7 nights cycle camping in France.

[Tango]

Landing in Calais, on Wednesday next week, can anyone recomend any campsites within a50 mile radius, hoping to head out to Vimy and have a relaxing break. Think we have all our kit sorted for or first ever trip, but want to know how best to sort the campsites and where / what to do

[simonineaston]

What most often works for me is this: Plan roughly where I want to go, day by day, then for each leg, identify a reasonably large town that I'm likely to arrive at about tea-time, and ask the folks in the town tourist information office about camp-sites. By 'large' I mean large enough to have a tourist office, which in French terms isn't that big! Also, nearly every French town bigger than a village has a municipal camp-site, and it's often possible to spot it before having to do the Tourist Office thing - there are always signs to 'Camping' dotted around the town centre. Some camp sites are marked on Michelin maps - probably the municipal sites, I guess, although I've never been able to confirm this, and there's a camp-site compendium available from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... es&x=0&y=0

I bought the 2008 edition last year from Amazon for 10p! and simply tore out the pages that referred to where I was going.

[tatanab]

Some camp sites are marked on Michelin maps - probably the municipal sites, I guess, although I've never been able to confirm this, and there's a camp-site compendium available from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... es&x=0&y=0

No. The ones marked on Michelin maps are only those that appear in the Michelin guide (seldom municipal) and are only ones that appeared in the guide the year the map was printed.

Generally my approach is similar to simonineaston. At home I decide where I'd like to be each evening, find a campsite and also a couple more in a radius of about 10 miles. Short in case of a bad day or long just in case I have a good one.

[simonineaston]

No. The ones marked on Michelin maps are only those that appear in the Michelin guide (seldom municipal) and are only ones that appeared in the guide the year the map was printed.

Excellent update - and one that makes sense. That explains a lot for me. I guess I should have worked that out myself
After I posted my first comment, I spent some time staring out of the window, here at work , and was fondly reminsicing about cycle-touring in France and I recalled that my modus operandi as more like this: I employ a hierachy of 'available destinations' and tick them off as the critical hours pass - exactly which hours depends on the time of year and hence the impending darkness. The tick-list of available destinations is something like this. First: Previously identified and rather good-sounding campsite... Not found or closed? Move on to first fall-back. Nearby campsite, luckily marked on map, or campsite guide (if carried)... Not found? Move on to next fall-back. Identify nearest town on map and cycle to town to find the 'camping municipal'... Not found? Next fallback. Find Tourist Office and ask... No camping? Next fallback. depending on time/weather/muscles, consider going to next town on itinerary. Final Fallback a) Chambre d'Hote b) wild camping...
Final Final fallback - continue cycling into the darkness, before finally falling off bike into soft leaves of comfy dry verge and drifting into dreamless sleep, before being awoken at half seven, by kindly French farmer, who has brings with him a steaming hot mug of tea and a plate - can this be true? - loaded with an excellent Full English...

[BeeKeeper]

My method for finding campsites in France is to Google "Camping municipal" followed by the town, which often returns a link to the town's own website, although this does not seem to happen for Arras, which is the nearest big town to Vimy. However, it does show this link: http://www.outcamp.net/camping_ville/18 ... _arras.htm Which plots 3 sites in the area - but there may well be more. These sites may have paid to be listed.

[Tango]

Thanks all,

I need a cold beer before attempting the search

[al_yrpal]

Not many people seem to know this!

1. Get a gmail account , its free!

2. Before you go.......Log in and open Google maps in your chosen area on your PC.

3. Type campsites in the search box. All the campsites in the area will be highlighted.

4. Click on the red balloon on each site site and read reviews, visit the website and decide if its a possibility.

5. The box that appears has a star next to the name. If you click on the star it will appear on YOUR Google map in future when you look at that region.

On an Android phone or tablet you can see the maps and look for nearby stars. Clicking on a star will get you:
Directions to the site using the phones sat nav
A phone number to check availability
Often a web link
There is often Google reviews and reviews from around the web.

I use it all the time. It identifies main campsites , tells you about them, and makes them easy to find and contact.

By the way, its useless if you don't have a smartphone and I am not sure about iPhones.

Al

[BeeKeeper]

Be a little careful doing the above if your Google map shows the World because it will try and download the location of rather a lot of sites!

[al_yrpal]

.....and you can now download large areas of Google maps onto your phone or tablet meaning that you can switch off data and avoid network charges when using the GPS and sat nav.

Al

[tatanab]

By the way, its useless if you don't have a smartphone and I am not sure about iPhones.

Or if you tour without electronics.

[Tango]

By the way, its useless if you don't have a smartphone and I am not sure about iPhones.

Or if you tour without electronics.

A pleasant thought, but I run my own business and need to be contactable.

Going to have a bit of a compromise me thinks, only switch the phone on once a day for messages