Ok. Now I really think I understand the perils of being a tour guide. After the surprise meeting with Ronnie Johnson and his son George at Nice airport (see previous Blog entry) I deferred to Ronnie's request for some suggestions for things to do whilst in the Cote d'Azur. Yesterday a few of us took Ronnie and George to Mandelieu, which is on the coast about 5 km West of Cannes. One of Mandelieu's most imposing sights is Chateau de la Napoule (http://www.chateau-lanapoule.com/)
which (as you can see from th
e photo) looks like a Castle, but is in fact an international center for nurturing talent and artists from all nations. As you can probably tell from the photo Ronnie took on his mobile, the weather was glorious and the views as you walk along the beach are stunning. This is one of my favourite walks - miles of beautiful coastline - the perfect place to gather my thoughts away from my busy schedule in London. As you hug the coastline the beaches are punctuated by amazing coves and rockpools. In the summer the beaches can become pretty packed with sun worshippers down here, so it's worth exploring the coast to look for these type of inlets that are hidden gems and far from the maddening crowd! So long as you're prepared for the (sometimes steep) walk from the clifftop pathways down to the beaches, you can be rewarded by relative seclusion - with little risk of frisbees, footballs, beach balls, toddlers or God knows what else disturbing your reverie! Factor in the absence of obese older gentleman in miniscule yellow g-strings and some of the less pleasant sights of those women who really shouldn't go topless, arm yourself with a coolbox with suitable refreshment and you have the recipe for a perfect relaxing day. The water is warm enough to spend as much time as you want in it - so great for either a healthy long swim or just to cool down from the heat.
Here's a picture of Ronnie
and George on the beach near the port just before we went for lunch. Also I included this photo of George doing his "Centurian" pose or as he later explained his Christiano Ronaldo look - the one the Man Utd star displays after yet another impressive footballing feat! This was followed by a hilarious lunch at the splendid Collins Bar, during which we somehow decided that a game of tennis would prove the perfect afternoon tonic to our culinary indulgence!
Cue a dash to Go-Sports (a huge sports store) to purchase shorts for Ronnie and George and a new grip for one of the spare racquets - then......... off to Opio to the Tennis centre!
We arrived at the tennis club (http://www.tennis-club-plaine-vignal.com/index-gb.htm) and managed to book a court. We then made our way to the alloted slot navigating the club's bar despite Ronnie's protests that a "loosener" might be in order! We then proceeded to play a form of tennis (the sort post-Wimbledon Brits play for two weeks after the tournament) which involved participants coming on and off court to make up doubles teams with winner stays on. We somehow managed to sustain this for an hour before Ronnie announced it was refreshment time and promptly headed off to the bar! After gathering the tennis balls that had ended up in trees, bushes and other courts we 'repaired to the bar' ourselves. The door to the bar was much like the changing room in a Mr Benn program as we found ourselves stepping into a surreal kind of time warp. A breed of British ex-pats were loudly opining about the state of the UK and how awful the French were - in an endless and futile self-defeating argument! This scenario can often be found in the South of France and can prove to be amusing to listen to. Inevitably though, the propagators of this type of rhetoric generally seek to enlist support from other English speaking bystanders and sure enough, despite the fact we were wrapped up in our own cosy little group, a drunk 'Colonial' with a ruddy complexion strolled over to engage us in conversation. Amongst us were some highly erudite, smart and open-minded individuals who quickly dismissed The Colonel (as we nicknamed him) and his negative monologue and sent him back to his fellow drinkers to while away the rest of the afternoon. This left us in peace to plan the rest of the day, quickly coming to the conclusion that we should meet again in Cannes for the evening entertainment................!