22. Sep, 2022

22. Sep, 2022

22. Sep, 2022

THURSDAY 22-09-22

It was a peaceful enough night, and as we didn't have much on today decided to have a bit of a lie in. As we lay there we were reminded just how transient this campsite is. Nobody stays for long and folk are soon on the move from first thing in the morning.

I suggested to The Chef when we arrived here yesterday that we should trust no one because the place is so busy. With folk continually moving on nobody gets to know who their neighbours are and therefore can't tell a fellow camper from a potential thief, so yesterday when we went out when put the PIR security alarm on.

This morning, rather than lock up The Chef said she'd wait until I arrived back from the bathroom block before she went there herself.

Considering how many folk are on the site I expected more than a handful of shower cubicles for each sex, so this morning was surprised that none of them were occupied when I got there. It was probably due to the time to be fair as most campers seemed to be busy washing up their breakfast things.

The shower was quite an experience as it had been fitted with a French Vari-Therm on the water supply. This meant you selected the temperature you wanted and then the thermostat pleased itself what temperature of water it gave you. It had one of those infernal buttons you have to keep pushing to keep the water supply running. Each time the button was pressed a different temperature came out than the one you'd had seconds ago when the supply stopped. Add to that the temperature was up and down depending on what water was being used by other campers in their cubicles.

We set off downhill for Cassis late morning arriving at about 11:00.

So a bit about Cassis:

The site where Cassis now sits was first occupied between 500 and 600 BC by the Ligures, who constructed a fortified habitation at the top of the Baou Redon. These people lived by fishing, hunting, and by farming.

The current site of Cassis could have been inhabited by the Greeks, though no proof has yet been found.

During the Roman times, Cassis was part of the maritime route made by the Emperor Antoninus Pius. It was a small village, established mainly around the Arena and Corton beaches. The principal livelihood was fishing and maritime trade with North Africa and the Middle East. Several archaeological discoveries attest to this.

From the 5th to the 10th century, Invasions from foreign tribes led the population to seek refuge in the castrum, a fortified city that, in 1223, became the property of the Seigneurie des Les Baux-de-Provence.

In the fifteenth century, Cassis was ceded to the Counts of Provence, then René of Anjou gave the town to the Bishops of Marseille, who ruled the town until the Revolution of 1789.

In the eighteenth century, Cassis started to develop outside the ramparts of the fortified city and around the port. After the Bourbon Restoration, new industries developed here, including the drying of cod, the manufacture of olive oil and clothing, coral work, wine-making and the exploitation of local stone (cement, limestone). Stone of Cassis, which was quarried here since antiquity made the town famous. It has been used for the quays of the large Mediterranean ports (Alexandria, Algiers, Piraeus, Marseille and Port Said). A claim that it was used for the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York City gained wide circulation but has been proved to be of doubtful authenticity.

Today, the stone is used more for domestic purposes such as the construction of sinks and fireplaces.

In the twentieth century, as these industries began to disappear, the workforce turned to tourism and wine making. Cassis was one of the first three vineyards to profit from the appellation d'origine contrôlée (label of controlled origin) introduced in 1936.

We wandered around a few back streets before walking round the horseshoe-shaped marina. In many ways it reminded me of a poor man's St Ives in Cornwall. We didn't really get the place in all honesty. There must be something we're missing, because despite its popularity it seems to offer nothing more than a small beach, boat rides and lots and lots of restaurants. So for a day out, then yes, but beyond that no, not unless you like to spend the whole day people watching whist continually eating and drinking.

The Chef was taking a lot of interest in the menus and prices of many of the restaurants we passed. So often we vow on each trip that we'll actually go to a restaurant and sit down for a meal, but in the end never seem to quite manage it. Today was such a day. Whilst we sat on a wall down by the marina The Chef suggested that perhaps today we should just have a pack of sandwiches and a drink each for lunch and then when we get back to the campsite pop out later and buy a pizza from a nice looking establishment just down the road. That sounded good to me, so that's what's happening. Most annoyingly I had forgotten to clip my small bottle of sanitiser to my belt before we came out. I think this will be our new norm, it's now nothing to do with the pandemic. There's no doubt that during it the public were encouraged to adopt better hand hygiene which would have helped. In fact it was noticeable when in men's public toilets, that more of them were actually washing their hands having 'been'. What a leap forward that was. So many of them got to realise there was no truth in the old wives tale that if you wash your hands after a pee, your willie drops off. But sadly things are sliding back to normal now.

I can't see an end to our carrying hand sanitiser with us when we're out in public. It gives a bit of reassurance if you're able to give your hands a quick clean having touched who knows what, especially if you're planning to eat whilst out. So there we were today having opened our packs of sandwiches having to pick them up with a paper handkerchief and eat them that way so that our hands didn't come in to contact with the food. A bit O.T.T. some may say, but at my age I really don't give a fig what other people think.

Today I will have the luxury of posting this blog entry by late afternoon. This means I can spend the evening with my darling Rosina and get to share a pizza with her. I bought a bottle of wine on the way back so if she's quick enough she may just get a glass of it.

Tomorrow we're back down to the marina (let's face it, there's nowhere else to go), and may, just may, play tourists and go on a boat ride along the coast, and who knows what other excitement awaits us.

We leave here Saturday morning heading for Arles where we'll park up beside the River Rhone for a couple of days until the rain passes over, then it's off to La Camargue, another new location for us.

Tonight I'll post some photographs of the day, and tomorrow the video.

21. Sep, 2022

21. Sep, 2022