Spending 5 nights within 100 miles of Calais?

[isaune]

Hi Chaps

I guess the title speaks for itself.

This will be our first time out of the country - we've only done a couple of weekends so far and only got the van at Xmas!!

Therefore, we don't want to be too adventurous. Not sure whether to go East, West or South from Calais!!

Can anyone recommend a short itinerary for us, please?

We travel over on the Thursday and back the following Tuesday.

Thanks a lot

Ian

[Ian Hulley]

Not sure whether to go East, West or South from Calais!!

An hour West of Calais will see you half way back up the M20

See the thread Travellingchick has going http://forum.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=100879 I've put a good one on there.

Ian

[Bowton Lad]

Amiens in Picardie has a large, modern camping municipal. However, 10 miles east of Amiens via the D1 is the small town of Corbie. There is a peaceful little camping municipal. All the pitches are seperated by tall hedges & are generous in size. The site is cheap & it is only a short walk to the town centre. There is a nice, little pizza place about 200 yards from the site. The beer prices were reasonable, for France.

[isaune]

Thanks Bowton.

Is there electric hook up at the Corbis site?

And is it easy to find when you hit town? Do you have an address by any chance?

Thanks

Ian

[Bowton Lad]

Thanks Bowton.

Is there electric hook up at the Corbis site?

And is it easy to find when you hit town? Do you have an address by any chance?

Camping Municipal Les Poissoniers
Rue de Rempart des Poissoniers
80800 CORBIE

Yes, there are hook ups. This is a very reasonably priced site. If you use Google Maps/satellite view for Corbie, the site is to the south east of the town (bottom right on the screen)

[margaret]

Dear Ian
Hope you have a great time; I was really nervous the first time I took my van over as well;
Just returned yesterday from a great trip down from Calais to Les Jablines; actually its 180 miles from calais but very uncomplicated driving on the flat (good for t 25s I find!) . A1/ N3/ A104; The site is modern and very friendly set in a national park with lots of tranquility but a bus ride away from Paris and Disney Land. Ofcourse you can always go along the coast to LaTouque/ l'etretat / Hornfleur and thats nice as well. Or go to Dunquerkue and Brugge which has a lovely camp site is only 80 miles away.

Hope youhave fun anyway

Margaret

[isaune]

Thanks Margaret (and everyone else who has made suggestions on this thread)

Our plan at the moment is to head down the coast past Boulogne and stop at a site near the beach for the first day or two.

Then, I want to try out the Aire by Dieppe harbour for a night - not because it sounds particularly attractive but because

a) I want to give the leisure battery a bit of a workout "sans hook-up" and
b) I figured we might fancy a night "in Town" after a couple of quiet ones "a la plage"

Then we will head inland (West) to Corbie (see earlier in this thread) which sounds great.

And, finally, if there is time, we will try Bavay (see earlier in this thread) before heading back to Calais.

I will try to let you know how this all pans out when we are back.

I just hope the old van makes it

[Big Boris]

We use a fab campsite book for France called 'le guide officiel camping caravanning':

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-officiel- ... 535&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

thought I would provide a link as you never know once your wheels are on continental soil you may fancy going further afield and this will give you the ffexibility to find other sites.

Honestly you will find the whole camping experience and driving in France so easy.

Bon voyage!

[Ralf85]

Our plan at the moment is to head down the coast past Boulogne and stop at a site near the beach for the first day or two.

There are a goodly number of sites along that part of the coast which itself is lovely in the summer time. Also lots of cheap moules frites lunches in restaurants along there. mmmm.

[thebilby]

we go every year to the baie de somme. lots of campsites to choose from. favorites are les bois pins in brighton, cayeux sur mer. pastries as big as your face!!! le croytoy has a great aire de camping as well. st valery well worth a visit, our van is named after it!!!

[isaune]

OK – I thought I owed you all an update on our trip.

The best laid plans and all that!!

Anyway, we headed down the coast from Calais, past Boulougne, as originally planned and stopped at what looked like a great site in Equitane-Plage. We were going to stay 2 nights but left the next day.

Reason – whilst the facilities were good, most of the site is taken by static caravans and the distance from our pitch (at the top of a long and winding road) and even the entrance to the site was a good 500 meters. Then another 200 or 300 meters (equally steep) or so down to the beach meant that the trek back to the van was not for the faint hearted!! Added to that, there was virtually no town to speak of – a takeaway friterie and that’s about it – no bars or anything like that – it all meant that, nice as it was, we couldn’t face another day there.

Next, we had planned to head down the coast to Dieppe to stay in the aire by the harbour (no hook-up or facilities). However, the reason was to be somewhere lively to watch the Champions League final and we were now a day early. Not wanting to spend 2 nights without facilities, we drove inland to Corbie (thanks Bowton Lad).

As Bowton said, this was a lovely site. Quiet and still close to town. Adjacent to a river, a lake and a canal – although I tried all 3 and didn’t catch a fish! The only slight complaint is that the town is VERY quiet. One restaurant (French) is only open on Friday and Saturday evenings (as we found out on Monday evening!!). Another (pizza restaurant) didn’t have a working toilet so we had to leave soon after we sat down! Another was part of a hotel and was only serving guests! And the final one, which I think must have been the pizza restaurant Bowton referred to, was fine – but literally the only thing open in town. Again, no bars or anything resembling a bar.

Anyway, on night 3, we left the awning at Corbie and drove to Dieppe for the football (bad result though). Dieppe was lively and the aire by the harbour well located for finding bars and restaurants – thanks Blacky for advice on where to watch the footy. We did feel a bit outgunned by the big white campers though – see photo – lol.

Back to Corbie for night 4 and every intention of moving on to Bavay (recommended by Ian) the next day but, in the event, we just relaxed in Corbie and had another pizza (again the only place open!!).

So, in summary, Corbie is a nice little site with good facilities and a short walk to town BUT there is nothing much to do in town when you get there. Price 17 Euros per night incl hook up.

And the aire at Dieppe is great if you fancy a cheap and fairly (for France anyway) lively night out – Price 8 Euros per 24 hours (48 hours max).

But give Equitaine Plage a miss unless you like mammoth up hill walks, wide open beaches and not a lot else – I think that was 21 euros per night with hook up.

OK – that’s it.

Better start planning the next trip now!!

Cheers

Ian

[Ian Hulley]

Look at that T25 in amongst all the library vans ... a rose amongst the thorns.

Ian

[chrisbarnard]

Don't feel 'outgunned' by the big white delivery vans. It's being different that makes us special.

[AdrianC]

It takes no sense of taste or style to own a bloody great big fridge-freezer. Just an imbalance between wallet thickness and things to spend the contents on.