Day 12: La Napoule to Roquefort-les-Pins My last day of walking this time around. I passed 3 “Route Barré” (road block) signs today, and many previously, and for the first time I recall, the road was actually blocked for walkers! I started the day in La Napoule, and followed the Siagne river inland. A peaceful walk, past Cannes Old Golf Course…
Day 11: Frejus to La Napoule A beautiful sunny day, for a fabulous walk through the Estérel Mountains, a rugged range of red mountains stretching inland from the Mediterranean between Saint-Raphaël and La Napoule. I left Frejus walking along its Roman wall, passing an historical tower – Lanterne d’Auguste – a lighthouse dating back to the 2nd century, before walking out…
Day 10: Lers Arcs to Frejus As so often on this trip, a walk in two parts. A fabulous morning walk in the mountain range between Le Muy and Roquebrune-sur-Argens and a mixed afternoon, mainly on roads towards Frejus. For the first time I saw wild boar and I arrived to see the carnival in Puget-sur-Argens. There were a number of…
Day 9: Le Thoronet to Les Arcs After a couple of sunny days, I was back walking under grey clouds with occasional light rain. I also got my feet, shoes and socks soaked, but not by the rain. As I left town, I passed a memorial with a narrow gauged train, leaving a mine – a reminder that bauxite, used in aluminum,…
Day 8: Brignoles to Le Thoronet Quite a lot of road walking today as I continue east towards Le Thoronet and it’s Abbey, a few kilometers outside town. I left Brignoles going north towards Le Val on the relatively busy D554. Just before Le Val I turned east. We had driven this way last night and I thought I would be…
Pictures from Cotigac and Entrecasteaux We drove north from Brignoles to visit the two villages of Cotigac and Entrecasteaux. The village of Cotignac nestles at the foot of a 80-metre high cliff. At the top of the cliff stand two square towers, the “sentinelles”, which have been standing guard over the village and surrounding area since the Middle Ages. The…
Day 7: Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume to Brignoles It was supposed to be a short day, but blindly following the red and white route directions took me 30km instead of the planned 22km. I left the hotel on the outskirts of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume and walked into the town to visit the Cathedral, before following a quiet road towards Bras. The Cathedral is quite imposing,…
Day 6: Puyloubier to Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume There were high expectations after yesterday’s great stage. Today’s stage, the first of a couple of shorter stages, 22km, continues east, ending in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume and its Cathedral, which towers above the town and is clearly seen from the motorway. It was yet another day where the sun shined all morning and rain was scheduled for…
Day 5: Aix-en-Provence to Puyloubier After a day off seeing the sights in Aix-en-Provence, day five took me to the Bimont Dam and the Sainte-Victoire Mountains, including a climb up to almost 600m. Both weather-wise, walk-wise and scenery-wise, todays 28km was a great walk. I left the hotel fairly late and walked through the center of Aix-en-Provence passing the Rotonde…
Pictures from Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence is in my opinion one of the most beautiful cities in France. A university town, with many fountains, historic buildings, narrow streets and large boulevards, local shops and restaurants. We had a pleasant morning and early afternoon in the sun, before the rain kicked in, yet again, around 3 o’clock. We had a a…
Day 4: Aix-en-Provence to Salon-de-Provence (-10km) It’s Sunday and I had originally planned as a day off to visit Aix-en-Provence. However, I changed my plans and decided to walk the what I thought was 26km to where I ended yesterday, 10kms after Salon-de-Provence. It turned out to be a few kilometers longer. Today was cloudy and rain was scheduled for 3pm,…
Day 3: Mouires to Salon-de-Provence (+10km) It rained heavily yesterday evening and I was prepared for some flooded paths as I left after breakfast. It turned out not to be too bad, although there was a puddle here and there. Today was one of the longest stages on my trip along Via Aurelia, 36km with a modest elevation gain of 440m.…
Day 2: Arles to Mouries After a couple of days in Nimes and a day in Uzes and Arles, I was back on the road, on a warm day, turning more and more cloudy as the day progressed. The day ended with a torrential downpour, but luckily I wasn’t walking by then. From Arles I will primarily follow the GR…
Pictures from Uzes and Arles After a couple of days in Nimes, we drove to Uzes and Arles. Uze is a beautiful small town with an historic centre, a large square, which I am sure is packed during summer, a cathedral and a palace. The town attracts many visitors due to its proximity to Pont du Gard, the most famous…
Pictures from Nîmes After walking between St. Gilles and Arles, we spent a couple of days in Nîmes, where we had briefly visited in the early 90’s. Nîmes is an old Roman town, often called the most roman town outside Italy and even “France’s Rome”. It is famous for many historical buildings, most notably the Arena and the…
Day 1: St. Gilles to Arles Spring had arrived in Provence, as we started off on the first day of my through hike between St. Gilles and Roquefort on the Côte d’Azur. My wife joined me for the 22km hike between St. Gilles and Arles, primarily along the Petit Rhone river, a branch of the Rhone that runs from Fourques (just…
Day 14: Arnados to A Coruna Airport The last day of my trip to fill in the bits I hadn’t walked, started off in beautiful sunshine, which stayed with me for the whole day. I had convinced the owner of the hostel to open for breakfast at 8.30am instead of 9am, which gave me an extra 30 minutes walking, which was good…
Day 13: Malpica to Arnados Today I start a 2-day walk between Malpica and A Coruna airport i northern Spain. The last time I was in Malpica was the autumn 2023 after completing the Lighthouse Way from Finisterra (Stage 2 on my walk to Rome). Back then, I took a bus to A Coruna and flew home. In Spring 2024,…
Day 12: Olveiroa to Cee A short day today, only 20km, a relatively flat stage with some elevation (350m) but a lot of downhill towards the coast at Cee, and a fairly steep downhill at that. It was pretty cold as I left the pension and soon I saw frost on the grass, after passing a couple of streams that…
Day 11: Negreira to Olveiroa After a days rest in the rain, I was back on the road with 35km and 925m elevation. There wasn’t any breakfast at the place I stayed overnight in Negreira, so after a shower and packing my stuff, I was on my way by 8.30. Leaving town, I didn’t find anywhere to stop for breakfast.…
