Sept. 27: Friday: Another trek on the Sentier Littorale.
So…are you bored yet with all the photos of the Mediterranean coastline? I hope not, because that is what I have more of for you today. Of course we began the day with our gardening work from 7:30 till…it was noon today. Then back to the apartment for lunch, and we met S & T at 2:00 to drive to Plage De L’Estagnol. For those of you who don’t know French, plage means beach. S & T wanted an afternoon lying on the beach reading and sketching along with some swimming, and Cathy and Debi wanted to walk more of the Sentier Littorale, so we combined forces. They stayed at Plage De L’Estagnol and we took up the trail there and walked through Plage Du Grand Jardin, Plage De La Mere Dieu, Plage De La Vignasse, and ended at Plage De Cabasson, where they picked us up.
The walk took 2 hours. We did it leisurely, with lots of stops to gawk at the amazing scenery and to take photos. The weather was perfect for it, a mix of sun and clouds, warm but not too hot, a gentle breeze but no wind. The terrain wasn’t easy and it was quite varied. Sometimes we barefooted it through the surf, sometimes we walked through the woods, sometimes we scrambled over rocks, and, as always, there were all sorts of stairs. The views of the sea were breathtaking. We aren’t tired of them – hope you aren’t either. There was quite a bit of nudity, both male and female, old and young, in-shape and out-of-shape – in short, real people. Some of you will be disappointed, some relieved, but I tucked my camera away on the nude beach we walked through. I’m definitely not in Kansas!! But, being an artist, it’s all apples and oranges to me.
Constantly in our view the entire walk was Fort de Bregancon, from the 16th Century, which sits on a small island linked to Cap Benat by a footbridge. It’s closed to the public. Abandoned in the early 18th Century, then restored under the young General Bonaparte, in 1968 it became the summer retreat of French Presidents. The photos I took only show it at a distance.
At the end of our walk, S & T came to pick us up at Plage De Cabasson. Cathy went for a swim while we waited, but I opted for an espresso and a dish of ice cream. In the last 10 minutes (might have been shorter than that), while we waited for our friends to whisk us away in their convertible, we did an art session. Cathy threw hers away, but I kept mine. Later, back at the apartment after dinner, we did another art session. Cathy did a charcoal drawing (she is doing one a day), and I did a second collage. I’ll include photos of all three works.
Tomorrow we are going back to St. Tropez, where I can work on my sunburn somemore. Nah, just kidding. There is some sailing race going on – I’ll be more specific in tomorrow’s blog post – and we don’t plan to watch it, but want to see the boats. We also want to see more of St. Tropez. We are thinking there might be stops at a couple more places on the way back, but we are leaving the day loose. It’s so nice to have a couple of days off!!
Now, on to the photos. Hope you enjoy them.
Vicki
September 28th, 2013 at 8:41 pm
You make it possible to live vicariously with your stunning photos – the scenery just keeps getting more magnificent. Thank you for sharing so much of this adventure with us! I’m very, very envious….but so happy you are having such a super time.
Laura
September 27th, 2013 at 9:41 pm
I am definitely NOT tired of the gorgeous seaside photos. Between your photos and the descriptions you have really captured the extreme variations in terrain.
Those rocks with the holes in them were visually inspiring and reminded me a bit of you collage book!
Beautiful photos….and places! Such a serene feeling conveyed, despite your challenging walk/hike/climb! Glad you had some time off to enjoy this place.