Joined: 19/6/2009 Diamond Member 
Forum Posts: 10282
Tent Reviews: 6
| Site Reviews Total: | 87 |
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| Site Reviews 2026: | 13 |
| Site Reviews 2025: | 17 |
| Site Reviews 2024: | 10 |
| Site Reviews 2023: | 9 |
| Site Reviews 2022: | 8 |
| Site Reviews 2021: | 9 |
| Site Reviews 2020: | 0 |
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| Site Nights 2026: | 63 |
| Site Nights 2025: | 77 |
| Site Nights 2024: | 49 |
| Site Nights 2023: | 47 |
| Site Nights 2022: | 46 |
| Site Nights 2021: | 34 |
| Site Nights 2020: | 0 |
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France and Germany June 2026
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Admin - I have submitted all my site reviews except for the site that needs to be added, pending set up/approval.
Long read ahead!
Sites where I had stayed:
1. Daleacres CAMC near LeShuttle, Folkestone, 1 night
2. Camping au Bord de l'Aisne near Reims, 1 night
3. Woka Camping La Colombiere near Dijon, 6 nights
4. Camping Hirzberg in Freiburg, Germany, 6 nights
5. Back to Camping au Bord de l'Aisne near Reims, originally for 5 nights, however, I left early after 2 nights as it was too hot to be enjoyable.
Came home earlier than planned by 3 nights as it was just too hot to be enjoyable.
Daleacres CAMC was a nice site and handy as a pit stop before crossing the Channel by LeShuttle in Folkestone.
I was able to leave the campsite shortly after 06:30 in the hope I would be able to board an earlier train than the one I booked at 09:20.
No chance as informed to me by the staff at the Pet Reception. Possibly due to over-booking/capacity related issues with some vehicles being put on later departures than the ones booked by 30min or so.
I still went to the departure area straight after checking in my dog at the Pet Reception with no queue, to take my chances for an earlier departure with no luck, hey ho!
I only managed one Flunch meal and big grocery stop at the start of the trip before Europe was hit by the heatwave. I only stopped for short comfort breaks for the remaining long drives.
I did manage a small shop early in the morning before I left the campsite near Reims when it was cooler.
The longest drive was from the campsite in Germany back to the one near Reims and it was not enjoyable due to the heat. Although I had air con in the cab, I still struggled to concentrate and had to make more frequent pit stops than planned.
The pitch I was allocated at the German site in the Black Forest was narrow, so narrow that I was not able to extend my wind-out awning fully in order to keep the pegs within the pitch's boundary. And the ground was very hard!
I made the mistake of parking my van the wrong way round, forgetting I was not in UK, which meant my sitting area was right next to my neighbour's. Lesson learnt!
I did not see it happened, however, I suspect my awning pegs were damaged by the owners of a big van that arrived late at night. One was bent and pulled out of the ground, and the other was bent and still in the ground.
I managed to unbend the pegs sufficiently and pegged them down again while my camp neighbours were out. They avoided me when they came back, and left early next morning.
Good thing about the German site was the big restaurant and beer garden nextdoor, and the park nearby for dog walks as they stated on their website that dogs should not be allowed to mark around the campsite, etc. etc...
There was also a restaurant right next to the second campsite in France near Dijon, highly recommended.
One of the reasons for returning to the first campsite near Reims was the good reviews of the lady vet only a few minutes walk from the campsite.
No booking required, just walk-ins, only opened in late afternoon/early evening during weekdays. Very patient with my dog that did not like taking tablets. I bought a very ripe single serving Camembert with me, and the vet also had cheeses of her own, and together, my dog ate the 3 tablets buried in 3 bits of gooey cheeses, phew. Only cost 31.80 EUR for a 12.3kg dog, highly recommended.
The AHC was 283 GBP at my local vet, and I shall be using a click and collect provider next year at about 100 GBP.
Now that I am back, I could reveal why I could not use a click and collect AHC provider.
When I made enquiry with one of the click and collect AHC provider as recommended by the FB group that bofs and Ina recommended, the OV informed me that the dog's rabies vaccine in 2025 should not have been administered with his other boosters. Therefore, he was not able to provide an AHC for him.
My own vet mentioned this when he went for his boosters in late April 2026. So I brought this up with the surgery right away, and the vet was fine with providing him with an AHC based on her professional judgement, etc...
Going forward, I shall pay for an additional rabies vaccine to be administrated when the dog goes for his 6-monthly healthy pet club check up. This way, it will not be mixed with his other boosters, and I shall be able to use a click and collect AHC provider.
I changed my tunnel crossing to 00:16 on Thursday 25 June 2026, and arrived shortly before 22:00. Again, no chance of an earlier crossing due to earlier cancellations. Some departures were delayed by over 2 hours; therefore, I was grateful that my department left on time!
The Duty Free shop at Calais had much improved since I was there in 2024. There was only a Starbucks opened for food and drink that time of the night.
M25 was closed due to a big/bad accident, and I had to crawl along the South Circular A205 at 20mph to reach M4.
I set off from the campsite near Reims at 18:45ish, and did not arrive home until 04:15, over 10h on the road! I did make pit stops whenever I felt tired and did not soldier on regardless - I learnt a valuable lesson the hard way about stopping whenever I feel tired many years ago when I attempted to drive from south of Paris back to Thetford in Norfolk after a full day at work and nearly crashed about an hour from home along the A11 at about 03:30 in the morning! Never again!
All in all, not the most enjoyable of trips due to the adverse weather conditions as I do not like it hot!
I have planned to go to Europe in May next year in the hope it will not be so hot, fingers firmly crossed!
Just a few photos of my trip, including meals that I managed to cook as I ate out a lot due to being so hot! I forgot to take a photo of the confit of duck that I cooked in the van as it was very nice, DOH!
The route in France and Germany:
My pitch at the site near Dijon:
The dog preferred the grass to the new cooling mat that I purchased for him for this trip:
Steak tartare, and chips were pants - cooked for ages at high heat and they were still soggy, same with cooking at home in the airfryer!
Merguez sausages:
My pitch in Germany:
Onglet steak:
Gloried parking spaces in Germany:
My set up showing how narrow it was, and the neighbours whom I suspect damaged my pegs and tried to pull them out when they arrived late at night:
The massive pitch at the campsite near Reims, definitely go back there again!
DK 
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Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
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Topic: 2026 France and Germany
