1st time camping in France

[taffster]

Been reading through plenty of posts on here & it seems there is a wealth of experience of travelling in France & i'm hoping to tap into some of it. I'm grateful for all the info i've picked up so far & fingers crossed our trip will be as good as we hope.
What i'm looking for here is some ideas of destinations for our 2nd week.
We're heading out mid August with 2 other families & we've decided to spend the 1st week in the St. Malo area but we want to spend the 2nd week on our own & head further south. We have a 1yr old boy who as long as he's fed & has a clean nappie he'll be happy & a 14yr old girl who doesn't know what she likes so no real rules on where we go. Would rather avoid the large sites but at same time don't think we're quite ready for wild camping. Not sure whether to spend the week touring,spending a couple of nights in different spots or to have a fixed base for the week that we can day trip from.
All tips will be welcome & well received. We'll be using Dover/ Calais as its on our doorstep.

Also, how long would you allow for driving time Calais to St.Malo? My mate & myself seem to be quite a few hrs apart on how long we reckon it'll take.

[AdrianC]

We're heading out mid August with 2 other families & we've decided to spend the 1st week in the St. Malo area

St Malo old town (within the walls) is nice, the new town is nothing special. Paimpol and Cancale are by far and away the nicest towns around that area (in our opinion, of course...) - both big enough to have plenty of choice & facilities, but small enough to be friendly and, well, just plain lovely.

but we want to spend the 2nd week on our own & head further south.

How far, and what d'you want to do/see? The bottom end of the Brittany headland's got some fantastic megalithic sites, but the scenery of the north coast's better imho. Head further south and inland, and you're towards the Loire chateaux and wine areas, or towards La Rochelle and the Ile d'Oleron - beach resort territory.

Not sure whether to spend the week touring,spending a couple of nights in different spots or to have a fixed base for the week that we can day trip from.

Different people, different preferences. Balance off the freedom of touring versus the hassle of finding a decent site every night and packing everything away every morning.

Also, how long would you allow for driving time Calais to St.Malo? My mate & myself seem to be quite a few hrs apart on how long we reckon it'll take.

Google Maps says 500km (300 miles) and 5hrs via Caen. But you're on holiday, right?

Sure, get out of Calais asap, but I'd give serious thought to calling it two days each way. Especially if you want to have a bit of a bimble. You can't not go to Mont St Michel and Honfleur, then there's the Normandy beaches. The Bayeux tapestry. Villedieu les Poeles (literally means God's town of the frying pans) is worth a stop-in, too - the bell foundry tour's worth doing...

[Ian Hulley]

St. Malo to Calais is 6 or 7 hour's steady bimbling along the (mostly free) autoroutes. Be carefull round Caen, plenty of folks have got lost where the autoroute meets the Caen ring road DO NOT head for the ferry port/Bayeaux.

I'd do it in 2 goes but that's cos I like to take in the scenery, there's very little across Normandy though cos it's mostly flat but Honfleur's definately worth a stop-over and there's an Aire really close to town so you could practice your wild camping

Ian

[taffster]

Thanks for the comments, we're leaning towards spending a few days on the coast, definately no further than La Rochelle & then head inland towards Angers/ Saumur for the remainder of the week.

Ferry is all booked & we're all really excited.

Just got a sneaky little trip down to Cornwall to look forward to 1st.

[AngeloEvs]

Make a visit to La Rochelle especially if there is an evening carnival, well worth a visit. There is a Large Car Park with all amenities close to the town centre (which is just as well as it will be closed to traffic (from around 6-00pm) but you take a short walk to it.

[Louey]

If you have an onboard toilet then use the Aires. You could try The Vendee area. St Gilles-Croix-de-vie is lovely town with a harbour and a good large Aire de Camping. If not lots of campsites nearby. Also south of there is the forests north of Les Sables-D'Ollone (this too has a fantastic beach) - if you are taking bikes the forest have miles and miles of cycle tracks - depends if you have a seat on your bikes for the little un.

[tetleysid]

Journey time to St Malo is more like 7 hours in an old camper van. If you are interested in WW2 history there is so much to see in Normandy and the Cotenin penisula. Coming down into the Vendee is nice along the coast You have Ile Noirmoutier then les Sables D'ollone, bit modern for me but lots of shops and entertainment etc. La Rochelle old harbour is worth a visit as are the Ile de Re' and Ile D'olleron. There are lots of picturesque spots on all these islelands and they are also ideal for cycles, the French love their bikes. There is a VW specialist (old VW's) not far from La Rochelle airport should your bus be needing some TLC at this point, it is called Highway Imports ( http://www.highway-import.com/ ).
If you are heading inland on your journey home try and take in Chinon, here you will find an almost complete castle with a lot of historical links to England and Joan of Arc. Hope you have a good safe trip and bags of fun

[Ian Hulley]

Coming down into the Vendee is nice along the coast You have Ile Noirmoutier

There is an Aire there at L'Epine which is basically a yacht storage harbour BUT be very carefull how you get across because there are 2 ways, a modern bridge and the older causeway which completely floods at high tide and you need to know when that is to be safe. We drove across the causeway at dusk not knowing whether the tide was coming in or going out .... I wouldn't do it again.

This is the causeway ..


The harbour ..


The causeway the following day ... the things like telegraph poles are the refuges along the way, there are ladders for you to climb if you're caught by the tide


Ian

[tetleysid]

Last time I was there Ian there was a board telling you of the tide times and updated on a regular basis?

[taffster]

Thanks a lot guys, getting plenty of ideas & will no doubt collect even more before we decide where we are going.

Think the other half is keen on going to Puy de Fou if we get that far down & the daughter is hinting she prefers the idea of beaches, which is an improvement on a simple shrug of the shoulders!!