#franceroadtrip 🇫🇷

Our France Roadtrip to Lac D'Annecy

Welcome to our blog about our #franceroadtrip 🇫🇷 in our Volkswagen Grand California that we call Wanda to Lac D'Annecy and back - 1,700 miles, 3 aires, 4 campsites, 1 farm stop and 15 baguettes.

This wasn't the most direct route to Lake Annecy, but we loved it - our first #franceroadtrip and we learned a lot about travelling in a campervan in France.

Can't wait now for our next one...

Click here to binge all the videos in one playlist 😀

Stop 1 - Le Crotoy - our first stop

Straight off Le Shuttle, our first stop on our #franceroadtrip was the Camping-Car Park aire in Le Crotoy. We needed a very nice French camper to show us how to use the Camping-Car Park access. It is very easy when you know how - just hold your card under the reader and it tags you in. We'd organised and loaded our Camping-Car Park card before we arrived in France. Camping-Car Park are 'paid' aires, but we liked them, although we only used two on this trip; great facilities including electric and really reasonably priced.

We also like the feature on the app that you can see how many spaces are available. Very usedful when you have a couple of hours driving to get there. We checked at about 8 pm the day before we arrived to see how busy the sites were in the evenings and whether we thought there'd be a space free. We travelled in July and didn't have any problems getting a spot in the aires that we used.

We had originally planned to be on the Le Crotoy municipal aire - and if it hadn't been market day in the town and if we hadn't missed the turn and nearly had to drive our van through the middle of the market, we might have stopped there. It's a busy, busy aire - great if you can get a spot overlooking the beach, but there are only a few of those.

Where we were though, just outside the town, was a great place to start and learn for our french journey.

We stayed for one night in July at Camping-Car Park area of Le Crotoy for 12 euro a night including electric on a hardstanding pitch.

Click picture to go to website

Stop 2 - Bike Ride at Saumur

Doing our reasearch for our trip, Saumur was a place that came up again and again as a 'must visit' location, so we had Saumur on our list. We did originally also have Mont-Saint-Michel in our plan - but we decided that was all too much driving and not enough stopping, and so dropped Le Mont until next time and looked to pitch up in the Loire Valley for a couple of days, to give us the chance to get out do some things. Cycling between châteaus is something we saw that could be possible.

We took the Rouen ring road to Le Mans. We didn't have any issues at all driving through Rouen in our van. There are tunnels that get you through the traffic - we couldn't use the tunnels because of our height, but it wasn't a problem at all to miss those and 'keep right' to bypass the tunnels - everything was really well signposted.

We had read about 'Crit Air' stickers and which towns they were needed for and whether Rouen was one of those towns. We got the sticker anyway. It costs less that 5 euro, so we decided that it was better to have it.

We wanted to be on a campsite for a few days and found Camping au Bord de Loire online. It's a nice quiet site, all flat pitches located between Angers and Saumur and there's a cycle track right from the campsite in both directions - we did the Saumur leg and that turned out to be a complete adventure. We were told that there would be a vintage cycling festival in Saumur. We didn't realise that we'd end up in the middle of it though!

Oh, and the people there are lovely - very friendly and helpful.

Getting on La Loire

Still at Camping au Bord de Loire, you can access the Loire from a 'beach' that you can easily get to from the site - great for access with a SUP or kayak. We went in a kayak and paddled upstream to begin with - that was hard work! We had a nice easy, fast sail downstream back to our start point.

We stayed for three nights in July at Camping au Bord de Loire in Gennes, for 21 euro a night including electric on a grass pitch. (They do give ACSI discount but we didn't have a card so didn't get a discount, but we still thought it was good value).

Click picture to go to website

Stop 3 - Camping de Nevers

We needed to start getting closer to Annecy, so getting east was our goal for our next stop. We were also looking for places that had a great looking town, maybe there would be some paths that we could run while we were there, cycle, maybe kayak and about three hours driving.

We booked Camping de Nevers online.

We ended up with a great pitch looking directly at Nevers and the Cathedral. We left the Loire in the morning, we drove for three and a half hours, and we were still looking at the Loire in the evening 🤣.

I guess that's why it's France's longest river!

Nevers itself was nice but super busy with cars - I don't know if we've ever seen a small town with SO many cars. But our site and location was lovely and quiet.

We picked Nevers because it's at the start of Loire Velo off road cycling trail that runs from Nevers for 800km back to the Atlantic. The start of the trail is actually outside Nevers. We cycled 15km along the canal towpath and we still didn't make it to the actual start - so there's at least 815km of off road cycling from Camping Nevers.

Because of the Cycle Velo trail, there's a stream of bikepackers pitching up at the campsite each evening that adds to the nice vibe of the site.

We cycled out along a flat canal towpath on a gloriously sunny afternoon to Le Bec D'Allier, where the Loire and the Allier rivers converge. We then found a small traditional French cafe and after impressing ourselves by ordering our drinks in French (two lemonades 🤣), we stopped to watch the world go by for a while.

Happy Birthday to me in our van 😀

Still at Camping de Nevers, we were in the middle of our #franceroadtrip, living in our van, but we needed a birthday cake! If you haven't come across the Omnia stove top oven yet, it's definitly worth exploring. The heat comes up through the middle of the pan - meaning the pan is donut shaped and the pan 'bakes or roasts' whatever you have in it. We've used it for bread, lasagne, baked nachos - and now Birthday cake.

We stayed for two nights in July at Camping de Nevers for 14.10(!) euro a night including electric on a hardstanding pitch. (They do give ACSI discount but we didn't have a card so didn't get a discount).

Click picture to go to website

Stop 4 - La Loire for Le Rhone

Leaving Nevers and heading further east, we thought that we might stop at Macon - but looking at the Camping-Car Park app, we found an aire at Seyssel that looked amazing - Camping-Car Park area of Seyssel. The reviews were really good, so we decided to push on through to the Rhone Alps, which would leave us a really short trip to Annecy the following day.

We were so glad that we did!

First of all, we got a summer upgrade. The skys were summer blue and the temperature jumped +10 degrees ☀️.

The scenary definitly changed - it was all tunnels, mountains and pine trees straight away as you came through the first tunnel.

Although we only had a short stay, we had a great time in Seyssel. First thing that hits you - the colour of the Rhone is an insane green. With the yellow of the houses it just screams 'summer'.

Out of the Aire, turn right and it's a short walk to a boulangerie and over the bridge to the village of Seyssel. Turn left from the Aire and it takes you along the Rhone down to a water park area and miles of running / hiking and walking trails.

Because the aire is 'just an aire' - we packed our breakfast up and took it down to this park area and sat having breakfast watching Le Rhone.

By the way - when we went to the boulangerie for our morning Pain - they had SO much choice. We read later that it's one of the top ten boulangeries in France. 🥖🇫🇷

We stayed for one night in July at Camping-Car Park area of Seyssel for 13.30 euro a night including electric on a hardstanding pitch.

Click picture to go to website

Stop 5 - Lac d'Annecy is amazing

We made it to Lac d'Annecy 😍 ☀️ and it was instantly amazing!

This was the only site we had pre booked, expecting Lake Annecy sites to be really busy in July, and it was fully booked when we got here so we were glad that we had pre booked.

The drive from Seyssel to Camping Les Rives du Lac in Sévrier, just outside the town of Annecy was really easy, all on D roads. The site was well signposted and easy to find, and Aurielle at reception was super welcoming, super friendly.

She had given us a pitch really close to the beach and the lake - but frankly, ALL the pitches are close to the beach and the lake and actually, our pitch was OK, but not the best one (Pitch 14).

The pitches are big - but ours had a tree in the middle of the entrance, reducing the amount of 'usable space' once you've parked up. It also turned out that they have nightly entertainment on the site and nightly food stalls - and the electric for those activities was at the back of our pitch - so every night we had a visitor walking across our pitch looking for electricity.

But - the site was great with all the facilities you need; spotlessly clean; a small Boulangerie on site for bread each morning.

We heard that the site is one of only a few sites on the Lake with it's own beach and direct access to the water. The lake is incredible. The most vivid turquoise blue and surrounded on all sides by mountains. The water is shallow for a long way out, which also makes it popular with locals who sail their boats here - but that wasn't a problem.

As well as the lake though, right outside the site is the most amazing off road, smooth tarmac cycle way that runs 40km around the whole lake, including pitstops. We didn't cycle the whole lake, but we did make it to the beer stop.

We chose Camping Les Rives du Lac because it looked like the closest site to Annecy town and it had great reviews. We would definitely recommend the site and we would stay here again, although maybe ask for a different pitch 😀.

We took a boat trip to Annecy

We were told that at this time of year, the buses in Annecy are all free - but the campsite did have a Water Taxi boat ride trip available to go across the Lake to Annecy for 17 Euro each. We did that for the boat trip, and it was so much fun.

What we've seen of Annecy, is that everyone who comes there takes one picture - the iconic Les Palais de I'lle. We set out to find that image - but it wasn't hard, it's the first thing you see as you get to the old town 🤣.

Our trip was on Sunday Market Day, and as the morning went on, it was packed with locals and visitors wandering through the old streets and market stalls. They call the old town 'the Venice of the Alps' because of all of the little waterways, and really is a pretty town with lots of small lanes to walk around, medieval bridges, old, old buildings and the bustling market.

We had a great morning in the town.

Time to say Au Revoir 🥲

And so, that was that - our last day before we needed to leave Lac D'Annecy and start the journey back to Calais arrived very quickly, but we had a great time there and we were very glad that we had made the effort to get all the way to Annecy - it felt like a proper, mediteranian summer holiday while we were there.

We stayed for four nights in July at Camping Les Rives du Lac for 31.00 euro a night including electric on a hardstanding pitch. The site was another that offered ASCI discount - although we might have just have been out of the 'low season' discount that the ASCI card gives by this time.

Click picture to go to website

Stop 6 - Finding 'French Rural'

What do you do after the highlight of Lake Annecy? We decided to look for something completely different, and see if we could find 'French Rural'.

We were ideally looking for a vineyard. Could we park Wanda up overnight overlooking acres of vines? We didn't quite manage that. We did find a Winery surrounded by lots of farmland in a lovely little rural village - 27 Rue de Chataue in Merceuil - but no vines on site.

We found the site by filtering for 'the tractor' icon on 'Park4Night'.

This site was free to stopover, and you can buy their wine onsite. Free also included electric hook up, although no toilet emptying.

We had an amazing afternoon as the only van here. It was such a hot day, we parked ourselves in the spot under trees. We bought a bottle of Cremont and a bottle of Rose for 20 euros.

We did learn the French 'un tire-bouchon' for 'corkscrew'. We didn't have one and had to borrow one to muttering about 'a camping car without a corkscrew'!

As the evening arrived, so did two other vans and also the news that there were big thunder storms forecast for the area that night and the storms arrived exactly as forecast. We moved out of the trees and hunkered down for the night, drinking amazing Rose wine and watching the rain.

We stayed for one night in July at 27 Rue de Chataue in Merceuil for 20.00 euro that we spent on a bottle of Cremont and a bottle of Rose wine, including electric on either a hardstanding or grass pitch.

Stop 7 - Troyes

When we woke up the next morning, the rain had passed and the temperature had dropped 10 degrees overnight to about 26 degrees. Our morning walk to the Boulangerie almost felt chilly 🤣.

We decided to look for another two night stopover, where we might be able to run and cycle - a nice town with some good off road paths like we'd found at Nevers. We thought Troyes might be a good stop and headed there to an Aire called 'Aire de Camping-car Troyes' but that (confusingly) wasn't a camping car aire. It was very new and very nice though. Big pitches laid out for two Camper Vans / Motorhomes to park up on, but pretty much everyone had a pitch each.

Booking in was easy. There was a terminal next to the gate that you could do the booking on, and then a code to get through the barrier.

The site is pretty well located for Troyes near Troyes FC football ground. We had a walk in the town and sat outside our van later, we met a nice German couple who told us about their trip in their van to the South of France and Northern Spain - they were heading back to Germany.

Coming out of the aire and turning left, we found the local boulangerie the next morning and after breakfast, we decided to press on and save our extra day for the next stop.

We stayed for one night in July at Aire de Camping-Car Troyes for 12.00 euro a night including electric on a hardstanding pitch.

Click picture to go to website

It's moving day - time to pack up

By this time, we were into our last few days, but we wanted to find one more overnight and full day stop before we got on Le Shuttle at Calais.

Looking at Google Maps, we found a Parc Naturel in the North about an hour and a half from Calais and in that Parc, we found a small campsite. We did wonder if it would be a problem because the French Bastille holiday was coming up, but we needn't have worried. The site was going to be a bit of a longer journey for the Calais leg than we would have wanted, but still doable for our Shuttle home without too much stress.

We did the jobs that we needed to to get Wanda ready and hit the road north.

Happy that our route took us this way today 🏁

We had seen the Riems Gueux racing stands site a few times on videos and pictures, so I was glad that our route took us this way and we were able to stop there for ourselves.

What we've seen on line is that "The circuit Reims-Gueux was a racing circuit made up of rural public roads, located in Gueux, 8 km (5 miles) west of Reims in the Champaigne region of north-eastern France, established in 1926... The circuit became known to be among the fastest of the era for its two long straights (approximately 2.2 km; 1¼ miles in length each) allowing maximum straight-line speed, resulting in many famous slipstream battles."

The stands are still here on either side of the D27 road that runs through the middle.

We stayed off the toll roads for a while and pressed on North, thinking that we might be able to route through the Champagne Vinyards but we didn't quite find that route.

We eventually arrived at Camping le Petit Clos in the tiny little village of Chemin Tintin in Rumegies.

The site was small, exactly what we were looking for, and there were only two other vans onsite. There was only French being spoken here - again highlighting what my French teacher always told me, that I'd regret not working harder in French class - but Google Translate helped us out again with 'où pouvons-nous vider nos toilettes à cassette' and we did find where to empty our toilet cassette 😀.

Stop 8 - Can we find Belgium? 🇧🇪

The cool thing about this part of Northern France is that you drift in and out of France and Belgium as your wandering around. We found a Belgian Brasserie on Google Maps that wasn't too far away with an off road cycle route to get there, and decided to go and find Belgian Beer.

The people of Brasserie de Brunehaut where they brew Brunehaut beer were lovely. We had a Belgian lunch beer there and loaded up our bike pack with some for the road.

We stayed for two nights in July at Camping Le Petit Clos for 16 euro a night (8 euro per person) including electric on a grass pitch.

Click picture to go to website

At the Tunnel - printing memories

And so, that was it. Our #franceroadtrip was over. We made it to the Tunnel at Calais on Saturday morning and it was time to get on Le Shuttle back to the UK.

This was such a good trip and we are really looking forward to getting back to France. We've learnt that travelling in a campervan or motorhome around France is so easy - France is so geared up to make this kind of roadtrip easy - so many options to park overnight.

It's such a huge country that there seems an endless list of things to see and do - and the French seem to do leisure really well.

We will take our memories from this trip with us and be back very soon.

Thanks for reading this far, we hope that you enjoyed it - click through to our wherewewanda Facebook page if you have any comments or questions 😀

The Full Playlist

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