Take the Slow Road: France: Inspirational Journeys Round France by Camper Van and Motorhome

By Martin Dorey

Forget hurrying. Forget putting your foot down and racing through sweeping bends. Forget the understeer (whatever that is). Forget the blur of a life lived too fast. This is a look at taking life slowly. It's about taking the time to enjoy journeys and places for their own sake. It's about stopping and putting the kettle on. Stopping to take a picture. Stopping to enjoy stopping.

How are you going to do it? In a camper van or a motorhome, of course.

In this book we define the best driving routes around France for camper vans and motorhomes. We show you the coolest places to stay, what to see, what to do and explain why it's special. We meander around France on the most breathtaking roads, chugging up mountain passes and pootling along the coast. We show you stuff that's fun, often free. We include the best drives for different kinds of drivers; for walkers, wine-quaffers, climbers and skiers. We include the steepest, the bendiest, the most picturesque and most interesting. And you don't even have to own a camper van or motorhome – we'll tell you the many places you can rent one to take you on the journey.

All of this is interspersed with beautiful photos, handy maps and quirky travel writing from the king of camper vans and motorhomes, Martin Dorey. So if all you want to do is flick through it on a cold day and plan your next outing, you'll be transported (albeit slowly) to vineyards, beaches, mountains and highways that make you want to turn the key and go, go, go!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: May 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781844865888

Martin Dorey

Martin Dorey is a writer, surfer and serial camper van owner. In 2011 he presented the BBC2 television programme 'One Man and his Camper Van'. He is the author of The Camper Van Cookbook (2010), The Camper Van Coast (2012), The Camper Van Bible (2016), Take the Slow Road: Scotland (2018), Take the Slow Road: England and Wales (2019), Take the Slow Road: Ireland (2020), Take the Slow Road: France (2021) and Take the Slow Road: Spain and Portugal (2023), amongst several others. @campervanliving; www.martindorey.com

Book preview

For all slow road adventurers everywhere: Bonne Route!!!

CONTENTS

About this book

How to use this book

Why France for a Slow Road adventure?

Youressential camping kit list

Where to stay in france

How to get to France

Driving in France

Is France motorhome friendly?

Afew things to remember about France

France for newbies

Maps and map reference numbers

The French climate

France: Highlights

Hiring a motorhome or camper van

Mytop ten French campsites

France: C’est extra!

Regional specialities

THE NORTH

01 CALAIS TO ÉTRETAT

02 UTAH BEACH TO OUISTREHAM

03 LOCQUIREC TO LE MONT-SAINT-MICHEL

04 NORT-SUR-ERDRE TO PORT-LAUNAY

05 SOURCE DE LA SEINE TO LE HAVRE

06 FISMES TO VILLENAUXE-LA-GRANDE

THE EAST

07 ARMENTIÈRES TO VERDUN

08 STRASBOURG TO COLMAR

09 BESANÇON TO BELLEGARDE-SUR-VALSERINE

10 THONON-LES-BAINS TO VAL-D’ISÈRE

11 GRENOBLE TO ENTREVAUX SAINT-MARTIN

THE SOUTH

12 SAINT-MARTIN TO LE LAVANDOU

13 GRASSE TO NYONS

14 SAINT-MARTIN-D'ARDÈCHE TO VALLON-PONT-D'ARC

15 SAINT-JEAN-DU-GARD TO FLORAC

16 FLORAC TO MILLAU

THE CENTRE

17 PUY DE DÔME TO FIGEAC

18 FIGEAC TO CAHORS

19 BRIVE-LA-GAILLARDE TO MONTIGNAC

THE WEST

20 NANTES TO CHAMBORD

21 QUIBERON TO LES PORTES-EN-RÉ

22 POINTE DE GRAVE TO CAP FERRET

23 PILAT TO HENDAYE

24 SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ TO COL DE PEYRESOURDE

25 CASTRES TO PERPIGNAN

26 HUELGOAT TO CARANTEC

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Bonjour!

Bienvenue à la route lente!!!!!!

Welcome to France.

France has an almost unending capacity for tourism and exploration for the slow road traveller. It’s the most visited country on the planet and yet it still has oodles of space and plenty of slow roads that you can take advantage of.

From the long, straight roads of Aquitaine to the high passes of the Pyrenees, the hot and curvy levees of the Loire to the heart-breaking lines of the Western Front in the Verdun Forest, France has it all.

Whatever your reasons for visiting France in your motorhome or camper van, you’ll never be short of new places to stay and go and things to see and do. The country is set up for you, no matter the time of the year, and you can always find somewhere to overnight, thanks to the network of aires de camping car. Campsites are plentiful, too, with thousands to choose from. Many local councils run their own, which means you’ll have the choice between staying at a big corporate site (perhaps with pools and amusements for the kids) or at quieter, simpler, cheaper places. You can even stay for free at thousands of private sites on the France Passion network.

Tourist sites and hotspots are plentiful, too. You can visit stunning chateaux, lock your love to a bridge over the Seine, ski down world-famous alpine slopes, surf on Atlantic beaches, retrace history on the battlefields, sun yourself in busy resorts, stay in private vineyards and walk on deserted beaches.

If that’s what you’re after, France is the place for you.

Offsetting your trip

France has, in recent years, been making great efforts to become greener. So I’d like to ask that you help them – and thank them for having you – by contributing to tree-planting projects to ‘offset’ your carbon footprint while exploring their lovely country. Travelling by camper van may produce fewer greenhouse gases than travelling by airplane, but it still produces emissions. So, given what we now know, let’s think of offsetting as essential.

Thank you.

During the writing of this book I covered approximately 16,000km (10,000 miles).

I contributed by planting 40 native trees in France through www.reforestaction.com/en/reforestation-france

Just don’t rush it. Taking the slow road is all about travelling at a pace that enables you to immerse yourself in the place, its people and its customs. So get off the autoroute and meander a little. Take your time and stop to buy pâtisserie, enjoy a glass of rosé (not while driving), a café au lait, or just to give a little time to the people you meet.

It’s been almost 35 years since I first pitched a tent on French soil. During that first trip, I took a VW Beetle down the west coast to find surf. It was a fantastic experience. Life-changing, even. I’ve been back many times since, making variations of the same route in search of red wine, good food, and, of course, epic surf.

During the writing of this book, I have had the good fortune to stray off that well-beaten path and to follow it to some of the best places. I have been to locations I never thought I would visit and I have loved every moment. France, I am happy to report, is still just as exciting as it was on the sunny day in July 1985 when I rolled off the ferry at Roscoff and headed south.

Bonne route!!

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

C’est facile!

The opening sections of this book are all about preparation and setting the scene. They will prepare you for a French adventure by giving you all the ins and outs, types of places you can stay, stuff to remember and other titbits of information that I have picked up along the way.

After that, you’ll see there are a number of routes. These are my suggestions for great roads and routes to explore. Some might be coastal, some inland, some follow rivers and some will take you through the mountains. Some will take you to ancient sites, moments in history or even, in the case of Paris, right through the middle of the city. Some routes may be good for cycling, surfing, snowboarding or sightseeing. All are good for seeing France!

Each route is separated into two sections. The first is my account of what happened when I was there. Those are there to give you a flavour of what you might expect and to add colour and experience to the description. While unique to my travels, I hope that these snippets of my travel tales will inspire you to write your own story in France. These encounters are rarely planned unless I have needed to book an excursion or guide, so they will give you an idea of what it’s like to travel on that route in France. Maybe.

I hope these sections, at the very least, will encourage you to get on to the internet and book your ticket to France.

The second part of each route is the practical stuff, the A to B. It’s designed to help you follow the route and will give you an idea of what kind of driving to expect along the way. By all means use it as a starting point if you want to meander and follow your nose or heart. There are no rules. I have been as detailed as I can be in these sections, but you will still need a good map to navigate your way around.

The maps, of course, will help you to find your way, but only to a point. Please don’t leave home hoping that they will suffice on their own. I suggest using the Michelin 1/200,000 Tourist and Motoring Atlas at the very least as my maps are pretty but might not be much use on the ground!

At the end of each route, I list a few places to stay and things to do in the area. These are based on my experience and are not the only things to do or see in France, by a long way, so please don’t think that they are the be-all and end-all. I have not been to every tourist attraction or campsite.

Finally, if you don’t have a van, I have included details here–here of hire companies where you can rent a vehicle. So there’s no excuse, right?

See you on the road.

WHY FRANCE FOR A SLOW ROAD ADVENTURE?

The Take the Slow Road series has now covered Scotland, England and Wales, and Ireland. When considering the next location that would be perfect for our first European foray we didn’t have to look far. Just across the Channel, in fact. France is a wonderful country to travel in. It is at once exotic, beautiful, mysterious and familiar. It has a brilliant tourist infrastructure and welcomes more than 80 million visitors a year.

France also welcomes motorhome and camper van drivers in their hundreds of thousands (millions, even) each year from all over Europe. They come for the culture, weather, way of life, beaches and happy holidaying opportunities. France has a huge network of campsites, aires de camping car and also thousands of France Passion sites where you can stay for free in exchange for taking an interest in the owner’s vineyard, chateau, produce or business. It’s a fair exchange. And, I promise, you’ll be welcomed, because France knows the value of you and its tourism industry.

France has so many faces, which means there are many reasons to visit. It’s been the setting for so much of European history and has seen war, in all its horror, and empire. It has seen Sun Kings and guillotines, glamour and squalor. It has produced some of the world’s best art and architecture, both old and new. Contrast Versailles with the Pompidou Centre in Paris if you don’t believe me. France has great cities, great rivers, great mountains and great beaches. France, if you ask me, is great.

It also has the French. They are proud, creative, passionate, funny, interesting and friendly.

They also sometimes drive a bit fast.

But that won’t worry you, will it?

Why should I be the one to guide you?

France and I have history.

My first solo camping trip (without parents) was in 1985. I had just finished my A-levels and wanted to go on a surf trip with some friends. Three of us set off from Plymouth in my VW Beetle, stuffed to the gunnels and intending to find waves. Along the way we picked up Paul, a friend who was supposed to be working the summer at his uncle’s bar in Brittany. We staged an intervention and took him with us on a three-week adventure that we still talk about today. It was a whirlwind of wine, campsites, surf, baguettes, Gauloises, failed attempts with girls, and sunshine. The following year, hoping to recreate the good times, I went back, in a silly French car that was just perfect for travelling down the dusty back roads of Aquitaine. I’ve been going back ever since.

The last time I drove down the west coast was in September 2019, as part of this project. During that trip I visited a lot of new places, too, seeing the Basque Corniche for the first time – and loving it – and taking a deeply meaningful trip into the mountains.

That first camping trip in 1985 wasn’t my first experience of France. At the age of just ten I was sent off by my parents to stay with a French family in Paris for Christmas. I was completely out of my depth and cried a lot at the short bath, funny food (they actually gave me frogs’ legs) and even funnier cheese, but I learned a lot about resilience and also to speak French well. Later, I went to Chamonix with the same family and discovered mountains, Mille Bornes (a classic French game) and tarte aux myrtilles (try it). A year after that, I went to stay with the son of my Auntie Joyce’s old penfriend, Francis. We clicked from the off and it is a relationship that I cherish to this day. His influence on me was strong and we followed similar paths in life. We met while I was in Paris while creating this book, for the first time in years, and it was glorious.

Later, when I was in my early 30s, I worked on a film project in Le Touquet for five months, where I worked on French time, with a French crew, in French. I learned a lot about France on that trip, too, including an appreciation of Sancerre, spending days off in the dunes and the importance of scoffing pâté and French bread for lunch, every single day.

I expect that you may also enjoy similar connections with France. Our nations (I am talking about Great Britain and France) have close links dating back over a thousand years. We’ve been allies and enemies, so very different and yet so very similar. We share aspects of our languages and customs. They call us after our food (Rosbif) and we call them after theirs (Frogs).

We are linked by a tunnel and separated by a sea.

Suspicious but still curious.

You too?

Book now. If ever there was country that’s perfect for a Slow Road adventure, it is France.

You will love it.

YOUR ESSENTIAL CAMPING KIT LIST

Travelling with your own vehicle

Obviously you’ll need some kit. Bar the obvious things like phone chargers, cables, Wi-Fi dongles, games and music, there are some essentials you have to take care of.

No doubt you’ve got your own list but in case you haven’t, here’s mine.

Crit’Air pollution sticker This is essential if you intend to go into some cities. For more information, see here. Available at: www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/en.

Emovis Tag For hassle-free motorway toll passage. For more information, see here. Available at: www.emovis-tag.co.uk.

ACSI CampingCard A card that gives you a discount at hundreds of campsites in France out of season and can be left with campsites as a reassurance if you’d rather not give up your ID. Available at: www.campingcard.co.uk.

Soap Preferably in a tin, for ease of use and less mess.

Universal sink plug Some sites may not have plugs at their washing-up sinks. If you don’t have a universal sink plug, you can use the lid of a round tin as a makeshift plug.

Budgie smugglers All swimming pools in France require, by law, male swimmers to wear maillots de bain. That is, Speedos or similar, not shorts. They will not let you in if you do not have them. To my mind, they’re a horror of the highest magnitude but needs must if you want to swim, bathe or lark about in bathhouses or pools of any type.

LPG connectors If your motorhome or camper van has an onboard LPG tank or you use refillable bottles then you’ll need to fill up at some point. In France, LPG is known as GPL or Autogas. UK motorhomes generally use a UK bayonet type, which means you’ll need an adaptor – the DISH type – which you can get at www.lpgshop.co.uk if you are buying it in the UK.

If you are unsure, check the information at www.mylpg.eu. It is illegal to refill gas cylinders unless they are certified EN1949 compliant.

Finding LPG stations

All LPG stations in France (or most of them) are marked on an interactive map available at www.mylpg.eu. They also have an app, which is mighty useful if you want to cook your tea and need gas in a hurry.

Hoses and universal adaptors You may not need hoses to refill with water – you may have a jerrycan to take to the tap. Even so, a 10m (33ft) length of hose and tap adaptors can be very useful.

Camping car service points can sometimes present you with a problem when you want to get water into your tank because their taps or connectors are different. Owning a set of Hoselock tap adaptors and a universal adaptor will mean you can always fill up. You will also need any specialist adaptors for your type of tank.

If you have a Porta Potti or onboard toilet, a 1m (3.3ft) length of hose – to be kept separately from the freshwater hose – can help you to clean it out.

HOSES KIT LIST

10m (33ft) of flexible freshwater fill-up hose

Set of universal tap-to-hose adaptors

1m (3.3ft) length of hose for slopping out toilets

Levelling chocks and spirit level No doubt you already know that you can’t sleep on a slope. So don’t forget your levelling blocks (and chocks), which will see you straight, when used properly. It’s a bit of an art getting vans level on some wonky surfaces but it’s worth the effort. If you forget your spirit level, a glass of water on the table will give you a good idea of how level you are.

LEVELLING KIT LIST

Set of Level Up levelling blocks (and chocks)

Spirit level

Electric cables and extensions If you have electric hook-up then you’ll need a C Form or 16-amp cable to go with it, plus a two-pin adaptor (lots of campsites use 16 amp but it’s better to be safe than sorry as one in ten will require a two-pin connection). A 25m (82ft) length of cable is usually enough to reach any pitch. It may also be a good idea to carry a 13-amp adaptor plug, as well as a 13-amp socket if your campsite doesn’t have a 16-amp socket (but it should!).

ELECTRICS KIT LIST

French two-pin to 16-amp adaptor

25m (82ft) 16-amp cable

Maps, maps, maps I always carry a map for route planning, as well as large-scale maps of the specific areas I am visiting – so I can get into the heart of the landscape.

You can buy a whole set of 1/150,000-scale Michelin Local maps or you can buy the 1/200,000-scale Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas for a fraction of the price. It is this map that I use in the routes.

Books, books, books Don’t forget your guidebooks to aires and France Passion sites. For any trip, I would say these are essential:

France Passion

All the Aires, plus map

Campsite guides

All are available from www.vicarious-shop.com.

Specialist guides are also really useful, particularly if you have a specialist interest:

Cool Camping (https://coolcamping.com)

Alan Rogers (https://alanrogers.com)

Wild Swimming (www.wildswimming.co.uk)

Low Pressure Stormrider guides (https://lowpressure.co.uk)

First-aid kit Take as much medication as you will need with you, along with your prescriptions. Pack plasters and all the usual kit, but also include insect repellent, antiseptic cream and antihistamine if you suffer from bites or allergies. Remember also that you can only buy paracetamol and ibuprofen in pharmacies in France and that they may have different brand names.

If you need adrenalin auto-injectors or emergency medicine, don’t forget to pack it.

Weather-appropriate kit Do you need me to tell you this? It can get very hot in France! It can also get very cold. And sometimes wet. Take rain gear, sunglasses, sun cream, hats etc depending on the season in which you’ll be visiting.

Fire-lighting equipment France is hot and dry for much of the year. This means it could be extremely foolish to light fires wherever you like. A lot of campsites will have designated BBQ places where you can light up, but many will simply ban it. If you want to light a fire, check with local rules and regulations, keep a bucket of water handy and don’t take any risks.

Sites like www.pitchup.com enable you to search for sites where you are allowed to light a fire.

Toilet kit It’s a running joke that French people (men especially) wee anywhere. And they do. Women are more discrete but still don’t mind the odd nature wee, if necessary.

Sometimes you’ll find toilet paper and other stuff at beauty spots. Don’t make it worse.

Do not urinate within 30m (98ft) of any open water, rivers or streams. If you do have to defecate, do it as far as possible from rivers, streams, buildings and animals. Dig a hole and bury it. Carry a trowel or folding spade.

If you have a loo, avoid blue chemicals as they are harmful. Use green stuff without formaldehyde.

TOILET KIT LIST

Green toilet liquid for the loo

Trowel if you don’t have a loo

Cheap toilet paper (it tends to break down easier)

French loos: take paper

Some people recoil in horror at the old-style French toilet (the hole in the ground). They aren’t that bad. Just remember to carry loo paper when you go as there may not be any. Even in campsite loos. Yes, really. Don’t ever use wet wipes, even so-called flushable ones. They do not break down like toilet paper and will clog chemical toilet points, drains and loos.

Green living kit You can easily reduce the waste you produce by taking a few essential bits of green living kit. Given what we now know about plastic waste and the destruction of the environment, it’s the least we can do. Plus, it’ll save you looking for bins. Recycling in France is generally OK but it may be unlikely you’ll find specific plastic recycling unless it’s in with other mixed recycling.

MY TOP GREEN ITEMS

Green loo chemicals

Reusable coffee cups: will often get you a discount as well as save plastic litter

Refillable bottle: don’t waste cash on soft drinks and make waste when tap water is great, and free

Reusable shopping bags: save money and waste by taking your own bags

Reusable veg bags: saves waste – when you buy loose veg – and easy to store in the fridge

Shampoo bars: make no waste and can be kept in tins for tidiness. Last for ages. Smaller to pack, too

Tupperware containers: for taking to butchers, grocers and markets if you’re shopping local. Saves waste. Some supermarkets are getting wise to anti-plastic measures but not all. You may have a struggle if you take your own containers, but do persevere, it is possible. It’s easy to say ‘Pas de plastique s’il vous plaît’

If you are renting a van

Check the kit list as supplied with your vehicle. Make sure you have the absolute essentials: green chemicals for the loo, hoses or a means to fill up with fresh water, gas to cook on. Everything else – chairs, tables, awnings and roof racks – are the extras.

As long as you can stay warm, cook and eat, have fresh water and go to the loo then you’ll be fine. The rest is just details. Just remember that cupboard or storage space may be limited so take only what you are sure you’ll need.

WHERE TO STAY IN FRANCE

France is set up for camping and especially for those who travel by camper van and motorhome. There is plenty of space and, as a result, plenty of places to stay and a broad selection of options.

The locations in this book

In this book, you’ll find listed sites and places to stay. These are suggestions only based on my experience when I was travelling in that area and are not meant to be comprehensive. It also does not mean that they are necessarily the best places to stay; I have not visited every site in every area. That’s not what this book is about.

When it comes to finding sites for yourself you can either follow my recommendations or find your own using guidebooks, the internet or apps. France has many different types of campsite that suit many different types of camper so you are bound to find the kind that you’re after. I love to swim after a day in the van, so we often look for campsites with pools, even though they may not always offer the kind of quiet, rural experience we savour.

Booking ahead?

If you are touring then it may not be possible to book ahead, especially if you don’t know where you’ll be. However, if you are travelling to a big 4- or 5-star site then it would be wise to book, especially in the summer months (July and August) as many sites can quickly fill up.

At many other places, such as aires de camping car or France Passion sites, it is usually not possible to book ahead, although some corporate sites such as those operated by https://campingcarpark.com will allow it. Otherwise, it is a case of turning up and hoping for the best.

Aires de camping car

These are dedicated motorhome parking areas – often with emptying and filling facilities, but not always – that are provided by the local municipality to welcome us. They can be free and can be in fantastic locations. However, this isn’t always the case; some may be little more than car parks in the centre of towns and have no facilities. Nevertheless, these are useful if you haven’t got anything else, want to save money or just like feeling free. In fact, in some towns and in some areas, such as the Côte d’Azur and in busy holiday places, they may be the only option open to you if your vehicle is more than 2m (6.6ft) tall or are simply a motorhome. In many places I went, motorhomes were specifically banned from many car parks. Out of season, aires may also be the only option.

You are expected to be self-contained to use an aire, which means you must have your own toilet facilities. You are not allowed to put out chairs and tables or set up camp with awnings and pup tents, although some people do this anyway.

There are around 4,000 aires in France. Some are run by local communities, while others are commercially run by networks such as https://campingcarpark.com. You can buy a directory of all the aires at www.vicarious-shop.com.

France Passion

This is a members-only scheme whereby farmers, winegrowers, motorhome owners and artisans offer their land for you to park overnight for free in exchange for gratitude and politeness. It is expected that, as a guest, you’ll say hello to the hosts and will, perhaps, spend a little money with them. That’s it. There is no real obligation but if you happen to stay at an auberge it might well be rude not to enjoy a meal…

Membership costs around £27 per year, for which you get a guidebook, map, card and sticker to show your hosts in order to prove that you are a member. Buy yours from www.france-passion.com/en.

Campsites

There are more than 8,000 registered campsites in France. These are categorised using an easy-to-understand grading system, which means you can always find something that suits. The four categories are:

1 Leisure campsites are those at which more than 50 per cent of pitches are permanent or seasonal.

2 Tourism campsites are those at which more than 50 per cent of pitches are reserved for touring.

3 Aire naturelle campsites are small sites with up to 30 pitches on at least a hectare that have no fixed accommodation, such as chalets. They must have toilets. There are around 1,400 aire naturelle sites in France.

4 Camping à la ferme denotes small sites operated by farmers that are allowed a maximum of six pitches. They must have toilets and basins and a hot shower, plus waste facilities, and can only operate for certain periods of time. These are akin to Certified Locations in the UK.

Wild camping etiquette for France

Ask permission from the landowner

Remember that wild camping is not a right

Tidy up when