We love leaving home at 11am (earlier just not possible) but then coming out of the tunnel in Calais and on the the motorway by 2pm. Yes, we then still have a 3 1/2 hr drive to our first campsite but at least when you come out of the tunnel you feel like your holiday has started and you're en France ! We arrived at our favourite site Brevedent around 5pm and so had plenty of time to sit in the sun on the grass and enjoy time with little O.
Happy to be out of the van
For me this really is a beautiful place to be. Everything about it is so pretty and relaxing. As we just sat and breathed it in, Olive was transfixed as a group of ducks waddled past quacking away. We spend a lot of time pointing a jigsaws of animals and going 'oink!' and 'moo!' but actually dogs and ducks are really the only animals that actually make the noise aren't they ? Can't remember last time I heard a cow actually 'moo' !?
Anyway I quickly set the van up for bed and Olive happily went off to 'sleepybobos'. She does genuinely now sleep on the rear parcel shelf, as she's grown we have done away with the pop up travel cot that we used to put on it. It's a good space, perfect cot. Thankfully she now knows it's bedtime when she gets her milk and story and never protested all holiday. Her usual story about bears going to bed was substituted by 'Peppa Pig Goes Camping' where daddy pig gets a camper van.
Loving the play house
We were surprised at just how much off peak really meant off peak at end of May beginning of June. We were the only people at Brevedent who didn't have white hair, a caravan and a pension book. There were no kids kayaking on the lake. We were the only people having the steak frittes in the restaurant. This was the same in 2 of the other 3 sites we visited. Still great croissants delivered to the shop every morning tho.
After just 2 nights we were sad to move on but I had booked us in at Huttopia Rille further south. We did at least begin a new part of our holiday. We found out that the nearby village of Blangy was having a market so we stopped there to pick up provisions. This was actually only about 5 stalls but it was absolutely great and of course Lydia loved it. A really nice nice half an hour then a couple of quiches and into the van for 3 hrs to Rille near Tours and Saumur.
We used to try and break journeys with stops in towns on the way but we had discovered that stopping by the side of the motorway at the frequent picnic spots worked better. As long as you have some cheese and a baguette you're sorted. Now by stopping at a market when we set off we could get classic mini quiches and treats and make this even more of a proper picnic and proper French !
Arriving at Rille was quite a surprise. A big Eco biased site in woods next to a lake. It has 20 wooden huts and a dozen or so ridge tents for hire. People are made to drive in, unpack and pitch their tents and then take their cars back offsite to the carpark. This is designed to make it a more pleasing site and safer for kids. In fact camper vans are the only vehicles allowed to stay.
What was weird is that when we arrived we were the only people there. At all ! It's hard to avoid feeling that you've made some terrible mistake when you're the only people there - apart from 2 visible staff. I had booked and prepaid for 4 nights and after an hour I was already thinking we may cut our losses and leave after 3. A weird atmosphere. Thankfully this was Thursday and slowly the site did fill up over the next 4 days. There was a pool and some really nice bike rides around the lake and the nearby tiny tiny hamlets.
We had to put some thought though into where to 'put' Olive to play. The pop up sun tent I had brought wasn't what she wanted as she wanted to be stood up and yet still cant walk. She didn't like crawling on the ground here as it was covered in pine needles and she didn't like getting dirty. We casually wandered up to the nearest empty ridge tent and picked up the picnic table and shuffled back to the van with it. After a good brush clean we adapted this for little O to cruise around.
In the end we actually had quite a nice time there. V scenic but v quiet. Thankfully Lydia's idea of a visit to nearby Saumur was a great idea. A beautiful town by a river (Seine?) with fairytale fortified chateau on a hill. And it was sunny and market day ! We had great 5 star meal in a square with Olive loving the pastime of people watching and eating.
On the last day at Rille we had so many things we wanted to do we couldn't fit them all in. In the end, bike ride and then beer by the pool won out. We did however create a new camping rule - never book anywhere for more than 3 nights if you haven't been there before !!
As someone points out, Saumur is on the river Loire !
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