Forums

MandyandDave · Moderator

Isn’t it strange how people are drawn to the same holiday destinations? I’ve often wondered why people return to the same countries, the same hot spots year after year? Take France for instance, the Franco-British relationship is renowned for being a little turbulent at times. Most Brits seem to think of them as smelly, frog-eating, arrogant xenophobes, while they enjoy mocking our inability to cook, binge drinking and of course, our weather. All this taken into consideration, one wonders why France is still the favourite holiday destination for the British and Britain, in the top three for the French. Perhaps therefore, the Franco-British relationship could be better described as a 'l'amour violent', as Chirac so poignantly put it on one of his official visits to Britain. So despite all of France's apparent faults, what is it that keeps 3 million of us spending our holidays there per year and 500,000 of us buying second homes there?
OK so there is no better country in western Europe geared up for the motor homing fraternity, and neighbouring countries can simply drive across the borders from Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, to take full advantage of the facilities offered for this fascinating way of lifestyle, so exactly what is the secret?
Obviously the stunning French landscape; mountains of the Alps or the Pyrenees, the heart-stirring gorges in Ardeche, the haggard coastline of Brittany, the valleys of the Dordogne, the Parisian architecture, the vineyards, the forests, the lakes, the list goes on. France's landscape is one of the most varied in Euroland and therefore offers all those active holiday makers a vast collection of sports such as white water rafting, mountain biking, caving, scuba diving and snorkelling or more traditionally, cycling and walking. For us France offers such a diverse choice suitable for all family members, history and fantastic beaches for Mandy and Kirsty, culture and vineyards for me.

Although this particular visit is not our first time to this region of France, this was to be our first trip to Frejus. Booking and planning for the holiday was done back in February, discounted crossings along with guaranteed pitch reservations are par for the course when your time there is limited, due to work and school commitments.

The tourist information said I should expect an elaborate welcome reception planned by the locals at this time of year (early summer)--that is, the local mosquitoes. It’s a legend in our family how coveted my blood is among blood thirsty creatures: if there are forty people in a room and one mosquito, I get the bites. (Yes, bites plural.)
During a trip to Southern Spain about seven years ago, several of the miniature vampire descendants were already in hiding, That night, they attacked every inch of skin that protruded from the sheets. Some of my fondest memories of that trip are of Mandy and I playing a little-known sport requiring agility, eagle eyes and a rolled-up newspaper, “Squito swatting“. The few remaining photos from that holiday that have survived, show my hands and face covered with red, puss-filled welts the size of marrowfat peas. Fortunately, I have remembered to pack my ski mask and gloves!

Thursday 25th, It’s 1530 and we are due to depart for the ferry at Dover, I grabbed a bag and threw in my sandals, sun hat, snorkel, swim shorts, shower gel, sun cream, swatters, and anything else I could find starting with "S" Because I have faith in my spouses superior packing abilities, I decided to hold her responsible for items starting with the other twenty-five letters.

The fortnight prior to our planned holiday in France, can only be described as being some what hectic,. Planning/booking a holiday can be a stressful experience, and if that’s not bad enough, we went and bought another Motorhome just a few weeks prior to leaving!.

On top of that, we brought the date forward a couple of days, to. fit in with the F1 GP at Monaco. A chance in a lifetime visit to the principality’s major annual event was too good an opportunity to miss out on when invited to watch Herr Schumacher and others by a colleague who had his boat moored in the vicinity, unfortunately, this wasn’t to be, all along that stretch of the med, the wind was F6 making passage to the harbour in Monte Carlo difficult to say the least.

1st leg stop was on the M11 services at Bishop’s Stortford. Designated overnight parking areas for caravans and motor homes, hot showers, toilets and restaurants, all for £8 including a voucher for £2 off a meal, a little noise from aircraft flying out of Standstead airport is no means ‘off putting,’ air traffic stopped shortly after we turned in for the night. An early start and a brief two hour hop down to Dover, for breakfast on the seafront.

Uneventful trip across La Manche, however we did hear some horror stories of missed channel crossings regarding 4 hour queues tail backed to Dover by other travellers, (bank holiday at it’s worst!) we rolled off the ferry into Calais, and the next night stop was at Camping La Chenaie in Laon, just off the A26 between St. Quentin and Reims, a small municipal with well spaced pitches of a decent size all nicely spaced with hedges. Set amidst a wooded area with a nice lake just across the road, these level grass plots all have electric and water on hand, hot, clean, shower and toilet facilities. 2006 prices: Motor home + 2 + elec. €14. Plus tax ‘de jour’.
It was about this time it dawned on us how much kit we had ‘forgotten’ to put in the new ‘van.. the handles for the aqua roll, a bucket, awning tie down straps, hosepipe a table a parasol and numerous other items that are still sat in the garage at home as I write! We wanted to have a w/e away in the new motor home prior to the holiday, a sort of shakedown really, however the weather at home as we are all well aware, has been absolutely terrible with persistent rainfall day after day, thus the dry moments were spent fitting extra 240v sockets, leisure batteries, outside water fill point socket, an inverter, and all those other little jobs that you do to make life easier in the motor home, so apart from the drive home from Spinney’s in Cheshire, this is the first time we have used it properly.

Again an early start the following morning, heading south using the auto routes, we got held up at Lyon with some road works, the traffic was really busy on the auto route through the city. Just before we hit Lyon the overhead signs on the carriage way warned us in advance, cones were strategically placed to converge the traffic into two lanes, at the head of this was (what we thought at the time) a road worker waving an orange flag up and down, it wasn’t until we came level with this chap we realised it was a full sized mechanical dummy complete with hard hat, yellow overalls and a moustache! We almost lost the plot!!
‘Tillie,’ ( name we have given to the ladies voice on Navigator 4) our faithful navigation expert led us swiftly to our main destination for the stay down here, Camping La Baume, Frejus, it’s a huge site with all the amenities you would expect to find on any large commercial in this part of the world, bars restaurants, a holiday village’ two pool complexes at each end of the site, and brand new facilities for showers and toilets, that would put a lot of hotels to shame, the reception staff are fantastic, there is something for everyone on and around the site, it’s not too busy being early season yet everything is open, with free entertainment provided each night.

Next couple of days spent settling to our new surroundings, the wind is still blowing strongly on shore, carrying bucketful’s of fine sand with it, the sun is quite fierce and combined with the wind, great care has to be taken against burning. A short trip to the hyper market on the scooter finished up with an unplanned visit to the pharmacies for some eye drops, the sand blast effect took it’s toll on my eyes!

Frejus is really a town of 2 halves, the old and the new. The modern part consists of Port Frejus, a massive modern marina that we found quite pleasant, Also one of the largest ‘Geant’ hypermarkets we have ever seen, is just across the road from the Aqua park attraction (opens 06/06/06)
Frejus Plage is a long, family-friendly beach that stretches around to St. Raphael, the next town. It's sandy, sheltered, and has a shallow gradient with lifeguards on duty. The place is also lined with ice cream parlours, cheap souvenir shops, the ever persistent ’looky looky man’ and value-for-money restaurants, such as the Moulerie which serves over fifty different types of mussel dishes with frites.

Next week we plan to visit the roman amphitheatre which lies in the old half, however today the car we pre-booked arrived at the site, so off we went to Grasse and the perfume factories there, we visited the house of Fragonard, and enjoyed the tour of how perfume is made both traditionally and by modern methods, needless to say the girls had a field day in the testing and shopping outlet!

On the way back to the site we stopped for a little while at Lac de St. Cassien, the wind had finally dropped, the sun was beating down, a paddle in the clear water was irresistible.
We spotted a campsite on the lake which looked very good, and intend to research more for future visits to this area (Var)

Friday, and we went to Monte Carlo, didn’t break the bank, but enjoyed the palace and guard changing ceremony, the casino and port, plus a drive around the GP circuit, the construction crews are still taking down the sidings, Armco, tyre traps and safety barriers all around the town, and heavy layers of rubber are still in evidence on parts of the track that has been laid down by the F1 cars, apparently if you can arrive there early enough, and climb the steps from the harbour that lead up to HRH Rainier’s palace, all the viewing from top to bottom is free!

Gorges du Verdon, what can I say, the drive there the following day in itself was akin to something straight out of an adventure movie, travelling north from the Riviera coast, through Draguignan, and smaller towns and villages such as montferret chateaudouble and comps cliff hugging roads along with hairpin turns, made for a true roller coaster ride certainly not one for the faint hearted!
On the approach to the gorges, the road splits offering visitors a choice of direction in which to travel along the gorge, we chose the Rive gauche, and made our approach to the lac de St. Croix from the east, various viewing areas along the route offer great photo opportunities.
We stopped for lunch at Camping l’Aiges, a small campsite with a terraced restaurant the overlooks the emerald coloured lake, a fantastic panoramic view from this little site that one could never tire of.

Market day in St. Aygulf, just a short ride on the scooter brought us into this neighbouring little port, the market here spreads for several hundred yards through the main street and spills over into the car park, the heat is stifling, hardly any breeze and the locals seem somewhat tetchy as they jostle one another in the narrow gaps between stalls, typical French market which offers local fresh produce, Provencal art and craftwork, herbs, pottery, table cloths and cheeses and of course wine.
Thursday and it’s time to pack up and head north for home, our first night’s stay en route home is spent at the municipal site at Beaune, on the edge of the town centre just a few minutes drive from the A6, all the motor home pitches here are hard standings and mostly fully serviced, hedges mark the boundaries of each pitch, there is a small shop and restaurant on site open from eight in the morning till lunchtime, and then again from five until late, showers and toilets are dated, but clean and tidy laundry facilities and CDP available too. Beaune itself is a wonderful town, the architecture and layout are a sight to behold around every corner, a photographer’s dream.

Friday, and we arrive at Chateau de Gandspette, last stop before the ferry home early Saturday morning, we met up with some friends who were travelling the same day and spent the evening sat outside enjoying the last night in France, we took the opportunity to check with Msr. Pauwells the arrangements and pay the booking fees for the September rally held at the site, the shower and toilet facilities have been updated since our last visit, and the rabbits are multiplying daily!.. Sat evening and we arrived very tired and hungry at Bainland to help Shane celebrate his birthday, it was a fantastic way to end the holiday and we felt most welcome amongst new found friends, thanks to all for a great evening on the sat night…that’s it really no more to tell apart from apologies in the delay for the write up, the laptop got damaged in Beaune and we have only just been able to retrieve the data on it. I've put a few photo's in our album, feel free to look..
Regards M&D Smile

DABurleigh

M&D,

Thanks for that account. The secret of France for us arises from the fact that the population density is half the UK average, and a damned sight less than that if you live in the S/ SE, and it's not far.

Cultured? You? Wink

Must take care not to drop my aitches when we next meet Smile

Hope you're pleased with the nice new van.

Dave

Pusser

Wicked report and all the places I go to on average once a year. I love that part of France. I have not done the Gorges yet as the missus wants me to learn to drive first. But as soon as I pass my provisional, I will give it crack.

St. Maxime is another favourite of mine in that bunch of towns which has some not too tacky tourist shops and some very good resturants and near the top of the hill there is always a window open in a building about 3 floors up and always an old lady is looking out. (Not sure if she's dead and no one has noticed as we have seen her there for at least 4 years on the trot. Got a pic somewhere).

So I shall be down there again probably late Aug early Sept for another familiar trip.

Look forward to pix when you can manage it.

coral

Grat review.

Thanks for the info.