Five miles away from Th�oule, just south west of Canne lies the small archipelago known as the Iles Lerins. Overlooking the strait between the mainland and the biggest island, Ile St Marguerite, is this enormous fort, designed by Vauban during his 53 years building fortifications for the Sun King. It's greatest claim to fame is as home, for eleven years, to the Man in the Iron Mask, the unknown prisoner whose life was dramatised so famously by Dumas.
We anchored just under the fort in 8.5m of water. (This is positively shallow after 15m in Th�oule, over 12m at Port Man and 10.5m in the Baie de Canoubiers.) At 1100 on a Wednesday morning, it's not very crowded. There is weed on the bottom but we managed to stick fast the first time, and we are well out of the path of the many ferries which bring day-trippers to and from early morning till dusk.