French sites - response
Travelling to France in June to visit the Somme. Researched a couple of sites, one at Albert and one nearer to Thiepval. Emailed both sites for up to date prices. One has responded and one hasn’t- we preferred the one who hasn’t.
Being organised, I do like to book in advance, but with the preferred site not responding, wondered how risky it is not to book at all. My gut feeling is to book the Albert site, but my heart is saying wait for the Thiepval one.
Obviously I need to make my own decision but just wondered what others would do. There isn’t much between the sites in relation to facilities, just we think the location is better for us.
Comments
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We turned up at the Albert site in June of 2017 with no problem, it is ideally suited for Thiepval, Lochnager Crater, German war cemetery where the Red Baron was buried (he was moved but headstone marker still there), and of course you have the town of Albert on the doorstep.
At the turn off to the crater 2km out of Albert the ' Old Blighty tearoom' is not to be missed which is a very interesting museum as well.
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TG
Probably this is the Peronne one? http://www.davidklyne.co.uk/camping_du_port_de_plaisance.html
Not sure the OP should be that concerned about just turning up, I can't recall the last time we booked a site in Europe! Municipals seem to have a regular turn round of pitches so there shouldn't be a problem. Always best to have a Plan B!
David
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as these two sites are only 10 mins apart, why not go to the one you 'prefer' and if for some strage reason it's booked in June, go to the other one....
as others have said, there will,be loads of room everywhere at that time of year.....it's not like the uk 'summer' season (end April-September)
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As others have said we never book for May and June. We went to the Somme for the 100 anniversary with a moving ceremony at Thiepval. We found a relatives's grave and then found him listed on the Thiepval memorial which is for the missing. When we queried it we were told he was originally buried under the wrong name, so when the memorial was made in 1932 he was missing.
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French sites are just not geared up for booking in advance. It's not something most Europeans do. Just turn up, book in and set up! Easy. So much easier than worrying about trying to get to a booked site at a certain time in order to meet some specified arrival time. In June you should have no problems, and last year even in peak weeks in July we had no problem finding a pitch on three different sites in three very different areas.
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The Historial at Peronne is well worth a visit.
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Moonstone, It's an area we find very distressing. The memorials and cemeteries are too much for us. One of us weeps and the other one gets very angry at the sheer futility of what went on there. Stay a day or two at whatever campsite you choose and move on.
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Me too! We visited the area around Ypres, looking for the war graves of my OH's too great-uncles. We found them both - in cemeteries with thousands of others. It's distressing to read about how young some of these 'men' were. We visited the Visitor Centre at Passchendaele and my sister-in-law and I cried and had to leave. I'm glad we went, but I would never go back.
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This will be my first summer in France with a motorhome and I like the comfort of prebooked sites.
We will be arriving in Albert on 1 July and I have booked a pitch on the Albert site. I initially sent my request in english and no reply was forthcoming. I reapplied using Google to translate my request into French and I got a speedy reply!!
I have left a few gaps in our plans and hope to use some of the aires - there appears to be a nice one near the chateau at Chambord - and/or some of the French Passion sites.
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Thank you - I feel somewhat reassured. Pleased to hear that people have visited the Albert site; both sites look ok but preferred the position of the one nearer Thiepval http://campingbellevue.pagesperso-orange.fr/index.html. I do prefer to book, but my original enquiry (translated to French) was just to get prices for budgeting.
We've done Normandy, and Belgium but hubby wanted to visit the Somme area, the crater and the memorial. Our week won't all be war-related but am looking forward to it. Maybe we'll just go to the Albert site http://www.camping-albert.com/, as people have said, walking distance into the town sounds good.
Another question - is it worth taking our bikes? We do like to cycle round if possible but thinking we might not need them on this visit.
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The site in Albert would be my preference as its walkable into town where there is a great museum. When we were there, the people who maintain the Lochngar crater were on site also.
Its an Acsi site and only around 18 euros I believe, free wifi near office, and a park adjacent. We were sited up the small hill at the top of the site, and pitches had water and electric.
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When the children were at home we always went away in the caravan in late July or late August. I can only recall three occasions in about 20 years when we booked. The first was Switzerland where we had a nice reserved pitch in an empty campsite. Second, in the Dordogne, it rained non-stop and we left early and after much argument we managed to get a partial refund.The third site in Southern France was horrible, crowded, too hot and dusty.
Still, many people like the reassurance of booking but it is mainly Brits. conditioned by the difficulty of “touring” in the UK and having to book everything in peak season.
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