Travelling south and east we made our way back down to the coast and stopped near Hyères-Plage and the Presqu’île de Giens which looks out over the islands of Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Ile de Levant – Les îles d’Or. We stopped in the village of Giens with views on one side out to sea towards the islands and on the other side over the Golfe de Giens. From our vantage point we could also see down to the the beaches at the lagoons of Pesquiers where a number of motorhomes were parked and we decided to make a lunch stop there.
Above us were the sails of kite surfers and we ventured down onto the beach to have a closer look where we found not only kite surfers and wind surfers but a new sport we hadn’t seen before. Joe asked one of the wetsuit-clad surfers what they were doing and was told ‘wing-foiling’. In fact there were two new-to-us sports happening in front of us. ‘Wind-foiling’ is pretty much the same as traditional wind-surfing, with a sail fixed to a board, except that the board has an aerofoil, a solid keel-like projection under the board, that lifts the board above the surface of the water once a certain speed is reached. In ‘Wing-foiling’ the surfer holds an inflatable kite/sail above their head and by ‘pumping’ it with the wind gets the board, also on an aerofoil, to lift out of the water. The Mistral wind has been blowing quite strongly so everyone on the water was zipping along at huge speeds and it looked exhilarating, if tiring.
This part of the coastline, the start of the French Riviera, is stunning but unfortunately is not very friendly to those travelling in campervans and motorhomes. Parking, even just to stop and visit for a couple of hours, is prohibited in most towns; car parks have height restriction barriers to ensure you don’t park and there are 30km speed limits with large speed bumps every few yards along the road. It’s understandable to some extent, because the coastal towns would be inundated with motorhomers and unfortunately not everyone is always respectful with regard to disposing of waste, but it makes for a stressful driving experience. It also means that we are pretty much limited to stopping at campsites as there are definitely no off-grid spots here. With this in mind we stopped for a couple of days further east at a site at Cavalaire-sur-Mer, an attractive coastal town with a port area and more rugged coves.
The Mistral wind was blowing very strongly for one of the days but dropped to leave a calm bright day, ideal for exploring on the motorbike. We headed first a little way further east to Saint-Tropez and, unlike motorhomes, on the bike we’re able to park right down in the port area. The good weather, as well as the first round of the French elections, had certainly brought people out. Despite Saint-Tropez’s glitzy reputation, it is actually quite a manageable scale and has a charm and we enjoyed looking at the high end boats and seeing how the other half lives.
From there we headed into the hills behind the coast to ride some of the ridge roads. These were probably some of the most winding roads we’ve ridden since Corsica, so hard work for Joe but less stressful and rewarded by wonderful views back down to the coast.
