Two weeks solo, completing 1,000 miles through 7 European countries, it’s time for me and Gloria to have some company and I’m hovering in a car park outside Milan airport waiting for the phone call to be a most unusual airport pick up vehicle. Welcome onboard daughter Emma, fresh from completing her Superyacht course in the UK, who didn’t need much encouragement to come and join mum to go job-hunting in the South of France. Along with Superyacht-Seeker is Just-a- friend-Tom who, as the name suggests, is just a friend from school and, having inter-railed with Superyacht-Seeker last summer, jumped at the chance to upgrade from a hostel bunkbed to one in Gloria!

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The pair were introduced to wild camping straight away with a spot near the Certosa di Pavia, Lombardy and we were treated to a superb sunset over this intricately carved monastery before dinner onboard. We discovered that we’d been a bit too late pulling across the mosquito netting over the doors and windows, so it became like the killing fields inside Gloria as we tried to rid her of all the bugs. Added to that, it was HOT 🔥 , but that didn’t prevent the teenagers from managing to sleep through my morning ride into the local town, coffee in a cute cafe and visiting the monastery, also known as the Charterhouse.

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By the time I returned and it was time to go, the fan had been on for over 12 hours – against my better judgement, I had relented and let the teens use the fan, thinking that it came off the Leisure battery. However – you’ve guessed it – it must have been the vehicle battery as, when I went to start the engine, she gave a momentary splutter before completely dying. Gloria was NOT happy……and we were in the middle of nowhere 😱 Reluctant to call my Breakdown services straight away in case they took ages, I decided to go off in search of some jumpleads; my first victim was the local road sweeper, dressed top to bottom in fluorescent orange and totally bemused by my initial attempt at explaining my predicament with the aid of google translate’s Italian words for jumpleads, as he simply pointed to the sky (what on earth did it say??!). After some theatrical charade-worthy “engine not starting” actions and sounds, he finally got it and headed off into the residential neighbourhood. So, I found myself following Fluorescent Orange Man to the home of a man boasting an enormous belly covered solely in a pair of braces. After much gesticulation and rapid-fire Italian, Fluorescent Orange Man indicated that his big belly friend would help me, so I returned to Gloria wondering what would happen next. Sure enough, ten minutes later, Mr Big Belly (fortunately covered in a T shirt
now) manoeuvred his own little Fiat close to Gloria’s nose and, in no time there was the glorious sound of Glo’s purring engine. What a relief and certainly worth the bottle of wine that was handed out as our thanks. Rookie Error #2: always keep a set of jumpleads onboard and don’t leave the fan on all night!

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It was lucky that we didn’t take on too much of a delay, as today was a big old schlepp from Pavia all the way down south and along the coastal road to Antibes. Normally, I’m not a fan of huge long drives, but somehow, behind the wheel of Gloria, with great tunes blasting out and the most incredible scenery to ogle over, it has become something I actively relish. Having lost my (limited) unlimited data 10 days ago and been subject to a continual music loop, having the kids’ playlists (and data!) meant that we could really change things up on the music scene. Just-a-friend-Tom turned into DJ Man and we all took it in turns to choose a track – obviously, I had to educate them with the likes of Pink Floyd and Meatloaf, whilst they educated me with some more off the wall modern stuff – and before we knew it, we were parked up in Antibes.

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Superyacht-Seeker had arranged to meet up with a girl from her course, so after a bowl of moules and a quick visit to the underground Absinthe bar, we found ourselves in the midst of a group of similar jobseekers all celebrating the fact that they were starting work on the Royal Qatari Superyacht the following day. We had a fabulous night out finished off in style by a 3 mile bike ride home to Gloria along the beach at 2am……or was it a 2 mile bike ride at 3am??!

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It turns out that Absinthe isn’t the best way to start jobhunting, so it’s lucky that we’d organised to visit my Virgin pilot friend Andy, last seen in May 2019 at the end of our Airbus330 course. Little did he know that I’d actually take him up on his offer of visiting his family at their beautiful home near Nice and we had so much fun playing with his 4 year old “mini me” and dogs in the pool. While the kids enjoyed the comfort of Gloria, I was treated to Airbus Andy’s sumptuous spare room with the most incredible view down to the French Riviera – and, not only was the view incredible, it was such a treat to sleep in a proper comfortable bed after 2 and a half weeks on the road (sorry Glo, you are comfortable, but there was no comparison!!). Definitely a 5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor, Airbus Andy!!

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Back on the road, we headed off to the village of Gourdon – thank goodness for all that practice driving mountain passes in Switzerland, as it was yet another edge-of-the-seat drive. However, the village of Gourdon was more than worth the vertiginous drops, perched on top of a rock and with views down the valley.

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There followed more ‘exciting’ driving along the Route Napoleon until we reached Castellane, a village in the shadow of a huge rock topped by a monastery. The three of us were joined by Airbus Andy and Mini me for one night and we all enjoyed a bike ride to and a paddle in the river the following day.

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Left with just the kids that afternoon, we thought that we’d go on an adventure to find the nearby lake and, of course, didn’t take the road but a far more interesting route…..

The lake was the most extraordinary emerald green and was even better swimming in than looking at……

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A week had flown by and it was time to drop Just-a-friend-Tom at Nice airport before returning to Antibes to help with Superyacht-Seeker on her mission to land a top job. She had one interview that afternoon and a second one in Cannes the following day – transported to both by faithful Gloria who joined me in crossing everything to hope that she would be offered one of them. And she was……not one but both, presenting her with a dilemma. However, if you check out Yacht Norfolk Star, it turned out to be an easy decision – it’s out of this world.

So, having navigated the marinas of Antibes and Cannes, the newly employed Superyacht Stewardess jumped out of Gloria in the centre of Cannes, briefly stopping the traffic once again. Now it’s just me and Glo, heading west across the lavender fields and vineyards of the South of France for the next leg of my trip.

• Thoughts so far:
• Don’t trust Google Translate
• Always carry jump leads
• Absinthe is strong!
• France has the most extraordinarily varied landscape
• A motorhome is acceptable transportation for job seeking