7 nights wild camping en Provence

[CALI FATE]

Just back from 7 nights wild camping tour to Southern France. We had a lovely time wandering about without a plan. Arrived Calais on the 0100 ferry - thought we'd kip in an Aire drove to the second one on the Autoroute but had a noisy night among the lorries and refrigerated units. Shot down to Avignon found a spot in the historic town - met a German chap in an old T2 who convinced us to head south west instead of along the Cote DAzure. We spend nights in the woods / lake around St Remy and a night on the beach at The Carmargue - ran into 350 year harbour party at Sete, parking up on the quayside in front of the Grande Hotel. Then north via Millai and The Loire valley. At Millai we stayed at a closed camp site with the permission of the owner - fantastic having the river front to ourselves.

I took a £20 electric shower and a 10 litre plastic water container for ablutions - i discovered if you place the water container up against the heater outlet the water would be beautifully warm in the morning. I took a pop up shower tent £30 which we used a couple of times - it fits nicely under the back door or the awning.

Otherwise, the porta pot and two burner cooker made it a home from home.

Took the bikes on a bones rack as not yet decided on my favoured option, but this lightweight cheap alternative worked well - the hollow centre allowed me to lock the rack and bikes to the van via the tow hook and a 4m long 'chain'.

Cant wait for the next trip.

 

[Smudge]

Excellent!!! Home is where you park it.
Every year we spend at least 3 weeks doing exactly what you have done......No plans.
Just close your eyes .......point to the map.......if you have never been there before, then that's where you are going.
Can't fault you.

 

[Hotel California]

Thats the way to go , unfortunatly most places do not allow free-campers , but in France it is possible .
You found some nice spots there!

 

[Alan]

I love touring around France
Always found France campervan friendly
I booked my one way ferry ticket for this year and worry about the return journey when lm told (or get my orders) it's time to come home

 

[Alan]

I ment to say CALI FATE terrific photos

 

[Stoneybroke]

Glad you're first trip was such a success. Thanks for the photos.
Like the heater/hot water tip.
Very jealous...

 

[Hotel California]

Glad you're first trip was such a success. Thanks for the photos.
Like the heater/hot water tip.
Very jealous...

If we use the aux. heater at night , I fill up the ketlle with water when going to sleep and put it in front of the aux.heater outlet ....takes less time to bring it up boiling themperatur when making the coffee in the morning and saves gas...

 

[Sp0_0k]

So it is possible to wild camp in France?

 

[Alan]

So it is possible to wild camp in France?

All I can say is I have never had a problem,and I have done a fair amount
Park up evening leave early morning if not to happy about it, leaving the space tidier than you found it !
I can recall a place in Digne where I parked up amongst other camper vans with no hassle! May not have been a designated area but what a lovely spot,even had a cafe and toilets by an ornamental lake close by
Just one example
There will be more discussion under wild camping if you do a search

Alan

 

[GrannyJen]

So it is possible to wild camp in France?

Anywhere practically and with so many Aires as well the choice is endless.

My last time though I was asked to move on. 50 yards along the square so that I didn't interfere with the market the following morning

 

[Stoneybroke]

Cali Fate, as a Beach owner, how did the single leisure battery cope? What were you using off it, and did you top it up externally, or just rely on the long drives?

 

[CALI FATE]

Cali Fate, as a Beach owner, how did the single leisure battery cope? What were you using off it, and did you top it up externally, or just rely on the long drives?

Battery was fine for the trip - no power cuts - we had a old cool box plugged in all the time, plus used the parking heater most nights, plus bit of phone charging / showers / internal lighting etc - we had no hook up so i suppose we relied on the recharging - didnt give it a thought. Will check, but i thought we had two leisure batteries.

 

[CALI FATE]

So it is possible to wild camp in France?

No problem - the only issue we had was we found a fab spot in some woods overlooking a lake near St Remy de Provence went out into town for a pint - when we got back someone had nicked it ....

 

[Stoneybroke]

Battery was fine for the trip - no power cuts - we had a old cool box plugged in all the time, plus used the parking heater most nights, plus bit of phone charging / showers / internal lighting etc - we had no hook up so i suppose we relied on the recharging - didnt give it a thought. Will check, but i thought we had two leisure batteries.

Good to know, thanks.
I think the Oceans have two leisure batteries as standard; Beaches, one - but I might be wrong. Let me know either way.

 

[Alan]

No problem - the only issue we had was we found a fab spot in some woods overlooking a lake near St Remy de Provence went out into town for a pint - when we got back someone had nicked it ....

What.......

 

[GrannyJen]

I presume,

nicked the spot not the van?

Or

Even the pint

 

[Stoneybroke]

I presume,

nicked the spot not the van?

Or

Even the pint

Or the lake?

 

[CALI FATE]

I presume,

nicked the spot not the van?

Or

Even the pint

Haha - no it was the spot but soon found another .... the one thing i did learn was to do all your reckying while light - once it gets dark its hard to get a feel for the environment

 

[CALI FATE]

The other thing i learnt was that yellow is not an inconspicuous colour - except when parking in sand dunes