Thanks for help here
Many thanks to the kind people who advised on things like not booking French sites in May, rather just turning up. (ValDa and others)
We returned from a wonderful, completely unbooked month there, having completely changed plans half way on seeing the weather forecast. Dordogne - superb, stayed longer than planned. Carcassonne - OK, interesting, done it now, and it chucked cold rain sideways. Pyrennees were due next, but rather than the reported storms and snow we headed to Provence in the sun, then the Ardeche in the sun. Wonderful. And without the advice we'd have probably needlessly booked sites rather than staying as long as seemed right then moving.
ACSI - yes, yes, and again yes. Superb.
Looking forward to the next trip, but not in high season, we'll go somewhere else.
Lessons learned include checking when French public holidays are, in order not to end up at major sites on their most crowded days. There are a lot of French public holidays in May!
Comments
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Sounds like you had a great time, I’m envious. I must admit to being someone that doesn’t take risks when it comes to planning holidays, but it seems that the unplanned aspect really added to the enjoyment. Something to ponder on 🙂
Out of interest, was it an issue if you were unable to state the length of your stay with the site owners?
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How nice that someone has come back to say thank you and how right all the people were who gave advice
France is a wonderful place out of season and part of the reason is the flexibility. We have just come back to day having stayed part of the time in the Ardeche thanks to Val's advice. I am glad that you, like us, have had a great time and will be back.4 -
Freddy - It's never been an issue for us. We always give approximates unless we know site will be full later on (this happens to us more in Germany for religious holidays than France). If they do want some slrt of fixed timescale (hardly ever) just overestimate. You can leave early without penalty.
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No. I never know how long I am staying when I book in. Sometimes I have stayed three weeks where I planned to stay one week and other times I have only stayed a couple of days when I planned to stay a week. You just tell reception that you don't know. So, so different from the UK.
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Hedgehurst
Glad the forum has proved useful to your overseas trip. To my mind that is exactly what this forum is for.
David
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Freddy, we used to just turn up with our tent years ago in the UK, but in recent years took to booking to be sure. Since the advent of caravanning, (now in our 2nd year) we've booked every time in the UK, this was our first overseas trip with it.
We looked in the ACSI book, sometimes confirming choices by cross reference to the C&MC French guide where they were also listed there, then just turned up, anything between 3.30 and about 5.30 pm. Except on sites where we knew we'd be off next day, we said we'd stay maybe two or three nights, maybe more. When it turned into 10, on our Dordogne site, the owner wasn't complaining. It was one of the best sites we've ever stayed, superb facilities, well maintained, quiet, and only a handful of units on site, so it was all custom for them. They were all very relaxed. We usually handed over the ACSI card, just sometimes the Camping Key card, and paid on leaving. In the Ardeche they just wrote details down and handed the card back. Nothing to stop us leaving without paying, but they knew we'd not do that. Maybe starting in French every time helped, I don't know.
The only French site we paid on arrival was close by the A-route South of Clermand Ferrand, where it was obviously a transit site.
The only other was at Newhaven, which had the worst facilities, and at £25 was the most expensive. On the French sites, we were getting pitches which would have been around 30 Euros a night or more, for 15 - 17 Euros.
Another aspect of not booking was that when, on two occasions, the first site we had lined up turned out not to be what was wanted, we were able to drive off to another with no problem.
I'd add that having bought the Michelin camping & caravanning book, it proved the least useful to us, so we'll save that expense next time.
Hope this helps. Happy travels!
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Did you get to see the Caverne du Pont d'Arc while there? The images, drawn with such beauty, even in replica, (no-one's allowed to risk entry into the real thing after Lascaux was so damaged by exposure), were truly moving, and were one of the many high points of our trip. Coming after seeing the 20,000 yr old Lascaux paintings, these, at 36,000 years old, truly blew me away! What really got to me is that some aspects of the images are the same, with unusual stylistic devices used in both. This suggests ideas being copied and handed on.... over 16,000 years?!
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I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed your (unbooked) holiday, Hedgehurst! It's lovely that we've all been able to help you realise that holidaying in France can be done with a lot less hassle, and pre-planning, and that (at most times) you can just go as you please!
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When we used to travel with the children in school holidays we rarely used to book although we avoided popular areas I.e. NOT anywhere on the Med. coast!
One thing we still do, if we like a site but have an average pitch and want to stay for a week or so we will eye up the best pitches and wait until people move out in the morning then swap (after having a word with the proprietor). Easier with a motorhome of course and with a caravan you would ideally not put an awning up until you are settled.
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No we chose not to go as they are reproductions. We did enjoy Cloche Merle in the Lot in 2016 where you can still see the originals.
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Today I celebrate my ‘Beatles Brthday’ and, having a lazy day, looked at CT only to be disappointed at some of the content so THANK YOU for, as others have said, showing what CT is really good for and taking the trouble to come back on and tell people that not only did you have a great time but that CT assisted you in getting that.
Re booking we never did till this year but, as we are going to France in August along with family including 5 Grandchildren, not booking was not an option!
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We also have just returned from a 12 night stop in the Ardèche using the ASCI scheme.Weather was very good just with two wet days.The second wet day we used this to visit the Pont De Arc caves.Very interesting especially as it is a purpose made replica building.It is a timed event using an english speaking guide.
The beauty of the ASCI scheme is the flexability it gives you.We just paid to the first night at La Ranchisses and then the balance on the last day.
Going down we used the municipal sites at Troyes ( bumped in Rick Stein filming) and Beaune this was the busiest of the sites and good job we had arrived early as site did fill up.
We visited the Beaune Hospice with it fantastic tiled roof.Very atmospheric to wander around.
Return was via Château de Eperviere and Bord de Aisne which was not In the ASCI scheme and cost 29 euro’s a night.
Our last night at Ganspette visiting the V1 and V2 rocket site at Eperlecques.
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That was just what I was afraid of, that reproductions wouldn't cut the mustard, but nobody's allowed in the real cave, and they're such stunning reproductions, and the atmosphere so good, that I was able to focus on the art work, and mostly forget the steel walkway and the headset!
http://archeologie.culture.fr/chauvet/fr/visiter-grotte/salle-fond/trois-lions
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Freddy,
We did 10,500 miles, stayed at 33 campsites and went through 11 countries (some twice) last year. We did it all on the fly making it up as we went along. We usually rang ahead about 2 hours before we thought that we would be in a particular area just to check that the campsite, which we had picked from one of our various guides, was both open and had places. We stayed on the lake in Vanstena in Sweden for 8 days having thought that we would just overnight in our way to Stockholm and were surprised, when we checked out of our campsite in Punta Braccetto in Sicily, that we had been there for 28 nights. Except for the cross-channel ferry out, other than a rough itinerary (geographical not time) we rarely ever plan and have had very few problems. Our only constraint is the number of days our house insurance will allow us to have the house unoccupied. Last year, we used 2 additional ferries (Sweden - Finland & Finland - Estonia); both which were booked the night before we travelled.
Some think that we are utterly mad but we have had a lot of fun, seen some wonderful sights & locations and had some great adventures. We have learnt that it is not necessary in Europe to plan down to the last half-inch unless you have one particular destination/campsite in mind.
This year, we want to go to the Dusseldorf Caravan show and then we have to be in Toledo for a wedding in the middle of October. How we get there and where we go afterwards, we have no idea - we will just meander.
I could go on. The campsite in the middle of nowhere in southern Italy that required a huge leap of faith to go down a very narrow dodgy single track on the outskirts of a very small rough seedy commercial port, turn out to be almost empty and need of serious upgrade but had a surprisingly wonderful restaurant with the best seafood meal that we had in the whole 4 months we were away!
If you decide to go slightly unplanned during your next trip, good luck. I am sure that you will find it rewarding.
Very happy to answer any questions.
Bob
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We're two weeks into a three week meander around Normandy & Brittany. The only fixed points are the ferry out and back and those have been constrained by appointments. I had an itinerary planned but it has already been subject to modification, staying longer at some places, skipping others. So far, so good.
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That sounds good, and rather like our trip. The only booked site was Newhaven to be sure of being on the ferry. Following comments here we planned to maybe stay at Dieppe on arrival, see the place, then get driving the next day. We left GB in howling wind and rain, arrived in Dieppe in the same storm, so drove on to see if it got better.
The first intended site was closed, and we realised it was one we'd used some years ago with a tent and disliked anyway, so we headed to Vernon, slightly cross country, but a lovely place to pause, and see Monet's Giverny too. Vernon was the first nightingale and cuckoo site, and we heard both in nearly every site for quite a while after. Gorgeous. As in my OP, the itinerary was there, but flexing or even abandoning it gave us much more freedom.I don't know how far into the season this flexibility of just driving into sites still works, and the ACSI sites would get more expensive too, of course.
Enjoy your wanderings, Cyberyacht, and likewise Freddy too when you make the trip - I'm glad this thread has been encouraging!
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Hedgehust, I visited France quite a few years ago, staying at pre-planned sites. As it happens, I made some good choices, booked through the CC. Of course, time was a constraint . This time next year I’ll be retired, so it won’t be so much of an issue. Looking forward to it!
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I'd like to agree with everyone who has just advised 'Go for it' as we've just come back from 3 weeks doing just that. I usually like to plan everything down to the last meal but did nothing of the sort on our recent trip. 3 nights in Holland then a drive through Germany (done on a Sunday as advised somewhere on this forum) took us to Poland. We visited 6 sites with no advanced booking; just turned up and stayed as long as we liked which was usually 3 nights. The flexibility was very refreshing and as we were 'off season' we were confident of finding space on sites. However, there was Corpus Christi holiday and one site was busy but it didn't matter. Our only regret was we had to come home! it's given us confidence to 'wing it' and also to try a road slightly less well travelled - we saw one other Brit the whole time we were in Poland which added to the feeling of being abroad! And, the weather was superb!
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