 Today, we are heading back to the Mediterranean for some unfinished business. Last year, my son and I visited the southern French town of Toulon to hike along the Sentier Littoral, the footpath that stretches along the entire length of the country’s coastline. When we inquired at the local tourism office for some tips on accommodation, they tried to dissuade us from hiking the Sentier in one stretch and strongly advised us to “pick and choose”, in practice to go for a series of daytrips rather than one continuous stretch. (We persisted anyway, with mixed results.) And the one-day trip they praised more than any other, called “Balade Royale” in some of the older imprints of their brochure, started practically a couple of blocks away from the tourism office itself in downtown Toulon. I must say I . . . → More Easy Hiking: The Rant Or The Sentier Littoral Revisited  How about this… … a short walk through the prettiest town in France, topped off by a visit to one of the world’s most famous gardens, with splendid views over the Mediterranean Sea throughout? Menton, in the extreme southeastern corner of France, combines the best of France – a downtown area of tastefully proportioned apartment buildings, Deuxième Empire street statues and well-behaved trees – with the best of Italy – an old town perched upon a hill featuring a maze of narrow medieval lanes – and is so well kept and immaculately preserved throughout that you suspect it is actually run by the Swiss. Feel tempted? Much of modern Menton was, in fact, invented by the English. Queen Victoria loved it here, as did her son Bertie (later to become Edward VII) and there . . . → More Easy Hiking: Menton Is The Prettiest Town In France  I have a vivid recollection of our last beach holiday, not least because on the first day, I shaved off the full beard that I had sported for more than a decade. Memories are made of this! And then there was the “family tragedy”: our son (then barely two years old) lost his beloved , if unimaginatively named, “Unicorn”, a helium-filled balloon to which he had surprisingly developed a deep attachment (considering how little time they had actually spent together). Let’s face it. Such is the track record of relationships between little boys and toy balloons, probably never meant to survive the afternoon. Wasn’t it yesterday when he was small? If I close my eyes and concentrate hard enough, I can still hear his plaintive wail. Last year, the same son agreed to accompany me on a hike in the . . . → More Easy Hiking: Beaches In The South Of France  Easy hikes in Europe: Presqu’Ile St Mandrier, France Hiking Along The French Coastline The “Sentier Littoral” is the footpath that stretches along the French coastline. All of it. In Napoleon’s view, the French coast represented a national treasure, and he gave all French citizens a universal right to access. A strip at least three meters wide, he decreed, would forever be the property of the entire nation. In theory, you can therefore hike along the entire coast of the French Mediterranean, from Menton near the Italian border to Collioure in French Catalonia. In practice, however, as we shall see, this is not quite so easy. We went hiking along the French coastline and chose the Sentier’s section around the peninsula which lies to the west of Toulon. We spent the first night in Toulon, then took the ferry to the . . . → More Easy Hiking: The Good, The Great And The Ugly On Hiking Along The French Coastline  Guest Post: Easy hikes in Europe – Limousin, France by Les Trois Chenes How pleased I was to discover that the historic Pilgrim route of St Jacques de Compostelle (The Way of Saint James of Santiago de Compostela) passes by our Bed and Breakfast in Limousin, France. Limousin is a wonderful place for ramblers and walkers (easy hikers). The roads are empty and the paths numerous. There are short walks and long walks, and plans are afoot (no pun intended) to link the local paths to regional long-distance trails to create a system of paths to promote walking and tourism in the area. Perfect for a hiking vacation. You’ll find that the footpaths are, on the whole, well maintained and clearly marked. Although we have rolling hills, we don’t have mountains and you are rarely far from a village so the walking is not too . . . → More Easy Hiking: The Pilgrim Route Of Santiago de Compostela | |
