After an enjoyable stay with
Chris and Sue, we headed off to explore some of the surf locations we used to
visit back in the 90s on the wild and windy Cote Sauvage in south west France.
We’d enjoyed a good few stay-overs at Aires and campsites, as well as free
camping in our old VW and Dodge campers back in the day, and fancied a trip
down memory lane…
As we pulled into what used
to be our favourite Aire at Contis-Plage, our jaws dropped and hearts sank as
what used to be lovely pine woods either side of the Aire, had been bulldozed
and new condos built, right up to the dunes behind the beach. OK – it was over
15 years ago and sometimes favourite spots are best left in the memory banks -
but the Aire is still there, although now with an automated ticket barrier
entrance, and much larger and marked out in neat rows for about 30 vans - a big change from the orderly chaos of
15 odd vans and the guy that collected a small fee in the mornings in his
satchel!
We decided to pass on a stay
there this time around and headed back down to Lit-et-Mixe to look at the
municipal campsite there, another one from our camping history – and marvelled
at not only how much bigger it seems now, but also at the excellent value Aire
that is available at the front of the site where campervans can stay for €20 a
night (high season prices now!) instead of the €33 fee for an emplacement in
the site proper, and where the generous sized pitches are by far the more
peaceful option.
The weather was perfect and
the Aire so lovely and tranquil that we ended up staying for four nights – keen
to max out what would probably be our last beach stop this trip. The beach at
Lit is lovely but incredibly busy most of the day now that July is here…
and would only quieten down
as the evening drew in…
It was a good lesson for us
that any future trips should draw to a close a little earlier in the season. By the time we left on the 12th,
the site was pretty much completely full with, at a guess, over 1500 happy
campers.
We’d decided to get the
ferry back on the 15th, so on the morning after our 4th
night we set off for the yomp back to Dieppe – looking forward to seeing family
and friends but also sad that the trip was coming to an end.
Although we had travelled a
lot in this area in the past, the roads had been upgraded dramatically and
after a very easy and fast drive via Bordeaux over to Tours, we pulled in to
what is probably one of the best run Aires we have ever used, at Ste Maure de
Touraine, just south of Tours. This was, unusually, a private Aire on farmland south
of Tours, and at €4 a night with additional facilities such as electricity and
showers payable on an a la carte basis, it was perfect for an en route stop,
plus we were able to order bread and croissants for the morning, perfect! Even though it’s only 800m from the main
road, we had a peaceful night’s sleep and were ready to head off for the coast
by 10:30.
We’d enjoyed the sight and
sound of eve-of Bastille day fireworks when we’d had dinner in the Aire, but
were not sure of what lay ahead on a national holiday, so wanted to get some
miles in just in case we needed to hunt around for the final night stop-over.
We’d quite fancied the
seafront Aire at Dieppe but were wary that we may be thwarted by the Bastille
day celebrations. As it turned out, we seemed to have missed them and we got a
space on the Aire easily, and then wandered into Dieppe for a last night dinner
treat. We struck lucky at a ‘traditional’ Dieppoise eatery (Le Juquin) and after a full-on
fishy feast, we ambled back to the van, pausing to admire what looked to be a
WW2 Jeep that stopped to let us cross the road (it turned out to be a 1961
French Army Hotchkiss version). No sooner had we crossed the road than the Jeep
pulled over and in a combination of French and English, the owner, Guidot (?)
asked us if we fancied a ride up to the nearby chateau that has a panoramic
view back over the beach. Well, why wouldn’t you? So after an exhilarating and
hair-raising ride through Dieppe and up to the viewpoint (think big throaty
engine, no seatbelts and wind in your hair!) we chatted to Guidot who turned
out to be an historic vehicle buff who liked to give a bit of time to visitors
to Dieppe – what a charming and lovely person! After admiring the view and
chatting about the sacrifice of so many Allied troops in the failed attack on
Dieppe in 1942 (mainly Canadian) Guidot dropped us off back at the Aire – literally at
our door, which raised a good few eyebrows as we bid our farewells and thanks
for an amazing way to bring our trip to a close!
The day broke with drizzle
and low cloud – maybe a bit of advance prep on what to expect back in the UK!
The seafront Aire in Dieppe whilst
good value at €7, was also pretty noisy with the ferries loading and unloading
in the early hours – next time we’ll almost certainly stay further inland and
get up early!
Our next upate will be the
final entry on this blog and will include some stuff on stats like fuel and
camping costs and distances, and a route mapper that will allow you to see the
journey we took. We hope it will be of use to fellow travellers considering
something similar – thanks for reading!
S.
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