When in Dijon, do as the Dijonnais do. Which is why we – on our recent trip to the capital of Burgundy – followed the Sentier du Martin-Pecheur, advertised in the official literature as the favourite “easy hiking” route of the Dijonais. First of all, a clarification to avoid disappointment: the word “pecheur” in the…
Doing something again for the first time after a long and painful break tastes sweet, nearly as sweet as the first kiss that you are receiving from That Special Person In Your Life after a long period of separation. It is therefore only right and proper to treat such sweet returns to the habits and…
The Croix des Gardes in Cannes is that rare thing among green spaces….. …. it is a park with a history that reaches back several hundred years. Not that the Croix des Gardes in Cannes had spent all of these centuries as a park. No public garden is that old. But it has occupied that…
We all need a bit of drama and excitement in our lives – and, since few of us get enough of it from our humdrum daily routines, we want our entertainment to take us on an emotional ride. But there are clearly limits. Even the most dedicated lovers of fruity melodrama would not want to…
Among the peaks of the Riviera, the Mont des Mules enjoys a special place. Not because of its height: at 291 metres, it is little more than a pimple on the landscape. Its long and varied history reaches back into pre-Roman times and includes the episode when, in 1909, the municipality of Beausoleil (to which…
I told you it was going to be a sunny day. Which was no mere coincidence, of course. In fact, we let several days go by since the lockdown in our area had been lifted. Because there was no way we would let our first post-Covid 19 walk since what felt more like an imprisonment…
Hiking in the time of the Coronavirus. That could be the shortest post I would have ever written, consisting of nothing but a blank page. Actually, one could spin that off into an entire book – one of those novelty issues where empty page follows empty page: “The Great German Book of Humour”. ” Fine…
Last week, John and Julie asked us to take them on a walk. We had met John and Julie for the first time shortly after our arrival in Menton, nearly seven years ago. They were already familiar with our little corner of the world back then, but freely admit that they still have relatively little…
Most of the parcs departemental in the south of France lie hidden in the back country. Off the top of my head, I can name only two that you are ever likely to see “accidentally“, passing through by car or by train, and these two could not be more different. The Esterel (with its red…
Hiking in Italy – interrupt me if I have told you this before – can be an exasperating experience. Far too often, you are distracted from the beauty of the scenery by the need to ward off evil trolls who seem determined to test your orienteering skills or, just as frequently, your fortitude and your…