On Sunday morning we headed south to the beach at la Ciotat to play at the sea-side with local friends Davy, Sandrine and Line, who used to live around the corner.  They have a family apartment very close to the beach (you can see the sea from the balcony) and very kindly offered to let us share their break away.  For more info on La Ciotat http://www.tourisme-laciotat.com.

We spent much time playing with the girls on the beach and also taking it in turns to go biking and running!  Dave headed off to the hills with Davy on their VTTs and Sandrine and I opted for the ‘Route’ option to lessen our chances of becoming lost.

Sandrine and I rode from la Ciotat towards Cassis and continued the loop through Roquefort (no stops for cheese) and back again to the coast; a fairly easy but stunningly beautiful 45km outing with under 1.000m of ascent.

To celebrate our lovely rides we all went out for dinner at one of the port-side restaurants and en route of course we stopped at the play parks and random fitness machines that were dotted along the way.  Line and Ellis demonstrated one of them to us all.

Today we spent the day in beautiful gardens enjoying the sunshine at the Calanques followed by a beach picnic and of course another trip to the sandy beach to eat ice-cream and build sand castles.  The boys also went for a swim in the rather chilly sea.  They wore wetsuits despite the local children splashing about oblivious to the cold water in their swimsuits!

Thank you very much to family Michellon for allowing us to gatecrash your holiday!