Set off for Dover end of March
heading for sunshine after long dull winter. Catch late ferry and overnight
at the channel tunnel pets check in now a regular stop for us secure and
free.
Leave early next morning
heading South East no route planned no destination in mind, only criteria no
toll roads, and minimum motorway mileage. Find ourselves skirting along the
Belgium France border heading for Charleville in Champagne Ardennes, sat nav
says there is a nice camping municipal here.
camping mont olympe
camping mont olympe
Arrived at Camping Municipal du
Mont Olympe this is in the Rogers guide on DVD which loads into your sat
nav. Site which is ACSI registered for those who are members, is on the
banks of the river Meuse and has its own marina. There is an Aire outside
the gates with electric if required. Adjacent to the site is the rowing club
with plenty of activities to watch. Town is typical French provincial and
worth a visit. We only stayed one night .
.JPG)
Set off next morning 10:15
heading for Beaune arrived at camping municipal Les Cent Vignes at 4:00 this
is also an ACSI registered site as are nearly all the sites we stay at, we
have stopped here many times it is a very pleasant site
close to the centre
of town. We were delighted to find the shower and toilet blocks were
undergoing total refurbishment to a very high standard. The weather was hot
and sunny so we decided to stay a couple of nights and explore the town
This is an historic town in the centre of the champagne region and well
worth a visit . As an extra bonus site has free wi-fi or weefy as the French
say
Left Beaune. heading South
Decided to stay at Camping De Tournon Promenade Roche De France Tournon Sur
Rhone. A cheap site on the banks of the river Rhone very short walk into
town also with an Aire just outside the gates, plenty of shops and things to
see, but site a bit run down and facilities have seen better days, but OK
for a night or two.
Still
heading South towards Montpelier and ultimately the Spanish border.Heading South no particular
destination just want to be in and out of Lyon before the evening rush hour.
So on approach to Lyon join motorway system lots of converging motorways
couple of tunnels and lots of typically French horn blowing tyre screeching and hand gesticulations, . A busy multi lane French motorway is one place
where having the steering wheel on the wrong side can be an advantage when
changing lanes to pull over to an exit etc. Even outside of rush hour this
is an exhilarating and breath taking half an hour But soon over with and
back onto the rural French roads.
Stopped just outside Beziers at
Le Mediterranee Plage. A big sprawling site on the beach with lots of first
class amenities. They had just joined the ACSI scheme, and commented that it
was quite rare to have any English staying on site, but that I was the 5TH
one today. So obviously a good investment.
Carried on next day just a
short drive to the Spanish border. We always cross at Le Perthus a very busy
border town with the French buying cheap Spanish Goods and cigarettes and
the Spanish buying cheap French goods and wine. This town is worth a visit
for the shoppers among you with 2 large free car parks that will take the
largest of vehicles.
Between France and Spain on the N9 is a strange no man’s land dedicated to consumerism. Stroll down the ’route principale’ of Le Perthus from the large car park on your left as you arrive from Le Boulou, and you are still in France…… until you arrive at the ‘borne’ or marker on the left hand side, a little further down from the town hall, and suddenly it all depends what side of the road you’re on! In fact, based upon a rather bizarre border agreement which dates back to the signing of the treaty of the Pyrénées, (1659) Le Perthus becomes Spanish on the left hand side and French on the right. How on earth do we know when to stop saying ‘Bonjour’ and start saying ‘Holà’?
Fort de Bellegarde spanish border
From here its just a 50 mile drive to the Costa Brava,
originally we were going downt to Carthegena and then returning to the Costa
Brava when the temperatures
rise, but as in Britain the Spanish summer came
early so with the thermometer hitting close to 30 degrees. We decided to go
straight to Camping Solmar in Blanes and stay the next three months or so,
this is a regular stay for us and we have lots of friends either on site or
in the town. I wont bore you with the details of our stay, but Blanes is a
busy little town with a weekly market a thriving fishing industry, and lots of colourful fetes and celebrations throughout the year.
Left Blanes on 25th June After
stocking up with food and drink at Aldi and Lidyl.
Crossed border and headed
for Camping Les Berges de canal at villeneuve, a site I had seen in Rogers
guide, and wanted to have a closer look at, especially the canal. A
nice site on the side of the canal lots of British boats moored here semi
permanently with a few narrow boats, very close to the small town centre
just a short walk to the shops.A bridge and some lock gates with good views
for the dry land sailors. Good campsite in good location recommend to
anyone.
Left next day heading North
and home went to Flower Camping la Roseraie a large holiday camp not really suited for tourers but ok for a stopover with free Wi Fi like the majority of French sites I wish the English and Spanish would follow suit. Very rural
location need transport for shopping etc, but bread available from reception
as on all French campsites, also restaurant and bar and small swimming pool.
Stayed 1 night and left next day for Beaune went to same site as on way down
and stopped for a couple of nights, all toilet refurbs now complete and a
once very good site is now excellent.This is a very busy site with people
arriving and leaving every day travelling north
and south, but if you arrive
early there is always plenty of room to pitch, weather is now scorching, but
central France in mid summer is always like this.
Left on 29th June travelling
north to Troyes, we stayed at camping municipal Troyes a large very popular
site with average amenities and a supermarket on the doorstep. We
have
stopped here many times, but never in high season so were quite shocked to find this was the most expensive camp we have ever stopped at in France. At 27
Euros we
normally only pay 15 Euros here because we use ACSI card low and
medium season, but we had now strayed into high season. By comparison the
next site we stopped at was the
cheapest we had been to at 8 Euros a night
inclusive of electric this was
a spacious site with first class facilities and very good security, on the side of the canal, but we did need the scooter to get into town. Left here 11:45 am arrived Calais 5:00 pm for 6:00 Ferry to Dover Left here 11:45 am arrived Calais 5:00 pm
for 6:00 Ferry to Dover
No comments:
Post a Comment