France - Day 13

We packed up and left the hotel today. We sadly said goodbye to Shirley's walking boots which had reached the end of their life...

We drove down to Monaco on the coast and parked the car in the station car park. We walked down to the port.

From there we walked up to the old town and Prince's Palace.

We sat there for some lunch with a view.

Then we had a wander round Monaco old town, and into the cathedral which has the graves of Prince Ranier III and Princess Grace (Grace Kelly).

We left Monaco and drove along the coast road through Nice towards the airport. At the quieter end of the promenade we parked and sat under a tree near the beach for a while.

We went for dinner at a nearby pizza place, and had an excellent pizza and salad.

We went to the airport, dropped off the car and sat in a cafe/bar until our flight. It wasn't till after 10pm, but all went smoothly and we got a taxi home, arriving at nearly 1am.

France - Day 12

This was our last full day here. We drove down through Isola village again, and down the Tinée valley to where the Mollières valley meets it. We parked at the roadside and started walking up the Mollières valley.

The first couple of miles were on a track, as far as some hydroelectric equipment.

From there it was on a riverside path, long but not too steep. It was in trees quite a lot, which was welcome as this was the lowest level walk we'd done all week.

Eventually after about three and a half hours we arrived at the hamlet of Mollières. It was busier than we expected, there was a proper road going to it from the other side.

We had our lunch there, then a wander round the houses and the main square with its water supply.

We then walked back to the car by the same route as our outward journey. In some parts the path had been moved by a landslide.

Later in the evening a Civil Security helicopter landed just outside the hotel and dropped someone off, later picking them up. We don't really know what the story was there.

For dinner we had cheese and ham crêpes, fried potatoes and peas.

France - Day 11

We did another walk straight from home this morning, first up the north side of the valley past the Lacs de Terre Rouge which we'd seen on the first walk here.

From there we continued climbing up to the Bassa del Drous pass on the border with Italy at 2628m.

We went down the other side towards a WW2 building beside some lakes.

We then descended even further to Lago di Valscura. There were lots of Italian walkers and cyclists around. Also a few ruined buildings.

After having our lunch, the only way home was back the way we'd come, so we had to gain all the height again up to the pass.

Then down the other side again of course. Back at the hotel the staff were giving out free chocolate brownies! Later, dinner was tuna pasta.