BBQ on French campsites

The last couple of trips we have had to either hire a (terrible) gas bbq or use a communal charcoal one.

We used to use our little Weber one to cook Merguez sausages almost every night. Have times changed? Are there new rules? Or have I just chosen the wrong sites?

They all seem to be different in our experience!

Never had issues using my q2200 gas bbq on sites round bourg d’osians and Annecy.

They really don’t like private charcoal ones though

Mmmmmm, Merguez!

French H&S rules for campsites differ in each département. Many only permit you to bbq using wood or charcoal in designated areas far from any foliage on a permanently installed grill, which will be followed to the letter in all municipal sites and large private ones.

If you want to cook merguez on your own patch, you’ll need to get an electric or small gas grill. That and something to stop the cumin repeating the rest of the day, Greek yoghurt helps me 😎

Thanks @ocrider thats useful information. We may need a new strategy. We were always Charcoal only but found it easier in Brittany, and much worse in the Vendee- so that makes sense. @sandwicheater mmmmmm that pack of 12 where you get a Merguez, a Toulouse and something else. @trail_rat as am i missing something here? I thought that Gas BBQ’s were for amateurs and entirely missed the point of the flame/smoke/joy combo. Is it possible to get a good small gas bbq for camping?

Blimey that Q2200 is £240. If anyone can recommend something cheaper I’d be grateful.

Weber Go Anywhere Gas. It’s much smaller, but gets good reviews. About £120.

Considering getting one if we do a bit more camping this year as our Q200 takes up a lot of room in the boot and is overkill for any less than 4 people.

Great thanks. Really helpful @jimdubleyou

I want a Go Anywhere cos they fold up into a neat rectangular shape which will make it far easier to store.  Sick of annoying bloody barbecues getting tangled into everything and spilling ash everywhere.

The OP might also like to check out the Cadac range.  Think they have a folding option, not sure.

I have a Baby Q gas BBQ that I’m thinking of getting rid of – pretty big / heavy though

I have a Cadac Safari chef which we use for all our cooking nowadays, gas hob, hot plat, bbq grill and pizza stone all in one neat package!!

Although the new one seems to have a half and half hot plate/bbq grill which is not as good as my separate ones…..

That Webber gas one looks good though.

Think i need to go and have a look in the flesh. Thanks all for good advices. I may need to eat my snooty words about gas bbq’s and investigate further. Cheers

Looked into all this last year – and indeed it seems to differ from site to site even within the same départment. The site we’re going to this year says “charcoal ok as long as it’s not windy…” We’re going to get the CampingGaz PartyGrill 400hc (which is the one which takes the little screw-in cyclinders rather than a re-fillable. The legs, and all the bits fold up into the base and lid – not the most packabke shape but not too bad. We used something similar (rented from site) and the merguez sausages do very nicely on the plate.

Oh man – I’ve got the merguez love and we’re not there for 4 weeks yet. 😀

We’re currently camping in Le Loire and using charcoal. Our gas burner us getting no use in this weather

That’s interesting. We have a charcoal Weber and haven’t used it much. I’m wondering if we should have got the gas instead! We have got a stove in the van and it’s handy for making coffee and heating things up, but a gas BBQ would be much more convenient for cooking pretty much everything else.

Depends on the site. We have a static in North Wales, but some nob burnt about 4 vans down on the site next to us last summer.

The people were having a BBQ, started to rain, so they shoved the hot coals under the PVC decking – i.e. on the paving underneath. The heat set fire to the decking, gutted the van and damaged the 3 others near by.  They were hiring the van from an owner, and just went to the pub without checking the BBQ was out.   Needless to say, only gas BBQ’s are now allowed on that site.

Just take your BBQ to the communal area and pop it on top of the tray or grill.

As others say, my experience is that it depends on the site. We have a galv. bucket BBQ which was actually bought in France and have often used it with the dried twig-like, grassy stuff you can buy in France for BBQs rather than charcoal (no idea what the stuff is called!). The bucket BBQ keeps the fire off the ground and contains the ashes so in that respect is site-friendly.

Cadac in our camper. Use it for every thing from the kettle in the mornings to the BBQ in the evenings. Ours uses the same gas bottles as the stove. As the van holds 2 we use one with the Cadac and one for the rare times we use the stove in the van. Ours is at least 5 years old and lasting well. Burning is the middle is getting a little rusty now but will buy another if/when it does fail.

Never had any issue in Vendee with normal charcoal. People were barbecuing around Lac Du Jaunay too.

Cobb BBQ.  If you use the coconut fuel, it only smokes for about 2 minutes so by the time anyone notices and walks over, its stopped smoking and you’ve popped your burgers/whole chicken/rack of ribs on it and replaced the lid, no one is any the wiser unless they come right over.  We’ve used it a few times where you would never consider a charcoal bbq, we just wait until no one is right by us and get it lit behind the van 🙂  You can also carry it around with bare hands halfway through cooking.

Sitting in Luchon using our Cadac safari chef as I type.  I like it for the reasons mentioned above and have gone one further and got an LPG socket on the van so it just plugs in.  Never use the coals any more.

That coconut stuff is ace. Bought a few bags last year for a lads and dads trip late in the season – last two bags of anything in the shop. How they laughed when I presented them. But to be fair, very little smoke and a long cooking time. Haven’t been able to find it since. 🙂

Again here with a cadac safari chef. Brilliant bit of kit. Used to carry a lunchbox style bbq the cadac is only a bit bigger and so versatile.

Im also having a gas feed fitted for it from the main gas supply. Don’t miss the bbq a bit, the whole coal is best thing is all well and good but gas is easier and safer.

deadly darcy, shame you cannot find it again as the Cobb fuel is unique to the BBQ (comes in a huge round hockey puck) and is fairly expensive.  I can use charcoal so I could also use a coconut substitute.

If the Weber’s handle folded or unclipped it would be near perfect, and if the charcoal one’s vents didn’t open when its packed up (thus potentially letting stray charcoal loose) it would be great.