The Rade de Villefranche is one of the deepest natural harbours on the French coast, which is why the largest yachts on the Riviera anchor here rather than squeeze into a berth. The bay is sheltered, the water drops away fast enough for almost anything afloat, and the view of the old town from the anchorage is the one that ends up in the brochure. Port de la Darse, the small working harbour under the citadel, handles what comes alongside.

A mile east, Beaulieu-sur-Mer is the calm alternative — a proper marina in a quiet Belle Époque town, with Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and its villas on the headland between the two. Yachts that want the Villefranche anchorage but a berth to work from tend to use it.

Both are inside our own van’s same-day range from Antibes — twenty-five minutes on a good morning — and this is where that matters most. A yacht at anchor in the Rade cannot simply walk to a shop, so an order confirmed in the morning arriving at the quay the same afternoon, for the tender to collect, is the difference between a guest request being met and being apologised for.

This stretch of coast has its own appellation and almost nobody carries it. Bellet is grown on terraces in the hills directly behind Nice, it is one of the smallest appellations in France, and the production is tiny enough that most of it never leaves the region. A local white or rosé from Bellet on a table in Villefranche is a genuinely local wine in a way that Provençal rosé from two hours west is not.