# 2 weeks in Dordogne, Vendee & S Brittany



## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Day 1
Once again our annual 2 week sojourn to France had a adjacent UK weekend commitment which in its way shaped what we did to make the most of the fortnight in France. It was a very happy circumstance nonetheless, as the first of my 4 nieces was getting married in Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex on the Saturday. So there we went with the van fully loaded early on the Saturday morning. I'd like to say bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but as I had been banging, shaping and drilling metal until 1:30am, adding a custom/DIY (who said Heath-Robinson?) refinement to the mounting of the scooter on the back of the van, I was feeling decidedly jaded instead.

For those MHF women who find wedding photos compelling, even if you don't know a soul there, here they are temporarily in reduced resolution but otherwise as they came off the camera (I clearly have some red-eye to deal with if only I could remember which of my Photoshop custom red-eye filters I preferred):
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daburleigh/WeddingWeb
For convenience we left the van secure with a motorhoming Uncle & Aunt, whom we planned to meet in Royan at some time during our fortnight, while we had rooms (the boys were with us) at the wedding reception hotel.

Day 2
After sobering up Sunday morning we headed for Dover after lunch, and courtesy of a cheap SeaFrance crossing (with MHF discount) we found ourselves in Calais early evening. Weather permitting we intended heading for the Dordogne this holiday, never having stayed there in ~16 years of camping in France, before at some point breaking off to return up the Atlantic coast to Blightly. This year we had booked the fast Condor Ferry from St Malo back to Poole which departs at 8:10pm on a Sunday, but would still allow us to get to work Monday morning, again hardly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed but I have my work-life priorities in order and it would give us maximum French holidaying time! 

Other intentions for this trip were to try harder to get the balance right between strategic planning and tactical flexibility/ spontaneity, and to minimise road tolls and ease off on road speed. Thus, whereas in the past I might have wanted to get past Paris on the Sunday evening of arrival, this time we stayed on the outskirts of Calais and enjoyed a pleasant Sunday summer's evening strolling on the beach and sand dunes. I couldn't remember which of the aires had been reported recently as having security concerns, so we stayed at Camping du Fort Lapin:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=1065
The GPS entry is in error for this entry, but I'll subsequently add reviews for existing entries and add new ones as appropriate in due course, updating this log.

Photos for the trip are temporarily here, in reduced resolution but also as they came off the camera:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daburleigh/France2008Web
Pics 1 & 2 - we had pitch 54

Here is the map for our trip, marking the night stops at the end of each day in the log:









Day 3
We took advantage of the beach and dunes again after breakfast, before stocking up with food, drink and diesel and heading off for our longest drive of the holiday (I did succumb to the toll road for the last leg between Orleans and Vierzon) down to Mennetou-sur-Cher, which is a busier aire now that Mery-sur-Cher nearer to Vierzon is a paying aire with barriers that need a token:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=2596
Pic 3
Last year we had a really hot and still night at this aire. This year it was much more comfortable, though warming up nicely. I was also more prepared in having an Endless Breeze fan, which was to be put to good use on many occasions during the trip to maintain my sanity:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-443082.html#443082

Day 4
Down to Rocamadour by lunchtime, staying at Camping le Relais du Campeur at L'Hospitalet:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=593
and we spent the afternoon chilling out, enjoying my holiday read of the Telegraph instead of a more curtailed work-day read, and visiting La Feerie right next to the site for a scheduled performance:
http://www.la-feerie.com/voyage_an.html
The guy is a modeling fruit-cake. As the performance starts, you get to see the scope and scale of the set, and for me, disappointment started to set in as you think "I've got an hour of just THIS?". Then as the performance focuses on each piece, the detail is mindblowing and the time flies by. Recommended.
Pics 4-9
I think this was the only time I used ramps in the entire fortnight.

Day 5
Up and into Rocamadour before the coach parties arrive. It is hailed as the "second tourist site of France" after Le Mont St Michel. I don't know how they work those out but presumably with some creative definitions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocamadour
http://www.rocamadour.com/anglais/accueilanglais.htm
By chance, I think we did things the right way around, walking from the campsite down the slope to the bottom in the cooler morning, then walking up through the churches to the chateau at the top, before walking back to the site along the flat at the top in the heat of the day. The chateau has a 2 euro unmanned turnstile to obtain access to the ramparts and viewpoints, so check your change before you get to that point.
Pics 10-25 (the spookiness of Pic 15 is due to cobwebs).

Back at the van lunchtime, it was time to move on, but to where? I reverently unveiled and wielded my motorhome touring secret weapon - a prototype MHF offline campsite database! My nagging nuke for this started around a year ago:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-278294.html#278294
and I now had tucked in a folder on my laptop all the site information you wonderful people had contributed. OK, it was still a little rough around the edges in terms of geographically situating the entries, but nevertheless it is a cracking first product with which nuke could go live with a tweak of POI info here, and a tweak there. With the midnight oil nuke has spent on it so far, it is true to the original concept suggested, of being automatically generated from the online database so that CD despatches to MHF subscribers from nuke headquarters can be up-to-date. More feedback on this prototype later. For now, suffice it to say that combined with my TomTom, which had CampingCar-Infos aire POIs:
http://www.campingcar-infos.com/Francais/recherche.php#synchro
and a load of campsite and supermarket POIs from:
http://www.poihandler.com/overview.aspx
planning campsites, shopping for food and fuel and navigating were a doddle throughout the holiday. I quickly chose crazyhorse's entry of Le Capeyrou as our next destination:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=2025
where we stayed for 2 nights; longer was unlikely to be available due to the busier weekend approaching.
Pic 26.

Day 6
A day touring by scooter. Going downriver we took the opportunity to visit a site I had also examined in the MHF database and liked it and the pitches available so much we booked a 3-night weekend there. The medieval city of Sarlat was lovely.
Pics 27 - 30
The village of Meyrals was apparently renowned for its art but we didn't see much there other than preparations for the weekend festival:
Pics 31 & 32.

Days 7-9
Onto Camping Le Port de Limeuil for the 3 nights booked yesterday:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=1484
Pics 33 (with fast flowing Dordogne in the background), 34 & 35. The aire under the bridge looks good too if you get the shaded spots if hot - Pic 36.

Pics 37 - 40 Limeuil is a delight. The regional pottery exhibition over the weekend proved an expensive, though rewarding visit. The village is nicely done. Au bon Accueil is a popular, lively restaurant:
http://www.au-bon-accueil-limeuil.com/
whose first beer you will especially enjoy on a hot day if you park down near the river as opposed to letting the engine take you up there via the gentler back road seen after heading out of the village towards Le Bugue (which also has the nearest supermarket). Pity the restaurant doesn't have the views of the gardens at the top (Pics 38-40; pic 38 is taken in a giant mirror).

We visited by scooter a gite in the bend of the river to the north of Cavers. Alison had a work colleague who was staying there in a couple of weeks so we assured her by text message that she had chosen a property and room with a delightful river view and she would have a great time.

Pic 41 - We enjoyed an obligatory canoe trip; well, the "we" is a bit generous for the part when we shot some rapids. Alison got soaked and I wish I had a video camera going at the time. The river is deceiving - seemingly very calm in mid-stream but you can be travelling pretty fast when you come across something fixed, like rapids or a trapped log and branches.

It was a hot, still evening and I was tempted with battening down the hatches and putting on the aircon but was sensitive to the noise. I have commented before on the use, or not, of aircon on campsites on hot, still evenings when you can hear a pin drop. I was curious enough to wonder what others did so took an early campsite constitutional / nosey walk and found half a dozen units all switched off. This reinforced my stated view that when you are on many campsites and could really benefit from aircon, people are conscious of the noise. I know this subject can polarise views so don't want to debate it; noise is also very subjective. Fortunately the Endless Breeze was at hand.

Day 10
We reluctantly left that site but our hand was forced by the "strategic" aspect of what else we wanted to do between now and catching the ferry home. Time to join Alison's Uncle and Aunt in their motorhome, and her cousin and family in a caravan, at Royan, and again, we only used a short stretch of toll road where it made sense. We stayed on the same site and blagged a pitch right next to them for 2 nights:
http://www.camping-puitsdelauture.com/en/index.htm
Pic 42
A good beach/ children location, but an expensive site for what it is. We had a cracking evening chatting, drinking and playing with the children. Unc complained his beers weren't very cold, but as there was ice still in the freezer he didn't think he could expect any more of the fridge. I suggested he removed his winter fridge covers ……….. The following morning he was dead chuffed at his now cold beers 

Day 11
More scootering. Royan, more exactly Camping La Palmyre de Loisirs, is where we camped for the very first time in France, and as many find, one can reminisce with fond memories of one's first French camping experience. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit again. Unfortunately this was a big mistake. The site had transformed out of all recognition in the intervening years, much to its detriment, though I reluctantly admit it probably now generated a far greater income. All units were fixed - there wasn't a single tent, touring caravan or motorhome in sight, and it was totally soulless.

The aire at La Palmyre that Steve & Jan SandJ stayed at:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-460325.html#460325
is in Pics 43-45. I took a pic of the machine because it did indeed look complicated! Pic 46 is of the Zoo.

We cycled exploring the local beaches and coastal cycle paths beyond St Palais sur Mer, before putting the fluid back during another boozy sociable evening.

Day 12
Onto La Rochelle, staying at the aire at Les Minimes:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=1385
We cycled around the coast at Les Minimes and into La Rochelle old harbour for a very pleasant dinner. 
Pics 47 - 53.

Days 13 & 14
For the last 3 nights we thought we'd go for a relaxing site in South Brittany, in part because we were frustrated in not making it there last year (see earlier link on the offline campsite database thread). We were spoiled for choice, but MHF came up trumps with exactly the site to suit, Le Ferme de Lann Hoedic on the Rhuys peninsula that forms the eastern arm of the Gulf of Morbihan:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=2536
Pics 54 - 57, pitch A2. The lady in reception was perfection personified, and gave us loads of informative leaflets and maps, giving recommendations and making us regret only staying there 3 nights!
Pics 58 to 60 are from a delightful coast walk north from la Pointe du Grand Mont at Saint Gildas du Rhuys.

Pic 61 - I know the campsite is "on the farm" but when I dragged out the chairs from under the van one morning we had a little visitor that made Alison scream more than she did in the canoe shooting rapids - Pic 62.

Day 15
A leisurely drive across Brittany to Saint Malo. As Alison hadn't yet had the opportunity to explore it, we cycled around the walled city and people watched while a festival was taking place
Pics 63 & 64.
A quick call at Cash Wine & Beer (not a lot of choice of booze shops on a Sunday afternoon) to replenish stocks before it was time to catch the evening fast Condor Ferry via Jersey to Poole. 
Pic 65
Back home at 2am before off to work 7 hours later on a Monday morning :-(

Some feedback on the prototype MHF offline campsite database:
1) You don't need a separate application, as it all runs from your browser.
2) The graphical front end is neat, enabling one rapidly to list all sites in a single French region, for example, and clicking on one site brings up all the MHF information about it . Unfortunately that is as far as the graphics go at the moment. It is the biggest limitation, nuke knows it, and will overcome it, but it takes considerable time and effort on his part.
3) Until this is done, I recommend using it in conjunction with a TomTom, say, or other mapping program such as Memory-Map, in order to find out where the sites are. Many site addresses are not obvious and sometimes entering the lat-long co-ords is the quickest way!
4) Again, until the next graphical stage is completed, it can be frustrating having all the site types lumped together. Perhaps order them by type in the interim? Sometimes you only want an aire; sometimes you want a pukka campsite. 
5) When submitting campsites to MHF in future, be aware that text references to "see site's webpage" are not helpful when viewing the database off-line!
6) So, some minor frustrations with the prototype, but these pale into insignificance compared with the prior frustration of not being able to access the database when touring!!!

Ball in nuke's court. With the relatively straightforward addition of POI file(s) and a campsite proforma, the prototype is well worth making available. Providing graphics of site location to the next level of granularity is highly desirable for a killer database, but requires more nuke midnight oil. I hope he gets it done before nukelet2 and the next touring season arrive! 

Dave


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks Dave, nice write up as always and nice piccies of Rocamadour and La Rochelle;

You could do with a fi'zi:k for your brommy tho :roll: 

pete


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Pete,

You must have a wierd shaped bum then! 

Alison insists on a gel cover to add more gel to that in the standard seat. I think it is just her way of telling me she has less padding on her bum than I tease her about.

Dave


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Lol;

Experience has taught me that it's probably best not to comment on the shape of the female bum, except for perhaps - 'petite'. 

:roll:

Hope you both had a great holiday.



pete


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## 88781 (May 9, 2005)

Great report and write up Dave,.. excellent photo's too!  

Dave


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

Brilliant although I knew it would be before I clicked on it. I have a reference point for my dream trip next year. Had a peek at the wedding pictures.  There is always an Uncle Harry that has to stand on his head, dance funny or fall over taking half the dancers with him. So far I have only managed dance funny, and falling over taking half the dancers with me. I am working at standing on my head but unless I lose some weight I am in grave danger of my neck disappearing in my chest.


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## nukeadmin (Oct 10, 2003)

Well as ever DAB delivers, an in depth and informative report on his meanderings abroad 

Glad the CD was of help, I am still working on it and hope to have the POI files on the CD, Campsite Proforma and other assorted useful files

I also have a method I think of creating static files for showing specific types of site i.e. just Aires as requested. Just need some more oil for my lamp now to get it instigated


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## carolgavin (May 9, 2005)

Great write up dabs hunny, thoroughly enjoyed it and all the pics. Liked the dresses at the wedding, who knew you could stand on your head :wink: :wink:  

Thanks again for my postcard!!!!

mwah!!


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

"who knew you could stand on your head"

Hmmm. I was in two minds about this. Do I insist it really isn't me, or, as the guy who's doing it is younger (Alison's brother) should I have let it be?

As I look younger than him (it helps not being as bald as a coot) I felt I ought to protest my innocence 

I shall continue to reserve my upside-down occasions for the MHF chat room trampoline. 

Dave


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## bognormike (May 10, 2005)

DABurleigh said:


> "
> I shall continue to reserve my upside-down occasions for the MHF chat room trampoline.
> 
> Dave


Is that when you wear the kilt as well, Dave? 8) :lol:


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

No, not eligible as only 1/16th Scot. It was in my kaleidoscope multi-coloured Lycra orienteering suit.


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## carolgavin (May 9, 2005)

bognormike said:


> DABurleigh said:
> 
> 
> > "
> ...


Nah he does it nekkit Mike hunny, it's quite a sight to behold :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Only when the clothing malfunctions.


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## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

A great report Dave . . like you I look forward to a 'portable' campsite / stopover file being made available by Nuke . . it would certainly get my thumbs up


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