3. Jun, 2016

2. Jun, 2016

THURSDAY 02-06-16

The Italian children on the campsite were up and out playing at about 07:30, bless their cotton socks.

We had nothing planned for today but thought we might go for a walk later this morning as the weather forecast was for light rain in the afternoon.

When I walked in to the men's shower room I was greeted by a young Italian family, dad, son and mother. Clearly that's what goes on in Italy, so before leaving here I might just go and have a shower in the ladies.

As soon as we'd had breakfast we quickly took the cover off the windscreen, unhooked the electrics and moved the motorhome along one pitch to where we could park sideways and put some space between us and the Eyetie didgeridoo family. So hopefully things will be a bit quieter for us. Our new pitch is nice and private as our recreational space is between the vehicle and the perimeter wall.

I finished putting things back together whilst The Chef popped over to the supermarket for some bits and pieces including some lovely fresh crusty bread.

As I was continuing to have internet connection problems I went to see them at reception. Sat outside were two Dutch lads online. I asked if the signal was stronger there and they said it was, and so in I went and for the first time the staff moved from "The internet is working, it is fine", to "There may be a problem on your pitch due to the location of the Wi-Fi aerial". So after many, many frustrating hours trying to connect on our pitch at all times of day and night, I found I can connect sat outside of the Reception Office with no problems.

By then it was about 10:00 and as more and more Italian motorhomer's came in to the camp we decided to go for our walk and have a late lunch if necessary. Off we strutted towards Cagnes-sur-Mer the next town along from us in the direction of Nice. In the past we'd only walk to and from our end of the town, but today we went almost right the way along to the centre, before concluding that it was much nicer than Menton, where we went yesterday, and had we known that we'd have spent the day in Cagnes instead.

Everywhere there were Italians, along the promenade, driving along in their cars and motorhomes, as well as loads of them on scooters and motorbikes. I had to conclude the influx was due to one of two reasons:

Firstly, boatloads of illegal immigrants have now arrived on the shores of Italy, resulting in the Italian Army assuming they were the advance party of an invasion force, and in true Italian tradition promptly surrendered to them. The illegal migrants, looking for no more than a better life as long as it was in somebody else's country and at somebody else's expense got more than that - they'd been given a whole country. This would then explain why all of the Italians were fleeing across the border in to France, and thanks to the Schengen Agreement, don't need to claim refugee status. This would then leave the EU with the problem of getting rid of the army of refugees occupying Italy, and after many meetings to confirm their utter ineptitude to deal with any matters relating to mass illegal migration, bribing the Turks with yet more money and the promise of an even swifter entry as a full EU member, to sort the problem out for them.

When The Chef and I were here this time last year there was an Italian National Holiday and the place was flooded with them then, they even opened the overflow peak-season area of the campsite across the road to accommodate them for the few days.

SEcondly, and I may have it wrong, but I think this weekend is Italy's 'National Surrender Day'. It's when they commemorate all of the occasions they've been invaded, been on the losing side, retreated, and have surrendered since the fall of the Roman Empire.

In schools it is celebrated by holding 'Who in the class can raise both hands in the air the highest' competitions, and the junior schools have 'Draw and colour in a Surrender Flag' competitions.

There's something seriously wrong when a modern nation which has given the world nothing except fast cars, ice cream, pizza and corrupt government, ends up at the heart of 'Europe'.

Never mind they'll be gone on Monday, trouble is, so will we.

When we returned from our very pleasant walk we sat and had lunch outside - ham and cucumber sandwiches in lovely crusty bread with crisps and a lager shandy.

This afternoon we attempted to refill one of the LPG cylinders on the motorhome at the supermarket garage. I just about had it worked out which adapter I needed for France and how it attached to the pump when the lady in the pay kiosk leaned out and said we were not allowed to do it. I know they're pretty picky about it back home, probably because knuckle-draggers would try and refill conventional LPG cylinders with the risk they would get overfilled, but these are expensive kosher refillable cylinders which automatically cut out the filling at 80% of capacity, that's the safety margin. So sadly LPG refilling in France must remain a dark art. We have another refillable cylinder onboard being used for the Barbecue, if cylinder two runs low we'll just have to attaching that one. I think we should be OK as the two weeks we'll be spending in Switzerland will be with electric hook-up.

This evenings meal, created by my onboard personal chef, was cheese omelette, jacket potato and grilled tomatoes, cooked alfresco using two electric hobs and the oven. Now I don't know what came over me, but for some reason I decided to have sweet chilli sauce with it. Brown sauce I felt would be just a little boring for such a fine creation. But I have to say, not even the French, who I believe would smother a dog turd in a fancy dressing and call it fine dining, not even the French, would eat such a meal with sweet chilli sauce, and I wholeheartedly recommend that nobody else does either.

2. Jun, 2016

2. Jun, 2016

2. Jun, 2016

WEDNESDAY 01-06-16

We were up in good time this morning as we were off to Menton, just past Monaco on the train. We wanted to visit because when we passed there high up on the toll road last year it looked rather nice.

The weather forecast for today wasn't all that special, cloud and sun with a possibility of a thunderstorm early afternoon.

The hour's train ride was enjoyable as the railway goes right along the coast and we could see all the other resorts along the way.

Our first stop on arrival at Menton was the usual Tourist Information Office where we picked up a map of the town.

Wandering round late morning it was obvious there was a big lunchtime trade in the many pavement restaurants because of so many empty seats awaiting the big rush. We found the older part of town and climbed steep steps to get up to it. Even with several tourists about it was still a nice peaceful area. Rosina quite liked one of the churches on a square, and went for a look around inside. Having had her culture intake we walked the short distance down to the promenade. It was all a bit disappointing really.

Considering how close it is to Monaco, none of the wealth, class or ambiance has rubbed off. I'm sure it did have its heyday, but a long time ago. The one thing it has got is lots of Italians as the border is only two stops down the line on the train. We took a long stroll along the promenade feeling like Darby & Joan on a day trip to Great Yarmouth, yup, for me it was that disappointing. I suppose there was a clue on the train journey here. Hundreds of people got off at Nice, hundreds more at Monaco, only a handful of us at Menton. The Chef did remark "No wonder I could find almost nothing about the place in the guide books". The place seemed nothing more than a large open-air food hall. The beach was again nothing but large round pebbles, not at all suitable for a bucket and spade holiday.

We realised later in our visit that there were very few yachts of any size in the marina, and certainly no super-yachts which is probably a good clue to the quality of a resort. If it isn't good enough for FIFA officials, the Russian Mafia, or UK tax dodgers, then it's best avoided by everybody else.

The sky was getting darker and we decided to grab some lunch from a small supermarket and sat near the seafront and ate it, we'd had spits of rain on and off since our arrival and as there was little to keep as motivated to remain we made our way back to the railway station. A train due a few minutes after our arrival didn't show, neither did the following one an hour later following an announcement, so we were sat on the station for two hours until the 16:26 rescued us.

Because of the cancellations all of the stations along the route were very busy, especially Monaco and Nice. Thankfully the train carriages on these services are double-deckers, so although a number of people had to stand, everybody got on.

When we arrived back at the campsite we dumped the backpack then took a stroll down to the supermarket. Neither of us felt very hungry and so we ended up with some frozen chips cooked in the oven with lovely fresh crusty bread. Simple, but it did the trick, we really didn't fancy a full meal.

This evening we have a number of new campers on site including a number of Italians, one family of which are parked next to us. Noisy sods, either they're a race of hard-of-hearing, or everybody talks at the same time and they have to be loud to be heard. It's a father, mother and teenage daughter. She's another one who should take up playing the didgeridoo since she has mastered the art of breathing in and jabbering ten to the dozen at the same time, no breaks. I think I may turn the vehicle around tomorrow which will dampen the impact of their voices and give us a bit of privacy.