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Hi all,

I'm hoping to pick your knowledgeable caravanning brains!

We're planning to take the caravan abroad for the first time this summer (24th Aug-7th Sep) and really can't decide where to go!

We had toyed with the idea of going down to the dordogne but the length of the drive is putting me off a bit. So, I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions of nice places a little further north, I'd say 6 hours max. from the ferry landing (ferry not booked yet so could go to any of them!)

We are in our early thirties, no kids but 2 energetic dogs who love swimming (typical springer spaniels really!). We're into hiking and exploring, Our ideal site would have EHU, spacious pitches (must be grass to enable us to make our 'garden') and a bar within walking distance. Other than that we're easy!

I've been looking at the Loire valley but am o[pen to any suggestions that you could throw at me! France is just so huge and a real 'unknown' to me so I just don't know where to start!

Many many thanks in anticipation,

Sarah.

I'd agree with minicamper2001 - at that time of the year (which is when we always go) the whole of France is your oyster.  You don't need to book, or even particularly plan in advance.  I'd use your time to research the various areas of France - and see if there is one which grabs you - and is the sort of place you'd like to visit.  I wouldn't even think about sites yet, you don't need to book at that time of year, and rather than restrict yourself to a booked site in an area which you don't like, take the time to find the area first.

Apart from  your site specifications (which would fit many of the 11,000 campsites in France) what else are you looking for?  France is such a diverse country that with so little to go on it's hard to pinpoint a particular area which would suit.

The one thing I would say is don't get hung up on driving distance.  Six hours on French roads will almost take you to the Dordogne -- certainly just a morning drive away..  Stop overnight somewhere else, and you can be down on the Mediterranean!  French roads are less crowded than roads in Britain, and travelling is actually a pleasure in most areas (for us anyway). 

These days we 'go with the weather' - checking the forecast when we arrive, and heading for the area with the best forecast.  Whilst having no sun isn't that much of a big deal for a couple of days, if you were sitting on a booked pitch at Camping Ideal - (riverside site, spacious grass pitches, EHU, walking distance to a bar) and found that it was still raining after eleven days, you'd probably wish you'd followed us to Camping Also Ideal (riverside site, spacious grass pitches, EHU, walking distance to a bar) but with eleven days of sunshine,  in a different area.

Hi Sarah, What ferry crossing are you using?

From where you live the Portsmouth or Poole routes are the most convenient, and land you with good camp sites within a few miles of the French ports - but are you happy to leave your dog in the car for a six hour Channel crossing  ? (and longer still if you go overnight to St Malo)

It scares a lot of people, the idea of not booking in advance, but once you've done it you really won't want to go back to pre-booked sites.

We've been on sites where we had very noisy neighbours, we arrived at sites which look very different from their image on the internet, and we've looked at sites and found the facilities were smelly or neglected.  On each occasion we just got the books out and moved somewhere else.

I can understand you wanting a first night site, but thereafter I would do as Kelper suggests - have an area in mind, but back up areas in different regions, and look at the weather forecast.  Honestly it's easy, and after the first successful unbooked site you'll think all caravanning should be like that!

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I think we're settled on going for a DFDS Portsmouth - Le Havre overnight crossing. The 2 dogs will have plenty of space in the back of our 4x4 and will just sleep through as they would overnight at home so they'll be fine.

I've taken on board the advice you've all kindly offered so I'm going to book our first night in the Vendee campsite, then decide from there what to do for the following 2 weeks. I assumed that we'd need to book sites weeks or months in advance so that's great to know that we can just turn up.

Eek, exciting stuff - roll on the summer now! :)

Thank you all again for your help,

Sarah (& Craig, and Hendrix & Pixie - the pampered pooches!) x

Hmmm, so.... after saying that we'd like to avoid driving too far south, I've been researching and have totally fallen in love with the sound of the Tarn Gorge! It sounds amazing and great for a couple of hikers like us!

Is it really as fab as i'm imagining it to be?! I'm imagining long dog walks in the gorges, canoeing along and picnicing on riverside beaches, swimming in the river and stuffing ourselves at the night market!

Eek, I'm so excited! :)

That's exactly what it's like, honestly.  It's the perfect area for dog loving hikers, wild swimming, and gorgeous food.  The scenery is stunning, the wildlife equally so, and there are some fantastic walks.  You can see from the photographs, and from my enthusiasm on the other threads, that it's an area we love.

I recommended it years ago to Feeblecat and they went there and loved it - see here

If you do go, then my advice would be to find a site in the more open end to the south of the Gorge - otherwise the sunshine hours can be significantly less.  There are some cracking ACSI Card sites with pools, some just 10 euros for a pitch, two adults, car and caravan, awning, electricity and a dog.  10 euro sites are Larribal, St Lambert, and Belle Etoile, but you can see them all on the ACSI Card website.  Or what about Oxter's municipal site up on the top, looking down on it all.

You can get there with two long days and an overnight stop somewhere in France.  We've even considered it worthwhile for just a week when M in Law gave us some money to take the kids on holiday, and they wanted to go back to their favourite area!  I can recommend a toll-free route which will get you there without too much expense, too, and even the route takes you through some beautiful country!