Sleep Under The Stars

Finding a great campsite

Lisa — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:13:23 +0000

These beauties arrived in the post recently from Amazon. The 2007 AA Camping and Caravanning Guide France and Alan Rogers: France Quality Camping and Caravanning Sites.

These will be handy to take with us in the car, so wherever we find ourselves in France we’ll know where to find a decent site. We haven’t booked anywhere! It’s a bit nervewracking going on holiday to who knows where, but at the same time it’s part of the adventure.

As well as these books I have been doing some research on the following sites:

http://www.les-campings.com/gb/ – probably my favourite
http://www.campingfrance.com/ – click by region
http://www.gites-de-france.com/gites/fr/campings (mainly a gites reference site, but with camp sites too!)
http://www.camping-caravaning-france.com/features/links/ (great list of other camping/holiday sites)

And one final way I try and discover some options is by looking at the tourist office website for the destination I’m heading to, then check out the accommodation section.

Camp site websites in France are generally brilliant – especially when it comes to the 3 and 4 star places. You can normally flick through a picture gallery, get a good idea of the size and shade available for ‘emplacements’ and check availability online. I’ll be posting links to some of the best we find, along with ratings, post-trip!

We need a plan

Lisa — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:31:15 +0000

If there’s one thing that being in the Brownies and Girl Guides teaches you, it’s Be Prepared. And Lend a Hand. And the Brownie Guide Law… but those aren’t important here. We need a plan for our holiday in a couple of weeks’ time, because preparation is the key to success.

Our preparation boils down to four areas:

- route planning

- camp sites

- gear

- financials

The financial part is pretty much sorted. We’ve saved up enough cash for the trip (and for buying our equipment), but we also wanted to make sure that we would get the best for our money in terms of exchange rate when we’re out there. So we’ve opened up a new joint account with Nationwide, who allow you to use cashpoints abroad for free – yay! That’ll make a change to being stung by a couple of quid every time I use my Lloyds card. I also have a Post Office credit card for back-up, which offers similar commission-free transactions.

So to the route planning. The ViaMichelin site is an invaluable tool if you’re planning any sort of driving holiday, be it at home or abroad. I can type in my point of origin and destination, and as well as a map, it’ll give me a breakdown of estimated route time, toll charges and even if it includes any scenic passages. Input your car and fuel type and it’ll work out the total cost of the journey too. You can change journey types from the quickest (and generally more expensive) to the most economical or scenic (‘Discovery’) – but the Michelin Recommends route is always a good bet for a happy medium.

When we drive down to Arcachon after getting off the ferry at 8am, we’ll be taking the Michelin recommends route – so it should theoretically take 6 hours and 54 minutes and cost around 120 Euros. All in all, it’s a great way to work out how much your self-drive holiday is going to cost you so you don’t get any nasty suprises – it’s not always cheaper to DIY rather than go the package route, unless you spend a little time on planning.

In the next installment, we’ll look at how to find a great campsite and discuss the book/not to book question.

Hi-de-Hi!

Lisa — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:52:39 +0000

Hello campers! This isn’t Gladys Pugh (although we share nationality), but a new blog I’m playing around with, which is dedicated to all things camping. Inspired by recent and forthcoming trips over the Channel to France, in these posts I plan to share thoughts, ideas, tips and suggestions on how to have a really fantastic camping holiday.

Camping has had a bit of an image change in the last few years. Maybe it’s the summer festival culture (and all the funky tents you can buy at Millets, John Lewis, Next et al), maybe it’s concern over increasing carbon footprints, or maybe people are getting bored of the herd mentality of package holidays and want more customisable experiences. Whatever, camping is in the ascendant: it’s cheap, healthy, exciting, flexible and you never know what’s around the corner – a week long holiday can feel like a month when you’re on a camping adventure.

You can leave your laptop and mobile behind (although we’ll be bringing our iPod and some travel speakers on our next trip), and there are no deadlines – heaven. That doesn’t mean you have to rough it. A little bit of thought and preparation and you can enjoy some home comforts even inside a couple of square metres of polyester in a field in the middle of gorgeous nowhere.

I think my thing about camping stems from childhood summer holidays spent camping and caravanning around Western Europe – it’s a bug that never really leaves you. And while I may have temporarily hated my parents for sending me out into the dark to fill up the aquaroll when we were pitching up at a new site, I see the benefits now!

Our next camping trip is taking place in precisely 3 weeks and one day’s time. So far we have a return ferry crossing booked and that’s it – 17 days to play with. I’ll be posting some plans, thoughts and ideas here over the coming weeks, taking pictures while we’re away and reporting back on the places and sites that we find after the event. Till next time!