I too have been wondering how long you need to be in the south of france for to make the journey feel worthwhile. 3wks is not an option and am thinking if it's 2 overnighters each way (from Norfolk) then it feels quite a long way then that would be 10ish nights on site.
------------- From tents to trailer tents to a tin tent to an air tent to trailer tent and back to tin tent!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Thanks everyone for your input loads of good advice and tips, driving with a 1,3 and 6 yr old is challenging at the best of times we had a trip to Winfields in Hull today (best camping shop ever IMO)which is a 45 minute drive from us and that was challenging lol
------------- June 2nd-9th - Hirdre Fawr Farm (was a wet one)
August 19th-26th - Teifi Meadows
June 2013 - Majorca fed up with UK weather
Next month will be leaving Nottingham at 3am for 7am tunnel crossing, 5 hour drive to south of tours, throw up tent in chreap municipal site, Next day 5/6 hours drive down to laguepie for 7 nights in accomodation, then another night camping in south of barcelona after 7 hour drive, next day 5 hour drive to valencia for 7 nights, then a steady 3 day trek back up at various camp sites (not booked any) This is ok for us two as we dont have kids. But french roads are far superior to British roads!
This stopover question comes up regularly. Seems lots of folk are having to give it some thought.
Firstly don't be tempted to do it without. There are some people who drive huge distances, maybe 1000 miles, relay, non-stop. That's not for me. It's extremely unpleasant (particularly for kids) it's dangerous, and surely you end up spending two days after each journey recovering anyway ?
For a number of years now we've used budget hotels, but since the youngest appeared, making us a five, finding one has become more tricky, or expensive if we've had to do two rooms.
With very young children it seemed like I was carrying as much kit into the hotel as I would have taken from the car if we'd camped. By the time we'd settled in bed I felt as though we could have pitched a couple of pop-ups quicker, with the added bonus that the older kids could have had a run around. And we might have been looking at greenery rather than concrete.
So this year we will camp using pop-ups, or our old small tunnel tent. It'll be cheaper and hopefully work better. Apart from a few pegs, the main camping kit will be untouched.
The other thing we do, being northeners, is to use the Zeebrugge - Hull ferry. Being an over-nighter it reduces the number of stopovers we need, certainly for the return journey. It's not cheap so as a compromise we only do it for the way home. It makes that UK leg of the drive home a lot easier.
It all depends on your budget,especially over a 2 weeks holiday. If you've already mapped your route I'd suggest to book in advance with Campanile hotels, Formule 1 or even Etap Hotel. These are no frills kind of stop over hotels located on the outskirst of towns and allow to keep your holiday expenses to a minimum.
Or like many other people have suggested, try to stop at municipal campsites but you may be at the mercy of pitch availablity in the busy season.
Hope this helps.
------------- Kavid
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We've done both. We now have a smaller overnight tent that we use for short stops then put the biggy up for anything over 2 nights and a suitcase stove/buy chips or pizza on the campsite. Works for us.
I book the one night stops before I go so that we can take our time to get to them and arrive after 5pm. I prefer that to the hotels even with the extra pitching but then we move every 4 or 5 days on average and have done since my youngest was 4 months old.
I can highly recommend Roald Dahl story CDs although we've now moved onto Dr Who and such like.
------------- pork
Remember a good wife always helps her husband with the dishes.
Quote: Originally posted by Portia Hussey on 26/6/2012
We've done both. We now have a smaller overnight tent that we use for short stops then put the biggy up for anything over 2 nights and a suitcase stove/buy chips or pizza on the campsite. Works for us.
I book the one night stops before I go so that we can take our time to get to them and arrive after 5pm. I prefer that to the hotels even with the extra pitching but then we move every 4 or 5 days on average and have done since my youngest was 4 months old.
I can highly recommend Roald Dahl story CDs although we've now moved onto Dr Who and such like.
I must admit I'm leaning towards a small easy to pitch tent.
------------- June 2nd-9th - Hirdre Fawr Farm (was a wet one)
August 19th-26th - Teifi Meadows
June 2013 - Majorca fed up with UK weather
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Driving to Southern France??
