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Tent camping in France
My wife of 37 summers was decidedly apprehensive about going camping in France again, after all, the last time was before we were married, when we took our little Mini Van packed to the gills with borrowed camping equipment (we were poor then and couldn't afford to buy), food and air beds which wouldn't deflate unless you popped them, they were a nightmare! To get to where we were going we traveled through France having done the Dover to Calais crossing, and if I remember correctly it was less than £20 return for the van and the two of us. The aim of the game was to end up in a tiny little place called Frejus near to St Rapael where a friend of a friend had a campsite. These days of course the two places are virtually joined at the hip, but nearly 40 years ago they were distinct and full of character.

We stayed the first night in Calais and set off early the next morning not at all full after a continental breakfast. These days most people traveling to the South of France from Calais would probably go down the A26 Autoroute - and pay for the privilege, but of course, it hadn't been built when we first went that way. I remember that we went past St Omer where the famous lager in the little stubby bottles comes from, Bethune, Cambrai and St Quentin, all battle areas of the 1st World War, and on to Reims, the home of Champagne. We drove nearly to Dijon and decided to find a campsite for the night, which we did without any problem, but neither of us could figure out how to put the tent up! Oh how we wished we had practised! We spent the night in the van, warm enough but rather cramped, especially for me. 

Luckily I had paid the campsite owner the night before - about 12 Francs if I remember correctly, or not quite a Pound GBP, so we made an early start again after a Hellishly uncomfortable night in the van. We meandered past Chalon and Macon but came seriously unstuck with all the traffic in Lyon which is easily bypassed these days. Eventually we found the turn for Grenoble and Gap, ending up a coup[le of hours later in St Raphael, a stone's throw from where we wanted to be in Frejus.

There wasn't much there nearly 40 years ago, but there again we didn't need much, just somewhere to pitch the tent, a bar and somewhere to buy food, not necessarily in that order either!

It didn't take too long to find Nicole's little site, and we were quite astounded to find it totally different to the campsites we had stayed in back home in England. For a start it was clean, and not in a field full of cow poo and it had toilets which were also clean, showers too, and a nice little shop with a bar. It struck me then that camping in France was going to be really enjoyable, and we even got the hang of putting the tent up! That was one of the best holidays we have ever had. And here's another type of holiday you might try - get some exercise while you're there!

Cycling Holidays in France: hotel, camping and gite based biking tours.

We eventually decided that we just had to go camping in France again last year, 2007, but although we booked a camping holiday we actually stayed in a mobile home on a far larger site in St Jean de Monts in the Vendee, nearly three hours from St Malo. The site did indeed have tents owned by one or two operators, and they were a far cry from the one which we had all those years ago. They had beds for a start, fridge freezers and water nearby. They certainly looked very comfy and homely and obviously much better than our first attempt at camping, but you know what? We still have very fond memories of the first time and staying in a modern tent just wouldn't be the same somehow.

 


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