Monday 23rd September 2024

Welcome to La Belle France, and welcome to Cannes. That bit between the sea and land in the distance is Cannes, and the queue of traffic to get there started on the autoroute off ramp. We are in one of its lesser known and cheaper areas, in a hotel that costs €82 a night, with breakfast, and the nice lady on reception made sure we had a sea view rather than the side of the hill the hotel stands on.

We were up at six, had coffee and as much fruit for breakfast as we could stand, then finished packing, before finally taking the cases downstairs to load the car.

We have left a day early as heavy rain was forecast for the area, and all along the coast to the border, so we thought we'd make it into France so to have a shorter drive on Tuesday.

That did mean having to find a place to kip, which I found and booked.

So, off we went.

We cruised down to the autostada, and thanks to the EU road numbering, we were going to follow the E80 all day until the final 3km to the hotel.

We started off in bright sunshine, before it clouded over by the time we go to Pisa, then up the coast near Genoa, the heavens did open.

The E80 has some 200 tunnels between the outskirts of Turin, I know as I counted them. So the drive went from monsoon like rain between the tunnels to calm in the tunnels.

At the main intersection high above Genoa's main railway station, the rain was at its hardest, coming down so hard we could barely see 50m ahead, and so we creeped along, until we went through another tunnel and it cleared some, and we could speed up.

We stopped for lunch of meat filled rolls and a coffee. Did us well, and back onto the road with it climbing, going through tunnels and then the endless repairs causing jams as a lane was closed.

Italy seemed to go on forever, but soon the border was passed, and we came to the prime real estate: Monte Carlo and Cannes.

Nothing of much interest for us there, though the view from the autoroute down into the harbour at Monte Carlo was stunning. I still have no desire to go.

We pressed on, and instead of turning down into Cannes, we turned up into the foothills, into Mougins, and the Ibis Hotel, where we were given a room out front.

But no restaurant in the hotel, so we went out, only to find most places closed all day Mondays, so we ended up at the Stake and Shake burger joint, which although pricy was good eatin. We then had to find a supermarket for supplies for the evening, and this meant mixing it with the rush hour traffic which was horrific.

We arrived safe, bought wine and cider, then back to the hotel never to leave until tomorrow.