The hotel Mediterranee was quite nice and it had all the facilities that one could wish for WIFI and good television as it had the beeb world service and two sports channels, though one showed cycling all the time and the other seemed obsessed with obscure golf tournaments. It is a funny place it’s like a cross between Lyme Regis, a Napoleonic film set and Skegness. The first night out we had a meal at a seaside bar I of course had a burger which must have been the way the French like it as it was only just cooked on the outside and still mooing on the inner and the frozen fries were the best bit of it. We did a bit of wandering but it was just crawling with tourists just like us with no plan A and definitely plan B was not even an afterthought. So one day we though let’s go to Spain for lunch, actually it’s not that far but it sounds exotic. Let us just say that they will never ever get an award for fast friendly service, though one young lady did her best. The mung was just OK as it was better than the road side servo chook of the other day, at least it looked like chook and that it had been fed a couple of days before it departed this world for the service of mankind. Coulierres can be described as a seaside town with the looks of a Hornblower set, it has all the griff with battlements and towers on the seafront and overlookingall this high on the surrounding hills are smaller strategic forts looking out to sea and down on the harbour. You can imagine the jolly jack tars of merrie England rounding the headland pennants and flags flowing scaring the scaredy frogs into submission before a shot was fired. The reality is that they, the jolly jack tars, would probably get there arses handed to them if they tried. Fortunately I don’t think they had a go at this place its too pristine and Napolean can look down on this creation and say, “bon this one was a goer”. I have to say though that I thought that it was only the English that liked to sunbake on the pebbles of the seaside but it seems that in desperation even the french will lay out on the stones.
The last night meal here was a revelation, the restaurant was found by Hol of course in her where to eat in obscure French towns guide book. It was called Chez Simone, with an E as Hol insists, and we were shoe-horned into a corner with an intimate table for two. When the menu came it had burgers and surprisingly vego options. So I opted for the burger and when it came I was amazed that even burgers can be haute cuisine. No fries for this place instead they fried little baby taters and they were delicieaux. That was at least two good meals we had here the rest were adequate seaside affairs. OK that’s the seaside done and dusted now for the five hour drive to Seillans and our apartement.