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Dear All,

I hope I wont get flamed for posting this but I need some advice as a newbie to camping. We are currently having a career break in our house in Andalucia, in a month we begin a 5 week journey home taking in the following locations:

Trevelez (SP)
Tarragona (SP)
Andorra
Carcassone (FR)
Chanac (FR)

Chamberey(FR)
Lake Magiori (IT)
St Anton - Austria
Staufen
Chalons
St Omer

We have chosen these locations mainly for the route we want to follow, not necessarily these towns.

I write to ask advise of anyone that has stayed in any of these areas in a tent and can offer any advice of any sort or if you have stayed close to these towns and can suggest an alternative.

Additionally, any other hits and tips in relation to a trip like this. We have a decent outwell tent but have only had 3 trips under canvas, we find that we prefer smaller campsites, pools are not essential but mountain or rural (back to nature) sites are of interest, although hot showers are essential. I should point out that we have2 dogs.

Many thanks

Angus

Sounds like a fabulous trip. (Why would you be flamed for posting about it? We like all sorts of camping here, even including the type of trip we're jealous of....)

11 stops in 35 days is quite ambitious though. That's 12 pack up/travelling/pitch up days plus two free days on each campsite, very roughly. You don't have kids, do you? If so, I would think it too much travelling. If not then it's perfectly do-able by two adults.

My top tip then is to take as little as possible by way of kit. You don't say what tent you have exactly but I'd be looking for something you can pitch in under half an hour if not less for this sort of trip. Self inflating mats, couple of sleeping bags, one or two suitcase stoves, two chairs and a table. This is not the sort of trip you want to be assembling a camp wardrobe or larder every couple of days, and the less you have to pack up the better. Aim for one hour, max, from putting down your tea mug to driving off. The fun of this trip will be in the travelling, not the pitching! If you have the kind of car you can live out the back of a lot, so much the better.

There are big guides published as to the locations of Euro campsites and my suggestion is to get one of these, read the more limited review section here and be armed with a shortlist of sites for each area. Start looking for a campsite by mid-afternoon...in August they'll fill up fast and you don't want to be stuck. Municipal sites are a bargain and usually as well run as any private site, but also watch out for "Camping al la Ferme" (sp?) which is farm camping.

Have fun!

Sounds a fantastic trip - and as ValK says, quite an ambitious itinerary.  Some of the towns chose are quite large ones - so mountain or back to nature type sites might be difficult to find! 

There's a website http://users.pandora.be/leo.huybrechts/camp1.htm which lists campsites within 15 kilometres of all the major routes through Europe - which is a great way to locate a site near your chosen route. 

Try the following suggestions near some of the towns you've identified:

Tarragona - Vinyols Camp - an ecological campsite, on a farm, with 66 touring pitches - it also has a vegetarian restaurant.  It does have a small pool Takes dogs. 

At Carcassone - try Le Martinet Rouge north of Carcassone - it's been developed a bit recently, but is in a lovely rural setting amongst huge rounded boulders which separate some of the pitches. 

Haven't stayed near Chanac - but you're just off the A75 - and there are some fabulous places to stay all along that route, so you'll not be spoiled for choice.  We haven't stayed near Chanac - usually being further north on the A75, around  Issoire  or further south in Millau - which we love - and the Millau/Tarn/Jonte gorges area is certainly worth a stop-over of a few days.  Loads of sites in Millau.

We've also stayed in Staufen at Camping Belchenblick - which is a bigger site, but within walking distance of town along a safe path - don't know about dogs, though.

Chalons - sur Marne (Chalons en Champagne) or Chalons sur Saone?  Chalons en Champagne has a municipal almost in the town centre, which is OK.  There are several municipal sites in the villages around Chalons sur Saone - and a good municipal site at Macon, where we've stayed several times.

Just to the north of St Omer we've stayed at Chateau du Gandspette - which is also a bigger site, but the tent pitches are in a wooded area, and there's quite a rural feel about it.  Takes dogs.

Have a great trip. 

Hi Val,

Thanks for the advice, we dont have kids so thats the reason we have selected for quite a few stops. We are planning a week in Austria and 5 days in Italy so that makes for even less nights in the other places. We might consider less places and more nights.

What guide would you recommend, we have the camping and caravanning club guides but have found these sites pretty bug and full of screaming kids.

We have an outwell minessota which we can put up in 20 mins (loads of practice) and we can generally get going pretty fast.

If you are interested in what we have been doing so far have a look at our blog at http://ourbigtriproundeurope.blogspot.com

Angus

Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 19/6/2008

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Sounds like a fabulous trip. (Why would you be flamed for posting about it? We like all sorts of camping here, even including the type of trip we're jealous of....)

11 stops in 35 days is quite ambitious though. That's 12 pack up/travelling/pitch up days plus two free days on each campsite, very roughly. You don't have kids, do you? If so, I would think it too much travelling. If not then it's perfectly do-able by two adults.

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I was about to make those exact 2 points

Even with adults only, I personally wouldn't keep to such a hectic schedule - for me it would feel too much like "It's Monday, it must be Belgium". I think you would end up feeling like you're doing nothing but packing, unpacking and travelling - particularly as you haven't camped much before. But each to their own .....