Tour de France 2011

Why not plan your campsite this year so you can have a day watching the Tour de France ! We did this two years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the great carnival atmosphere surrounding it all. There is a parade beforehand -"the Caravane" which travels an hour ahead of the Tour and throws out various goodies to the crowds. All good fun. We nearly missed the actual cycltists in the end as they went whizzing past !

The tour this year starts in the Vendee on the Ile de Noirmoutier ! The cyclists will travel over the narrow causeway which should be a great spectacle. So why not camp this year in the Vendee or find out the route of the rest of the Tour !
http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/COURSE/us/grand_depart_2011.html#zone4

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A Campsite Review

Well so far today no further news of strikes ! I think every method of travel almost was covered with the news yesterday so lets hope this disruption wont head into the summer to affect us all. However I can sympathise with the strikers - a return to Victorian Britain with a few people taking all the money that the rest of us had made and then not paying the workers properly !

Anyway to get us back in the holiday mood, here is an interesting article from The Telegraph in 2007. It is pretty good at summing up the problems with some of the bigger campsites in the high season months of July and August - some of the big sites may be exactly what you are looking for but read the reviews in the brochures carefully to see if you can find out if the site you are planning to go to is really what you are looking for. He also discusses the advantages of booking a tent rather than a mobile home. I would agree that all the washing up and shower facilities in the sites we have reviewed were all spotlessly clean and its a great way to meet other campers, over the washing up !
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/dordogne/737344/French-camping-without-tears.html

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Voies Vertes

These are French cycle ways rather like the UK Sustrans network.
Some are entirely off road and some are on quiet roads.
The website has a map and you can see if there are any cycle routes where you are holidaying. You can then download an excellent pdf file with a description of your chosen route.

http://www.voiesvertes.com/