The west coast of France between showers.

The weather near our home in France this year so far has been appalling. Despite this, we decided to venture across to the Ile d’Oleron for a few days holiday as we have never been there before.  We  have previously visited the Ile de Re and liked it, but found restaurants, cafes and camp site fees expensive.  So, we thought we would try neighbouring Ile d’Oleron as we had been told it was more akin to normal French prices.

Armed with our ACSI guide and card for reduced off season camp site fees we headed for the north of the island to a site that we had been recommended by a fellow CT’er.  Camping Les Lauriers in Saint Denis.  We found the site with no problems but decided against staying.   The site road was tight with trees either side and on a couple of occasions we had to manoevre with inches to spare either side of the van to get round.  There were also a lot of static vans on site and we tend to avoid sites that are not largely touring sites.   

The beauty about the island is that it is small and there are many campsites available.  Although in June some are either not open or have very limited facilities open.    We moved across to the west side of the island to look at Camping La Campiere which had good reviews in the guides and supposedly had all facilities including a restaurant/snack bar, shop and pool open from mid April.  When we arrived we found that none of the advertised facilities were in fact open.  The owner said that because there were so few people about on holiday he hadn’t bothered to open them…..

We like sites that either have a small shop and eatery or are within walking distance of a settlement so that we can park up and not have to use the van to go off site much.  Because of this we settled for a site at Saint Bree les Bains.  A very nice municipal called Camping La Planginot.  The pitches were large and flat and there was a pedestrian gate for direct access to the beach on one side of the site and another pedestrian gate for access to the village at the other.  A very pleasant few days but with the weather forecast to change for the worse we decided to move off towards the Dordogne and Lot.

We had a pleasant few days at Bree les Bains and if the weather had been better we may have stayed longer.  The problem we found with the north of the island is that it appears to be entirely composed of holiday homes that are shuttered up out of season.  This results in cafes and restaurants also not opening until July through to the beginning of September.    This gave the island an ‘abandoned’ feel in early June in our view.  Conversely we felt that in high season the island would be ‘heaving’ with no middle-ground between the two periods. 

There were some lovely cycle tracks around the island so for cyclists it could well be their dream.

It is not a place I would feel particularly inclined to visit again in a hurry.  Particularly since France is such a wonderful varied country with so many different places to see.

On our way home we stayed over in The Lot region on a wonderful small municipal site in Martel.  We visited here a few years ago and like it but found the facilities very much in need of refurbishment.  This refurbishment has been done and the site now has modern showers and toilets.  3 showers with oodles of hot water for a site of only 12 pitches.  A better ratio than Club sites I think. For us, this site has everything we like.  It is small, quiet and  well situated with good views. Yet it is only 150 metres to the medieval centre of town.  There are many good restaurants nearby and one of them is over the road from the entrance to the site.  There is also a lot to do and see nearby.  It is only a short distance to Rocamadour and the Caves of Padirac.  The real bonus is that the site fees for unit and two people including electricity and tourist tax come to only €9.44 a night (approx £7.50).  For those who prefer, there is also a new motorhome aire which is free just a couple of hundred metres away.

We are now back home in the Aveyron and think we will stay put until the current poor weather shows signs of improvement…..