Ok folks, I am never this unorganised!  However life and covid got in the way.  We have 16 days between tunnel bookings from middle of next week.  We have the first 2 nights booked on the coast an hour from the tunnel, and that is it!

Campervan (no shower so need campsites for at least parts of the trip) so relatively flexible (though have never campervan’d outside the UK, due to lockdowns).  Plan to take hardtails (or gravel bikes?) as neither of us have done super techy riding for a long time – more bothered by xc-type adventures in the countryside – and walking boots (and probably via ferrata stuff).  Happy to hire kayaks for flat water (simple grade 2) trips.  I had covid 3 weeks ago, and though my first ride out yesterday went ok (17 miles, 1000 feet gravel), I am a way off a 2 week sufferfest.  In fact life has been pretty full on the last 3 months, sitting round at the van drinking coffee defiantly needs to be part of the plan.

Weather looks decent – though maybe a bit hot!  Anyone want to plan a trip for us?

And also, who are people using for multi-sport travel insurance these days?  I am loosing the will to live re the ambiguous wording for mountain biking cover on most polices.

Les Gets, DH world championships.

Next?

Can’t recommend you anywhere to go but having done this before I always use Pitchup.com or ukcampsite.co.uk when looking for sites.

We found this place (https://www.campingloeildansleretro.fr/) on pitchup, middle of nowhere right next to the river. Walks along it from the campsite and a 10 min ride along quiet roads to the local boulangerie. 45mins drive to Le Mans, if you;re a petrolhead the museum is worth a visit.

Another was this one (https://bois-guillaume.com/en/) which is again in the middle of nowhere. Plenty of facilities, pool etc. Auxerre was 45mins or so away, and also we found this place (https://www.guedelon.fr/en/) which was really interesting.

Les Gets, DH world championships.

Next?

@weeksy that is a damn good shout!  @p20, get your cow bell ready!

You would have to be absolutely barking mad not to head down to Les Get for the worlds, given your situation with A) no plans, and B) your own rolling accomodation.

The timing is perfect.

It will be absolutely bonkers good, there will be loads going on. Absorb it.

See you there mate. First round on you 🙂

Hi we run a small quiet site between Limoges and Perigueux https://www.bellessise.com.
For other small sites try https://rural-camping.com/france/index.htm.
Also there’s http://www.kamperen-bij-de-boer.com/boerencamping-frankrijk.html For Farm camping it’s in Dutch but the links are often available in English.
Have a great time.

Remember in France a lot of towns and villages have Aires where you can park motorhomes / camper-vans for no, or little cost. Very rarely much in the way of facilities but good for the odd night. Also a lot of the Alpine passes have places to pitch for the night. In Switzerland on the Simplon Pass it was 6Fr Swiss for the night.

For some great kayaking head for the ardeche gorge and rent. Options of day or multiday trips. Water likely to be low so not too gnarr

Thanks all. Les Gets sorted 🙂 5 or so days either side to sort to explore en route 🙂

Gravel, MTB and lovely hills and warm Rivers = Massif Central/Auvergne, around Perrier/Super Besse.

Thank me later.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/matt_outandabout/h6tZ5t508y

Following.

I just booked 2 weeks in june july next year. Just me and the motorhome in France following my nose.

Aires – less good for campervans, better for motorhomes, and even then, a lot are cramped and/or a car park

Campsites – Coolcamping used to be the go to for us, never had a bad site. But now they are Hipcamp I have doubts. I recommend you get hold of their book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cool-Camping-France-Jonathan-Knight/dp/190688966X

Areas – after Les Gets you could do northern Italy eg lakes or north west coast, or else in France south/central towards provence, languedoc, anywhere that says parc natruel / national on the map

@matt_outandabout, Where is the river in the pics. I’m in the Auvernge a few weeks.

@ahsat / @p20 – if you’ve got time the Vosges and the Jura areas are wonderful. Lots of nice quiet roads, mixed/gravelly routes, great cheese (Mont D’Or, Comte!!!), amazing Alsacienne white wine, some lovely villages (Colmar, Riquewihr) and citadels (Belfort, Besancon), miles and miles of lovely easy walks (they are often cross-country ski trails in winter) etc. etc.

There have been lots of threads on here, search for “Gerardmer”, “La Bresse”, “Xonrupt-Longemer”, “Ballon d’Alsace”

@Stainypants – that was the Allier, we did a few sections. Some good resources online for Allier, Orb, Lot, Dordogne, Tarn and more. Beautiful paddling, mainly straightfoward and set up with canoe passes and launch points, easy access etc.

https://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/river-allier-france-t51064.html

https://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/the-allier-a-few-paddles-near-langeac-france-t46563.html

A lot of places to hire from.

https://www.canoemassifcentral.com/

https://canoe-valdallier.com/en/

Park for the Night is another good website and app for finding places for the odd night or 2. We have found a couple of gems in the champagne region near Reims. I would try and book sites once you have a bit more of a plan. August is the French holiday month so lots of places are fully booked.  A bit of time on the internet checking availability could save you hours of driving around.

@ahsat TJ has set the bar high, looking forward to your ongoing trip report!

Naah just have fun.

Hehe – think TJ is going ‘beat’ all of us this year. Thanks all. The Auvergne, Vosges and the Jura are definitely on the shortlist. And in fact we maybe can do one on the way to Les Gets, and one on the way back. Slightly watching the heat/drought situation.

I live in Millau, south of Auvergne. It is all there, bike riding, canoeing, fantastic scenery. But it is very dry and hot this week. And a massive forest fire 😪

@cchris2lou – how bad/extensive are the Auvergne fires?

We’re going there for the first time in mid-Sept 🤔

On the insurance front talk to your insurer but you can probably get away with general house cover for the cycling you describe

Obviously if you are doing Alpes mtb that won’t work

But cycling is a normal holiday activity. Your just going further not more technical

We went to France 12 years ago without a plan – never again.:(

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/dam/pdf/sports-activities-PDF-2022.pdf

Looks like the term mountain biking is an issue

Take gravel bikes?

We went to France 12 years ago without a plan – never again.:(

I know, the absence of Mothers Pride medium white sliced bread can be particularly galling

😉

Our bikes are covered worldwide on the house insurance. Annual holiday insurance is via Yellow Jersey after Snowcard and Dogtag got far too expensive for the older rider.

Done loads of travel in the camper with no plans its all part of the fun

 know, the absence of Mothers Pride medium white sliced bread can be particularly galling

😉

Oh, the bread was great – it was the constant stress of having to find somewhere to stay I hated. 🙁

Searchforsites is also a brilliant app for finding sites / aires etc.

The one near millau is now under control but hard to tell when next one Will be. It is so dry.

Having a van and no fixed plan can be pretty good. We’ve got the over night ferry Hull-Rotterdam then drove down to Bavaria twice with the plan of doing some big mountain via ferrata near Berchtesgaden. Both times the weather turned to crap when we got near, so we just went off exploring Osttirol and Slovenia.

Once you’re over in Europe there are nearly always great options within 2-3hrs drive if the weather is rubbish.

Our bikes are covered worldwide on the house insurance. Annual holiday insurance is via Yellow Jersey after Snowcard and Dogtag got far too expensive for the older rider.

+1 Bikes are covered on Nationwide home insurance for upto 30 days at a time.
We use https://www.bigcattravelinsurance.com/ – and have made a claim which was quickly dealt with – and they are great value for the cover on offer.

Done loads of travel in the camper with no plans its all part of the fun

Recently, or many years ago? I’d wager that all your recent trips have been in a motorhome not a camper, which makes a huge difference.

Aires – less good for campervans, better for motorhomes, and even then, a lot are cramped and/or a car park

This.

Quite possibly the easiest way to illustrate to someone the difference between a campervan and a motorhome is to spend a few nights in them both in a standard aire in summer temperatures.

My campervan is currently parked outside the inlaws’ house in Nuernberg. Best place for it in these temperatures 😉

If using Aires try villages or towns with a municipal pool or leisure centre, very handy for a shower after a few lengths to ease the muscles and freshen up. I bought one of the French Aire guide books years ago when we did europe in the camper it was handy for (winging it) planning the route. It barely dropped below 30 for a fortnight so if we weren’t on a campsite the Aire with a local pool was a winner. Some Aires do have facilities however, we used one in Stenay that was showers and hook for €8 per night. Sounds mad typing that, it was 2014 & 15 when we did our tours so possibly its a tad more now.

Some Aires are just hard standing on the gravel outside the campsite entrance barrier but you can pop inside to use the facilities for your reduced fee.

Strangely that type of Aire seems to generally be populated by huge Motorhomes that are very expensive. People with a 100k motorhome who are too tight to pay full price at a campsite. The mind boggles

That’s how they manage to afford expensive motorhomes.

Saving €10/night will take a long time to afford one 🤦

So current plan thanks to you all: two nights on the Le Manche coast. Drive down to Murol area of Auvergne. Currently 3 nights there to clear the weekend, and long range forecast looks a reasonable 23C. 3 nights unbooked for flexibility, before site near Les Gets for the World Champs, maybe using a Aire/campsite combo (weather dependant – yes lack of bathroom etc definitely an issue in a campervan in hot weather). Alps area till the Monday (at least), and then some route back to the tunnel for the end of the week. That sounds pretty good for now and means we have bookings to get us through the weekends. Actually now excited. I do get the appeal of a lack of a plan, to a degree. I also like not having to worry/keep researching whilst actually out there.

Thanks for insurance recommendations. We also want flexibility of cover for kayaking (not that looks feasible given current water levels), via ferrata and walking above 2500 m; plus I have pre existing medal conditions. Currently sportscover, under written by AXA look best – just waiting to hear from the underwriters. Dogtag aren’t taking new customers, snowcard won’t cover pre-existing medical, and yellow jersey won’t cover all the others sports.

@cchris2lou – you are keeping safe. No doubt this is a pretty big cause for concern at the moment.

@ahsat – Re: Murol my friend recommended Camping Sandaya La Ribeyre to us.

Thanks very much. Will check it out.

Just an update on this for anyone else who googles this. Sports cover wouldn’t cover my blood disorder; so ended up getting hazardous activity cover with InsureandGo who will cover all my quirks and sports we want to do.