, anywhere it might have blown. After nearly an hour it was given up as a lost cause. Returning to the caravan, there it was, on the drier, where I had left it the night before when I returned from the bar!

Last day, the boat would take us to dive L’Espingole and on to lunch in Cavalaire. Great dive, videoed by Hamish who joined us for the day, star performances from all those filmed.
We were treated to a display by the local Microlight seaplane club, as we approached Cavalaire, one of which was literally a small RIB with wings! My spies tell me that these can reach 10,000ft., which way? If anyone sees Malcolm trying to fit wings to the BWM for God’s sake stop him!

Homeward bound,
* ‘let’s go to the Verdon canyon’
* ‘How high is it? I’ve still got 12 hours no fly!’

Calculation showed it would not be too high, and I would be clear before we got anywhere near it. Good job, it’s a spectacular sight, but as for Bungee jumping off the 180m. high bridge, forget it.
Our journey then proceeded through the Lavender producing area of Provence, the harvest was over, so no lavender smell.

We left Provence via Sisteron and pushed on through spectacular mountain scenery to Grenoble, BIG traffic jam, where they are mutilating a beautiful valley, with an autoroute extension. This was followed by a dash along the autoroute to Riom, where we climbed into the Dome hills, to reach a campsite and auberge in a secluded hamlet. Amazing food, you get the menu, all of it! A Hunters meal, for 72 Francs, and you are not allowed to leave anything! Great, very French peasant! A word of warning, ‘watch your hand bags etc. as the owner’s Dachshund has a nasty habit of peeing on anything you put on the floor! Ask Sarah!

The next day involved visiting Volvic and the castle above it, worth a look. Then cashing a traveller’s cheque in a small town bank, very traumatic when the computer system crashed as they processed it!

The journey then revolved around finding an ‘open’ supermarket, boy they have long lunch breaks, and a ‘Blue Elephant’ car wash, a must for the photo album! We planned to spend the night at Orleans, and after much searching found the campsite on the banks of the Loiret river in the suburbs. Having decided to explore this historic city we decided to walk in. A mile later we realised we were going the wrong way, so we caught the bus. Two little old ladies, on the bus, were very displeased with us, as we did not get our tickets stamped (really must get a French dictionary!) An exciting ride, they drive the buses like they drive their cars! Orleans – everything is Joan of Arc (did she really exist? depends which books you read!) Had a good meal, then the white knuckle ride on the bus back to the campsite, shame the driver missed our stop!

Isn’t this journey taking a long time?!

Chartres next stop, biggest gothic cathedral in Europe, if you can see it through the tourists! Fabulous stained glass windows dating back to the twelfth century. Cathedral apart, the old mediaeval city is well preserved and almost tourist free, very atmospheric.

The last night of the holiday was spent in Brittany, almost the only people on the campsite, just as well, when Allen used his electric razor ALL the power went off! The mile walk to the Auberge that was closed’ and the mile back, the lady who opened her restaurant just for us, the last nights are always eventful!

We finally returned to Roscoff, having paid the statutory visit to the hypermarket, to fill the remaining spaces in the car with sensibly priced booze, and a teddy bear called Nicole (but that is another story!).

A great trip, over 2000 miles, with very few ‘boring bits’, sounds a bit too educational doesn’t it! Sarah and I are looking for jobs as professional beach bums, warm climate, clear blue sea, good food….. lottery winners only need apply!


Totnes Sub Aqua Club

Cote D’Azur Diving Cote d'Azur Diving