National Parks in France (Parcs Nationaux)

There are currently six national parks in mainland France. These are the Vanoise, Port-Cros, the Pyrénées, the Cévennes, the Ecrins, and the Mercantour. A National Park is a territory which is protected and managed due to its biological diversity, scenic beauty, cultural interest and character. Every year they attract millions of visitors and each park offers spectacular views and incredible biodiversity to visitors.

Why not stay at the Airotel Pyrenees to vsiit the Pyrenees National Park ?

The Cevennes National Natural Park is located over parts of three départements – Lozère, Gard and Ardèche – and two regions, Languedoc-Roussillon and Rhône-Alpes. It is an area of great biodiversity, with more than 2250 species of flora and 2410 species of fauna. It has lower mountains than some of the other national parks, with the main peaks including Mont Lozère (1699m), Mont Aigoual (1567m) and the Causse Méjean. There are valleys with winding rivers of clear waters and hill slopes covered in forests of sweet chestnut and mulberry bushes. The summits of the Cevennes are made up of a succession of plateaux. There are many walking routes, including the "Tour of Cevennes" and it can make an interesting alternative to the more commonly visited areas such as Provence. If you plan to visit, there is an information centre at Florac.

We have attempted to draw a map showing the approximate locations of the different national parks relative to some of our campsites :

The Ecrins National Park is located between Grenoble, Gap and Briançon. It has 740 kilometres of walks and includes peaks like La Meije (3,983 m) and La Grave (3,946 m). You may see chamois, ibexes, marmots and golden eagles while walking ! The Ecrins National Park.

The Mercantour National Park is where you can explore the “Vallée des Merveilles” with its 40,000 prehistoric engravings as well as visiting the largest altitude lake in Europe. You may even catch a glimpse of a Wolf !

The Port-Cros national park stretches between Port-Cros and Bagaud islands and is the first marine European park. The small town of Port-Cros has a castle and an ancient harbour.

La Vanoise National Park was created in 1856 to protect ibexes against the hunters. The ibexes are now numerous but you can expect to see other wildlife like chamois and golden eagles.

The Pyrenees national nature park has high mountain peaks and many high altitude lakes and a rich variety of flora and fauna, including raptors, lynx and the last wild bears in France.  (Is that true ? - have any of you seen a bear there ? Maybe not a good place to pitch a tent !!)

If you like the sound of these areas and enjoy wildlife, walking or scenery then why not book one of our campsites near these areas.

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Spectators's Guide to the Tour de France

If you are lucky enough to be camping near the Tour de France cycle race route this year then here are some handy tips to help you sound like a knowledgable follower of Cycling !

We went along to watch the race two years ago as it left the small town of Auray in Brittany at the beginning of a stage (or etape as its called in French) and we had a great day out.

This year the Tour runs from Saturday July 2rd to Sunday July 24th 2011, it will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,430.5 kilometres. The route varies each year but always includes some short flat sprint sections and some mountainous sections before culminating in Paris with a sprint. This year the "Grand Start" is in the Vendee and then it continues through Brittany, Normandy and Central France before heading south to the Pyrenees then across to the Alps before heading back for a final finish in Paris.

If you are able to catch the tour then go along to watch about two hours before when you will catch the "Caravane" which is a series of mad looking vehicles and characters who throw lots of freebies to the crowd - great fun !"

Then the race itself will flash past - we nearly missed it after all the waiting !  Either our watches were wrong or they set off two minutes early.

Watch out for the following jerseys - they all have a meaning !
The YELLOW Jersey is awarded to the overall leader of the race.

The GREEN Jersey is the next most prestigious and is given to the leader of the sprint sections.

The red POLKA-DOT Jersey is awarded to the rider who earns most of the points on the mountainous sections of the race. The wearer of the jersey is known as the "King of the Mountains". Scotland's Robert Millar was King of the Mountains in 1984.
The WHITE Jersey is the newest of the jerseys and was introduced in 1975. It is given to the best young rider (i.e. under 25).

To impress your friends and family as you are spectating, why not casually mention some of the more famous recent winners of the race !  These include 7 times winner and surely you must have heard of him, Lance Armstrong from USA who won between 1999 to 2005.

Then there was five time winner Miguel Indurain from Spain who won between 1991 and 1995

There were two recent major French winners, Jacques Anquetil, who won five time, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964 and Bernard Hinault who won five times in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985
And there was 5 times winner Eddy Merckx from Belgium who won between 1969 to 1972 and in 1974.

Some possible British and Irish competitors who may be competing and who you can look out for are :

• Mark Cavendish, from the Isle of Man (I think he is in blue in the photograph above),
• Bradley Wiggins, the three time Olympic Champion,
• David Millar, a Scot who is one of only four British competitors to have worn the yellow jersey (the others were Tom Simpson, Sean Yates and Chris Boardman),
• Geraint Thomas, who has been an Olympic Team pursuit champion, and,
• Nicolas Roche, son of the Irish 1987 winner Stephen Roche 

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Monte Carlo Rallye 2011

On the chilly evening of 27th January 2011 around 70 cars with two drivers each set off on the Monte Carlo Rallye 2011 from Blytheswood Square in Glasgow on their 2,000 mile journey to Monte Carlo via the Alps ! The drivers had come from all over the world but included a number of UK teams and French teams.

The Rallye had returned to Glasgow as a starting stage after a break of about 30 years. There were other possible start stages such as Warsaw and Barcelona but Glasgow proved to be very popular with a good number of teams choosing to start from there.

Unfortunately I have not yet mastered using my camera in the dark so these were the best of my photographs. Some of the cars are setting out on the actual rally while some were joining in the heritage run to show some of the historic racing cars from the past.

The latest news is that Glasgow will again feature as a start town for the Monte Carlo Rallye in 2013 !

If this all puts you in the mood for a camping holiday in the Alps, Pyrenees or Provence then have a look at some great campsites at : http://www.bestfrenchcampsites.com/

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Hidden Lake Under Mont Blanc to be Drained !

I'd heard about the hidden lake that had accumulated under a glacier at Mont Blanc. The good news is that it sounds like they are going to try and drain it. Very interesting news if you are holidaying or planning to holiday in that area of the Alps. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11080827

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The Seaside Still Favourite Destination for French holidaymakers

French holidaymakers still prefer to holiday at the seaside, with 60% choosing it as a destination this year. The next most popular destinations are towns (19%) and the countryside (15%). Only 8% choose the mountains as their holiday destination, possibly as people think this might be too energetic a holiday ! And only 1% go on a wild camping/walking holiday. However if you really want to get away from the crowds, the mountains could be an excellent choice of holiday destination. During the very hot summer weather, you can expect a cooler night high up in the mountains so you might actually enjoy a good nights sleep after all that walking !
http://www.francesoir.fr/vie-quotidienne/les-francais-plebiscitent-la-mer

There are some excellent campsites up in the mountains, with beautiful swimming pools with mountain views. We will be reviewing some of these mountain destinations on our website at www.bestfrenchcampsites.com or if you would like to look at campsites in the meantime please look at www.keycamp.co.uk

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