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…
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.…
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 16: Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle to Hondarribis My last day in France, as I head towards the Atlantic and the French-Spanish border. A 31km day, with 3 initial climbs with a total elevation of 650m, and thereafter, it was pretty much flat all the way. Leaving after breakfast, the day started with a pleasant walk along the Nivelle river before starting the…
Day 15: Louhossoa to Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle A shorter and relatively flat day, as the terrain become flatter as I near the coast. Only 22km and despite some fairly strenuous climbs, a total elevation of 650m. The climbs were steep but fairly short. It’s still fairly muddy, with the puddles the full width of the path in several places. The day started…
Day 14: Saint-Palais to Louhossoa A day of many ups and downs, six climbs and descents, with a long descent into the pretty Basque village of Louhossoa with is characteristic red and white houses. All in all 36km and almost 1.000m in elevation. At Saint-Palais other walkers walk to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and the Camino Frances, whilst I will follow a so…
Day 13: Navarrenx to Saint-Palais Today I’m tired, both because of walking, but equally because I have spoken French all day. Another day primarily along roads, 28km and 600m elevation. My day of speaking French started at breakfast, with the owner of the hostel. We talked about many things, but what he stressed as being most important was that I…
Day 12: Oloron-Sainte-Marie to Navarrenx Another rainy day and another day downhill towards the Atlantic coast. A 22km walk, 300m elevation and a 120m fall in elevation from Oloron to Navarrenx. It was raining and 13 degrees when I went for breakfast and never reached over 20 degrees the whole day. Not even comparable to back home in Copenhagen where…
Day 11: Arudy to Oloron-Sainte-Marie It’s downhill from the Pyrenees foothills towards the Atlantic coast. Whilst today had an overall elevation of over 500m, I walked downhill pretty much all day, from 420m in Audry to 220m in Orolon. Over the past few days, the scenery has barely changed – lots of forest, farmland, corn fields and a few villages…
Day 10: Lestelle-Betharram to Arudy It rained all night. It rained all morning. It rained most of the afternoon. 30mm in 24 hours and on a day where I walked 29km and an elevation of 850m. Luckily I didn’t have to check-out before 12 o’clock, but I hoped that the rain at least eased up before that, given the length…
