Your guide to a pleasant drive from the U.K. – even with fussy little ones – and a delightful, budget camping adventure in the south of France.
There are many good reasons for taking a holiday in the south of France, but the 12-hour drive down from England is not one of them. However, over the course of our stay, new French friends and our German neighbors offered a number of coping strategies, including the one we adopted for the return trip — travel overnight.
We ate, late on our last night, in the Restaurant au Café de Fraises in Grimaud, a few kilometers inland from the newly built harbor at Port Grimaud, but already high in the Southern Alps. The town is an ancient and lovely ville fleurie, with restaurants from the basic bar tabac to very lush. (This is still the Côte D'Azur). Most towns have a number of fête days in the year and this was one of Grimaud's. From our table we could hear a trio playing Django Reinhard, and in the main square, over the boules area and under some plane trees, was a South American pipe and guitar band.
We left Grimaud at 10:15pm, and the boys were asleep by the time we hit the first AutoRoute. They woke properly at 7am the next morning, as the sun rose and we drove fast through the flat country with the little hills and the villages with churches where each yard was gained at tremendous cost during the Great War. The place names — Cambrais, Arras, Lens, Bethune — bring memories of the Soldier poets, and mud of the First World War battles of the Somme.
Advice from the Front Seat
On this sort of journey it is important to make sure that all passengers are comfortable, and can adjust their own temperature as required. Take plenty of snacks, and plenty of water, within reach of the driver. The passenger is in control of the back seat (of course), and should be prepared with teddies, blankets, and biscuits. There is no place for a hero as far as the driving is concerned. Keep to short shifts, stop and stretch regularly, take it easy. Even with frequent breaks, we made a very fast passage, and enjoyed a tranquil journey and breakfast in Calais (coffee or chocolate, juice, French bread and jam – the works). Contrast this with the diversion tactics on the way south: "Look, more combine harvesters!," "Here's a book!," "Ten minutes to the next dinosaur biscuit!," "What shall we sing next?," and "Aaarrrrgggghhh!"
The South of France We Love
We stopped this year in Cassis; this is the home of the alcoholic blackcurrant cordial. The dramatic les Calanques coastal cliffs are worth an explore. Take a boat from Cassis or drive to the area, but don't leave anything in your car. Later on, enjoy the stylish evening promenade along the harborfront. Then we camped at Le Pont d'Argens, just past St.Tropez and just before Frejus. Everyone loves St.Tropez for its pastel facades, narrow streets and the sheer amount of money on view (much of it floating in the harbor.) But there are prettier villages, on the coast and inland, and the traffic is always shocking, so we turned hard inland and lunched in the Gorge du Verdun – every inch a match for the Grand Canyon (as St.Trop is for Las Vegas.) Flowing between the ancient town of Castellane and the newly formed Lac de St.Croix, the river cuts through tree-lined valleys (up to 2,000-feet deep), and some marvelous bolted limestone — don't forget your rock boots and quick draws.
Family Camping à la Française
There are great campsites in France, and they bear no relation to the corners of fields where we have erected our tent in Britain. There are toilet blocks, they have hot showers and power, there are shops which will arrange local excursions or bicycle hire, and Madame la Proprietresse hosts welcome parties and puts on bands and boules tournaments.
Camping Le Pont d'Argens (Route Nationale 98, 83370 Frejus, St. Aygulf [phone] 33 4 94 51 14 97; [fax] 33 4 94 51 29 44) is a two-star camp and caravan site. The rating appears linked only to cost, not to facilities. At around 26 € (US$32) for our car and family of four per night, and with one of the nicest beaches around (only a 10-minute walk across fields and sand dunes), who's counting stars? The site is 70kms. from Cannes, 35kms. from St.Tropez and perhaps 45 minutes by car from Nice.
On the way into Frejus (two minutes by car, only a few more on roller skates or hired bicycle, using the cycle lanes) is an out-of-town Casino. This is the best sort of hypermarket, where we bought the necessities of life (often going under our kids' indecipherable pseudonyms – Ploppsies, Smoops, Sirtaki) as well as all the luxuries (real chocolate, mosquito-repelling candles, and loads of cheap wine) and then enjoyed paying for it on plastic. Hurrah! Beware, that in common with many smaller French towns, credit cards are not welcomed at most of these establishments. We made full use of the plentiful ATMs in banks and supermarkets to make direct account withdrawals in French Francs.
The sea front at Frejus is typically South-of-France-disgraceful — high rises, pavement cafes, and a beach that looks like an Antarctic seal colony but smells of coconut. Head for the centre ville instead, through massive crumbling city walls, and you are in a quiet and fascinating Roman market town founded by Julius Caesar himself. We ate at the local crêperie with the successful town football team, and drank cidre bouchée, the rough Normandy cider often served in china bowls. It's usually best to avoid eating in the market square (or other obvious attraction) unless you can afford to pay top dollar – the food will otherwise be very poor value for money.
Why We Return
On one evening a few years before in Cassis, a waitress carried our crying 2-year-old with her as she went about her work, while we ate our first civilized meal for days. We had to beat a hasty retreat when the boy filled his nappy, but the experience is typical, so we returned. You will travel to the South of France for the 'Sea & Sun'. You will return with memories of the hinterland. From Marseilles and the Carmargue east, the country is really just as Monet, van Gogh and Cézanne painted it, with fields of lavender, olive trees, tiny villages and churches perched high on cliffs and hillsides. And the cooking, from simple bouillabaisse or pizza au feu du bois, to the traditional Provençale olives, garlic, herbs and tomatoes. Mmmmm. If you are keen, you could look at Grasse (France's perfume capital, based on the lavender fields) or tour any of the (rather excellent) chateaux – those at Bandol are worth a look for the fine rosé wines. Look out for the villages — Villefranche sur mer (fishing port with unspoilt fortified village above) and Eze (just another perched village with pretty streets and stunning views) — and find local museums and galleries everywhere.
Our time with the French has renewed our enthusiasm for excursions en famille. Battered by years of British disapproval and partitioning, it is such a relief to go out in a country that loves children, tolerates their excesses, and soothes harassed parents. We will be back for more.
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I poured my heart and soul into this!!! Hope you people enjoy! =)
Wow, this is wonderful! You are so lucky to have gotten this opportunity. You looked absolutely gorgeous at the show and the red carpet. Thanks for sharing this, it really made me smile. I used to have the biggest crush on Joe Jonas.. hahah!
Amazing trip!
I hope that my story will inspire and enrich your lives; even if it doesn’t touch you as much as it has touched me. I hope that this will be passed on and that people will take a few minutes just to read what I had to say and try to be in the mind of these children. Try to change your day and see your house, your possessions, your income, and those many great things that you possess and find a way to share them with others. We all need a wakeup call sometimes, a message to straighten us out and look at the life we were given. I hope to go back next year to repeat the experience all over again and try to change myself even more, I love those children and I love their compassion and selflessness. Words can’t fully express what I felt or what I witnessed but my words are clear, these people see the world much differently than us, they treat possessions differently and they know how to work as a community.
This is about when my family and I took a trip down to Central Florida for our Family Vacation.
Hope you enjoy!
This was a vacation that taught me a lot about how my religion is organzied and gave me more appreciation for it.
I will never forget the time I spent in Germany.
I hope you guys enjoyed my story!
Best luck.
South Africa is this amazing country that not only is beautiful for its animals and scenery but for its people and for its ability to overcome the greatest oppression: apartheid, the discrimination of the majority. I am so glad I was given the gift of traveling to South Africa. It is an experience I will never forget!
It was a great trip!
I hope everyone who takes the time to read The Awakening enjoys learning about my bus ride to reality.
My typed essay about my vacation in Vietnam. It seem poorly written or should I say typed :\
Bryan Gray Europe Tour.
My vacation to Panama became suprisingly meaningful, contrary to what I had initially expected.
Thank you
This was a fun and yet difficult project i truely have enjoyed sharing my vaction with you.
Mahalo,
Have you ever been to Maine? What did you like best?
This is such an amazing story and essay!!
Their were many more memories from this trip that impacted me as much as the ones that were included, but I just didnt have enough room. So, I shortened it and tried to write the best description of the trip without exceeding the word limit. But the trip was, indeed, as remarkable as I said it was.
Washington is a really nice place. It has many museums and historical places. it also has very delicious foods. Chinatown was my favorite place to eat.
Thank you for this scholarship opportunity!
IB York was a great experience, and a great opportunity to explore new ideas and innovations
So now I head to college without my classmates but i will always have this wonderful experience.
🙂
This is one of my many travel adventure stories from my trip to Europe in the beginning of the summer. Besides Prague, I traveled to Berlin, Munuch, and Nuremberg in Germany, Innsbruck in Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and France. My favorite place was Switzerland, but my favorite story was the one I shared. I hope you enoy reading it as much as i enjoyed experiencing it!
I want everyone to be able to expericence something like I did.:) Everyone desevers happines!
I hope you enjoyed my travel blog and I hope you plan to take your mom to the Peaks of Otter Lodge for the best brunch you will ever eat. For more information click on this link:
http://www.peaksofotter.com/
Finished product. I love PERU!
This eye-opening opportunity has shaped my conviction toward making change and developing the community. It is a great pleasure to meet all those Leadership Award Honorees and other49 ANNpower fellows from 24 states in the U.S. I will continue to make change and build a dynamic community, excursively to ethnic, social, political gender aspects of advantage, as my milestone to become a great leader!
This eye-opening opportunity marks the culmination of my junior year. I am so glad to meet all those wonderful women leaders from all around the world and 49 other ANNpower fellows from other 24 states. I will continue to explore the world and make change with eagerness and confident, and overcoming disadvantage exclusively toward the milestone of a great leader!
I hope everyone enjoys my trip to Catalina and Ensenada!
This trip was the best trip regarding family time. It is unforgettable.
To see more photography from the trip, check out my photojournal: http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Photojournal-of-My-Grecian-Travels/213497035367351.
What a testimony!! Thanks for posting. You don't know how impactful this is. Let Jesus keep using you for His glory. 😉
I was saved in August of 2009. I was in my parents's room and we all prayed for m, becuase I was tired of not having a desire for God. There I gave my life to Him and let Him be my Lord. I already excepted Him as Savior, but though it was a license to sin. Thatt day, though I wanted to repent of my sin and let God lead me. Lord and Savior go hand-in-hand. My life is changed. Now I have convictions and am learning so much about seeking God, because He is seeking me. It's awesome to live in the security and hope of knowing I will see Him one day in heaven. I am so glad He lives in me, because my goodness outside of Him is nothing. I don't know what I would do without Him.
Jesus used that park to bring you and your dad back together. How beautiful 🙂
Each place I go, I leave a peice of myself. And everyplace I go leaves a peice of itself in me. The people I have met along the way have changed me in the deepest way. Their lives have touched mine and I can never return to life as was usual. Likewise, my life has touched many along the way. It is my hope that nobody I meet along the way may return to life as was their usual. This is how each thead pulls coth and fabric together as we the people of the world cover it like a quilt. We must double stitch each peice so not to fall apart or leave holes. We need one another.
To whoever reading this, I am the person wearing blue shirt and white shorts, sligtly leaning on the panda bear statue.
My essay that talks about my experience traveling to Lima, Peru aims toward encouraging others who are not too familiar with it to visit and appreciate the fun life changing experience they're gauranteed to get.
What a great contest! Hope to see lots of terrific teen travel stories here!
It was difficult for me to type a 600 word blog about an amazing experience I had in the month of July. It was also difficult for me to choose certain pictures from the ones that I have chosen, so I uploaded the pictures of my time at NeiHu elementary school. I really wished that I could have used more sightseeing photos, but unfortunately, those were too big to upload.
This trip was amazing and it also tested who I am becoming as a person. Seeing the woman in Central Park living out her dream, to the woman selling fruit throughout the day; New York is made of dreamers and hardworking people. I loved it. Hope I get the chance to go back.
This was an amazing experience! I am so grateful for everything it taught me!!
From research, I believe the ice cream shop was called Eisdiele Eddy. More information about the exchange program can be found at http://www.aatg.org/study-trip-faq as well as at the bottom of the page at http://www.aatg.org/NGE-awards.
These Picutures are both of my own creation (one being an acrylic painting). When I took this picture at the western wall in Israel, the man in the photo was crying his heart out wearing a tattered down bath robe, I thought it would make for an intersting picture. So it did, it also inspired to me to create a painting in which I showed the world what I believe he really is. A man who is down on his luck but seems to still find peace in his life.
My sophomore year of high school I went to Donner Pass in California with a group called The Woods Project (www.thewoodsproject.org) . I had to apply to go , I was really anxious and scared that I wasn’t going to get. When I got my acceptance letter I was excited. I was also nervous because I had never been away from home for more than a week and The Woods project was going to last for two weeks. I had chosen to go to Donner Pass because I wanted to experience something new. I was going to go backpacking for one week and hiking the other. I had never gone backpacking before. When I told my friends that I was going backpacking they started to laugh because I am the smallest girl in my whole school and they didn’t think I was going to make it. Getting that response from my friends made me super scared of going to the trip. I thought I was going to die while backpacking!
My dad went to go drop me off at the airport and then he left. I was already scared and freaking out at the fact that he had just left me there and I did not know anybody! . I got in the plane to California and I was already regretting going on the trip. I was going to be with complete strangers for two weeks! When we got to California we all got split .There were three groups going to different places, one to Yosemite, another to Marine Headlines and then mine, to Donner Pass. I got in a van and that’s where I met the people who I was going to spend two weeks with. We were in that van for hours! When we finally got to our cabin we had to go up a hill to get to the door.
The first cabin we stayed in was named Clair Tappan Lodge. It was really nice . It was made out of wood, had a pool table, personal chef, jacuzzi and hot water in the showers. I loved it there! Too bad it only lasted for two days then it was time to go backpacking. They gave us our backpacking materials. I tried on the backpack and almost fell over. My backpacking week had started. We went up and down mountains, through rivers and lakes, and I thought we were never going to set up our tents. When it started to get dark we finally started cooking. The food we had was not good at all. We couldn’t bring a lot of food because of the bears and other animals. My second day of backpacking went better than the first. Everybody in my group started to know each other better and soon we became really close. We would sing while backpacking to make time pass faster and at night we didn’t want to sleep because we would play games. While backpacking I got to experience many things I hadn’t before. Even though I was the smallest girl going backpacking I was always the leader of the line because of my stamina.
When our backpacking week ended it was time to hike. I had gotten the hardest part of the trip over with so I knew hiking was going to be a piece of cake. We would hike in the morning and hanged out at night. It was the best experience I had ever had! When it was time to go back home I didn’t want to because I knew I would miss my friends.
To watch my video go to : http://youtu.be/FLd7W71EnyU
My experience as a first time camper.
i hope i win