We were invited to a friend's wedding in Lake Como, Italy so we decided to drive there in the Cali. After some deliberation we decided not to pre-book any campsites along the way and we didn't even really properly plan our route. We booked the Eurotunnel and we had a hotel booked in Lake Como but that was it. We knew we wanted to stop somewhere near Champagne in France and then somewhere near Lake Lucerne in Switzerland on the way down so that was a good enough plan for the time being.
We couldn't take the dogs with us so they had their own holiday being looked after in the UK and before we knew it we were dropping them off and setting off for Folkestone. I hadn't been on the Eurotunnel before so I was quite excited (I'm a bit geeky like that!) We arrived a bit too early and hoped to get on an earlier train but they were all full so we parked up, had a coffee inside the terminal and did some shopping.
Getting on the train was pretty uneventful and not the most glamorous affair but we had some sandwiches in the fridge for lunch and the time passed very quickly. You don't lose any phone signal for the crossing so you can continue to surf the net and use social media for the duration. My only tip would be to make sure you go to the bathroom before getting on the train because it can be a long walk!
The weather in France was gorgeous, the French toll roads were a pleasure to drive on and the VW Sat Nav seems to work better in France than it does in the UK! After several hours of driving we were tired and hungry so we found an Intermarché and bought some bread, cheese and wine for dinner. We arrived with only 20 minutes before closing time at 7pm which was lucky and then we set off for the nearest campsite.
The campsite was called Camping La Forge de Sainte Marie and it is part of the Les Castels group of campsites in France. It is also a Camping and Caravanning Club and Caravan Club listed site so if you are a member of either you should be able to get a discount here.
What a find this campsite was...it had an onsite bar/restaurant with a terrace overlooking a lake, onsite swimming pool and excellent facilities.
It was probably a little more than what we needed for a one night stop over but at less than 20 Euros per night for a secluded pitch with electricity in a beautiful part of France you can't really go wrong.
When we arrived the reception was closed as it was after 7pm so they checked us in at the bar, we filled out a form and they gave us a couple of pitches to choose from. It had been very wet in that part of France so we picked the one that seemed the driest, locked the Cali and went to the bar/restaurant for a cold (and well deserved) couple of beers in the sunshine.
The food menu looked so good that we decided to eat there too, we didn't want too much as it was quite late (even though the steaks looked very edible) so we settled for a salad each and they were not disappointing.
Suitably fed and watered (or beer-ed), we headed back to our pitch and cleaned some of the thousands of flies we seemed to have acquired on the windscreen/bonnet and enjoy the evening.
We went for a run the next morning in the beautiful countryside to prepare us for a day of driving, paid at reception for our pitch and soon it was time to hit the road again...destination: Lake Lucerne, Switzerland.
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