At 9:00 a.m. I got going. After 6 km should come a supermarket where I want to fill my food and drink supplies. After another 6 km should come a free mobile store where I want to buy a new SIM card, and after another 18 km should come a campsite where I want to stay two, three days to plan my further way. But in between I walk about 15 km along beaches and will hopefully have the hour to jump into the sea once. That was the plan.
After 6 km, in a suburb of Cannes, I reached the hoped-for supermarket and stocked up. After another 6 km I reached the Free-Store in the middle of Cannes and wanted to pull a sim card at the machine, but there was an internet problem. “Please come back in an hour.” Was the instruction of the nice, even slightly overwhelmed employees. What should I do? What if I waste an hour here now and their internet problems persist? But what the heck, internet is important, for planning, for blogging and especially for communicating. I treated myself to an eclair in a boulongerie and was back in the store on time after an hour. The machines were freshly booted and ready to go. So I pulled a sim card and moved on with an hour and a half delay.
My path led me along the beach promenade of Cannes. In style under palm trees, along bathing beaches, cool beach restaurants and small harbors with swanky yachts. The 75 film festival was unfortunately over, but the yachting festival just took place and ensured a full city. The boardwalk took me all the way out of town and then the boardwalk of the next town followed and so on.
I walked, until just before the campsite, along the most beautiful beaches and did not take the time to jump into the sea, because the delay in the free store, took me exactly this time for luxury. I felt, like a little kid walking past candy shelves for hours and not being allowed to take anything, frustrated and enraptured by the beauty at the same time.
I ran and ran and the sweat did the same, but this went bathing, in my eyes and these burned because of it. So I couldn’t see anything on my phone, I didn’t see much of Antibes either, I kept rubbing my eyes out with my fingers, thus smearing my sunglasses and seeing even less. But I kept running and running.
The selected campsite existed, accepted tents and cost 20 euros a night including electricity. I booked two nights for now, knowing I would extend. Because from here on, I don’t know how to go on! Sure, next up: Nice, then Monaco, then Italy. But on this way there are no accessible campsites and on the map everything looks so built up that I can’t find any alternative places to sleep either, except hotels.
Then there is also the big picture, i.e. the onward journey with my wife. This is starting to take shape, thankfully, so my trip is starting to feel like a phase-out.
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