Now in Carnolés on the Côte d'Azur, it’s a suburb of Roquebrune for administrative purposes but feels more like a suburb of Menton as it’s on the same bay so gets the same gentle Riviera weather. Carnolès is usually the beach people mean when boast that they slept on the beach at Menton on their Interrail or hitching trip.
Long hot ride across the Var from Marseille yesterday. I took the direct route - ie the autoroute - as the forecast showed storms spreading down from the mountains from lunchtime onwards. Even so, having left Marseille at 28°C, I saw 35°C en route but by the time I was passing through Nice the blue sky had gone, the mountains were shrouded in dark clouds and the thermometers were showing just 25°C.
This new tail bag has enough space for trainers, Speedoes, a couple of t-shirts, and a few socks but not a laptop. It doesn’t stop hanging off or shifting so corners are still fun. Useful external pockets for a can of Zéro and earplugs/sunglasses.
A tantalising view of the Baie de Cannes far below; I branched off the Corniche above Nice at the Roman monument of La Turbie (now a fashionable place for lunch with many many restaurants setting out white tablecloths and champagne buckets at the side of the road ) and rode down the steep cliff roads to the cross the frontier to the Principality of Monaco - the frontier is just a signpost, no border controls at all. Lemons and grapefruits still on the trees in the pleasant Riviera climate there. It’s a place of follies: neither the people nor the extravagant architecture seem to need to justify their existence.
Back in the real world, I found this hotel, a modest two star affair in a residential area just back from the beach front. Compared to Marseille, the climate is kinder, the people gentler and the streets clean.
Nice grilled daurade, sea bass and grilled vegetables with a carafe of house prosecco (!!!) in an Italian restaurant last night...“la bella vita”.