• Dieppe to Elba – Proof that the journey is sometimes as good as the destination

    I don’t expect our journey to Elba to be anything special, apart from the visit to my old school pal, Pina, in the Aosta Valley, which is always wonderful, as we’re setting off on 1st October’s low season. But our very first stop at Camping Châlons-en-Champagne is a musical surprise. We spend a little time…

  • Brittany and Decompressing in Damgan, Stepping into the Past in St. Malo

    Brittany extends a relaxed welcome to us as we appear in Damgan, positioned in the Gulf of Morbihan natural park. Camping Célimène squeezes us in for three days, even though we have to move pitch each day, one bijoux pitch next to the recycling and one on top of the children’s playground. But so many…

  • Gascony’s Aire-sur-L’Adour to Charente Maritime’s Fouras-les-Bains

    Weaving down through the Pyrenees from the Somport Tunnel is stunning, under cliffs and through gorges, vultures swooping above and the rushing River Gave d’Aspe. When the mountains give way to rolling hills and fertile fields, the vineyards appear. We stop in Aire-sur-L’Adour’s Camping Les Ombrage de L’Adour, beside the lazy, green river, the ancient…

  • Gorgeous Gavín in the Aragonese Pyrenees

    974 metres up in Aragón’s Tena Valley, Camping Gavínis terraced, surrounded by holm oaks and pines, the russet, jagged mountain teeth sticking up through the tree canopy. It takes us back to when our children were small and we came upon a gem of a terraced campsite, scented with hot pine, behind the busy Côte…

  • Luminous Lumbier – A Beautiful Basque Town

    My well-battered book map of Spain is a go-to when we need a campsite with a view. I just look for the tent symbol and a green edged road. That’s how I find Camping Iturbero, in Lumbier. By the River Salazar and surrounded by the foothills of the Pyrenees, the town clings to the cliff…

  • Arbitzu – Basque Country on the Spanish Side of the Border

    It’s as if there’s a festival in the carpark of the EkoCanpina at Arbitzu, in the Pyrenean foot hills. Large groups are partying while they wait. But far from being turned away as I suspect we will be, they find us a place in the field, right on top of the outdoor gym equipment. We’ve…