Got back from la belle France this week, great trip with very few photos taken so not included here, just links to the sites we stopped at . (We weren't in the bay in any case). First things first, we live in Yorkshire, each time we've been before we driven that long slog down to Dover. This time we had an hour and a bit drive to Hull to get the overnight ferry to Zeebrugge, piece of gateau. Bit more expensive than the Dover Calais crossing, but worth it if you live in the frozen North. There was even a bit of "Phoenix Nights" style entertainment in the evening. The cabins were fine, comfortable and basic but we weren't on a round the world cruise so it didn't matter. Already thinking of doing the trip again so we can visit beautiful Brugges at some point. So anyway, after a slap up buffet breakfast, we docked at Zeebrugge at about 9.30 Frenchy time and headed south in convoy, (Mrs Tatty's brother and his family in their roughty toughty Nissan and 1967 Swift caravan, plus bikes and assorted watercraft, us in our Yeti, bikes on the back and tent, inflatable canoe etc in the roof box, and our mate Sal and her saucepan lids in her trusty Astra). As we were headed for the Jura region near the Swiss border, which is a 6/7 hour drive if you really go for it,and stick to the motorways, and we all had kids on board, we decided to do two stops on the way down. So we went south on the E17, bypassed Lille and headed towards Reims. Before you hit Reims, on the A26/E17, is the medieval town of Laon. It has its own Camping Municipal but not much for the kids so we headed in land a bit on the N2 to this place, http://www.camping-lac-monampteuil.fr Not the most modern of sites and the kids were a bit freaked out by the "squat n drop" toilets (there are normal loos on the other side of the toilet block too), but a nice site all the same. Swimming pool, play area for the kiddies. All the usual amenities. By a lake although it's a 5 min walk to the bit you can swim from, but has a lovely clean (imported) sand beach. Best thing was we were the only English on the site, the rest were French. They all played boules in the evening, me and my sis in law played a game with a lovely French couple and their son, their son practicing his English on us, and me asking the dad what the French was for "back spin"? Being by a lake, there were a few mozzies around so got a few bites. Take plenty of repellent with you. Stayed for two nights, then headed south again, back on the A26 towards Troyes ( which has its own nice municipal site, but we'd stayed there before so wanted to try somewhere else), and headed off the motorway again to Châtillon-sur-Seine to its municipal site here, http://camping-chatillonsurseine.com/en/ Smaller site than Monampteuil, but more modern and very clean. More of a mix of campers too, Dutch, Germans a d French as well as a few brits. Not quite a kiddie friendly as the previous site where the kids could happily cycle round the site. No swimming pool either, but right next to a municipal pool anyway. Châtillon a pleasant pretty little town too. No mozzie issue either. Two nights here then back on the road. We decided to do the Châtillon to Dijon bit of the journey on non toll roads, good because we passed through some pretty French villages and felt we were seeing more of the real France. Then it was further South on the A39 towards Lons-le-Saunier and to our main destination here, http://www.chalain.com/fr/camping-village-jura-site-officiel.php?testnavigateur=no Big site, in fact too big for me, but a good base for exploring the region and the lake is pretty much th he best swimming lake I've ever come across. Lovely clear blue water. No speedboats or idiots on jetskis to spoil things. Most of our fellow campers were Dutch, and they're a friendly bunch . We were here for two weeks then headed back home and camped near Laon again, but this time here, http://www.etangsdumoulin.fr/en/glamping-en.html, If you can get past the cowboy theme it was actually a lovely site. Plenty for the kiddies to do on site. Friendly, helpful owners (in truth we found all the small site owners to be like this We even managed a trip into Laon this time, cause let's face it, kids just love visiting medieval towns don't they? So there you have it, if you're driving down through France taking the route we took, 3 recommended sites, all very different
@Dicky, your missus would love Chalain if she likes swimming. Long way to go for a swim its true, but there's good wine n cheese there too On another note, I have since forgotten what the French for back spin is
Forgot to add, at Chalain and Châtillon you can use your hook up as is. At the other two you need an adapter.
