We have been camping in France, with occasional forays into Germany, Austria and Switzerland, for about 40 years. We used to travel with friends complete with school age children, so many of those trips were in the height of the season. We never booked any sites and, apart from one occasion in the Alsace, we never failed to get a pitch on a campsite. That considerate owner let us stay on the hardstanding outside the site and use the facilities.
That changed two years ago in 2023 when Francine and I decided to visit the Basin d’Arcachon. The first four campsites that we tried were full. Happily the fifth site did have a pitch for us, albeit a tight squeeze for Frodo between trees. Basically, avoid coastal sites full of sun worshippers, even when not in the height of the season.
Last year, 2024, was a little different. The weather over much of France was poor and it seems that almost everyone had flooded south to Provence and the Languedoc. The Languedoc is one of our favourite areas and the erstwhile reliable little camping municipal at Loupian was full. We did get in to a lovely aire naturelle at Villemarin. The attraction here is Mèze, which has to be my favourite place to add to Millau for Francine.
The face of camping in Europe has clearly changed with a huge number of the grey brigade swanning around in motorhomes, campers and caravans.
Liking the idea of more seafood in Mèze, this year, fighting with the online reservation system, Francine managed to make a reservation at Loupian between 14th and 17th June. The timing got us there on Saturday in time for the attraction of the Mèze Sunday market. There is a Camping Car Park [CCP] site at Mèze and it is notable that it gets very full on the Saturday night, presumably with avid market goers.
We duly hit the well conceived cycle track beside the Loupian campsite and headed in to Mèze on Sunday morning to make for the market square, to be met by municipal works fencing off about half of the market area in front of the church. The remaining half was crammed with densely packed stalls and the other avid market goers. It was a bit of a disappointment but we still managed some of our usual purchases.
On another day, heading the opposite way on the cycle track towards Bouzigues, we found the track and route much improved, an underpass now totally avoiding the busy main road. Bouzigues is the main oyster farming centre of the Basin de Thau and has an attractive front lined with a variety of restaurants overlooking the lagoon. One of these was called Chez Francine. Even more incredibly, just above Chez Francine was a board advertising an establishment called “Curd Ridel”. Well, it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it?
Maybe the stars had aligned. We enjoyed a very decent lunch including raw oysters, gratineed oysters and Rouille a la Sètoise, which was squid pieces in a tomato and I suspect red pepper sauce. It was all washed down with a very good bottle of Picpoul de Pinet … oh, and a subsequent pichet of vin blanc because, in the sun, the bottle didn’t quite last long enough.
Recent Comments