As I’m in the camper for a few hours today I though I’d give a little campsite review of the last site!

We like to stay in a mix of bigger sites and smaller ones. In fact I would have told you that the children favour the bigger sites but I now don’t think that’s actually the case as the last campsite was probably the least developed and one of their favourites.

Camping L’Ermitage was a big gamble. When the campsite at the pyla sand dunes burnt down there weren’t many options in the middle of august for just a few days. Most sites prefer you to take a whole week at a time. The Google reviews were terrible but I think we have learnt that if Google doesn’t like the site we probably will!

https://www.campinglacanau.com/campsite-lacanau.php

When we arrived I feared the worst but we ended up on probably one of my favourite sites! Just a few steps from the beach at the lake we were able to easily carry our boards down. The toilets were clean but definitely rustic!! As Fraser said when he thought the water wasn’t agreeing with him… “it seems to be having an impact on all the other campers Tummy’s judging by the sounds in the toilet this morning”. The facilities were not in any way glamorous, but that’s not what we need, we are all quite happy as long as we have somewhere clean to shower.

At the last campsite there were people coming back from the entertainment at 2am having fun and chatting loudly with their friends… which is great but not conducive to great sleep! here there was nothing but the sounds of nature in the night. One night Fraser had a massive fat toad which snuggled under his tent! Another I thought our bikes were being stolen but it was an animal taking a non bag from another pitch containing tins in it… I decided it was a wild cat. The following night stew was reading outside and was convinced that the animal was in fact a pig as he heard it oinking! That was the night of the thunderstorm… and in the fuss of getting the children into the van I decided telling the children there was a wild, nocturnal pig on the loose was a bad idea. A few hours later when the children were back in their tents I got a text from penny saying that the wild cat was between her and Fraser’s tents, nudging her! When I told her that it wasn’t a wild cat but a wild boar she wasn’t impressed! Only Stew heard the pig and saw it, so the legend of the “pig” will forever be remembered in Freckle… but the campsite owner confirmed that there are wild boar in the woods looming for food!

The next site we are heading to is a firm favourite and has been visited most years since I was about 3! It’s changed a lot and when we were in rainy Cornwall last year, after a few wines we have booked a really fancy pitch using last years holiday budget… with a dishwasher, private shower and loo, fridge and hot tub on the top of the sand dune by the beach. I’m not sure who is more excited! So we are on our way there now, via the supermarket to stock up for the last 7 nights in luxury! We are excited about Grandma and Grandad joining us on Tuesday too!

After great sleeps all round, we got up and went out for a paddle in the opposite direction. 2.3 miles in increasingly windy conditions! I was so proud of myself for standing all the way and on a smaller board! Though much to the amusement of Fraser and stew I still can’t master the tiny one!! The video will never be shown!!!

Back for lunch and then onto the bikes for the 5km ride to the beach. Hours of fun in the waves saw us clattered by a few!

We dried off on the beach and read our books before heading for an ice cream and back to camp. Bbq for dinner (have I mentioned we’ve now got an electric bbq and it’s brilliant?!) and the an hours packing up to for our final hop of the holiday where we head in the morning. I don’t know about anyone else in freckle but I’m absolutely exhausted!

There was the most remarkable thunder storm in the night which resulted in the children coming into the van at 4am and a major reorganisation! It was terrifying and beautiful!

We had a lazy morning…. Fraser had too much sun on our epic paddle board adventure and we were all a bit tired!

We headed off on our bikes to the ocean, a 5km cycle through the pine Forrest’s. As we got near to the sea penny we heard an “ ohhhhhhh yesssss”! Miles of beach, big waves! The perfect adamson combo.

We hit the beach and headed into the sea! Such fun (I only got out early as I had the wrong swimming costume on!)

Eventually we headed back to the town and found somewhere for an early dinner… I’d spotted on our way through! It was amazing!

After a browse in the shops and a waffle we headed back for a lazy evening.

After the medley of snoring overnight from surrounding campers we were ready to move on to the next phase of our adventure.

It was a longer drive to the royan to soulac ferry than we had expected, passing loads of veteran cyclists racing freckle. It was a drizzly morning and windy roads so freckle wasn’t loving it.

We arrived in royan and our timing was brilliant. 5 mins before the next ferry across the Gironde… straight on and off we went.

In the distance we could see the lighthouse we had cycled to and some sunshine in the distance where we were heading.

As soon as we were off the ferry we were into the wine country and the roads were well maintained, straight and through the beautiful Forrest’s.

The next site we were heading to was the replacement for the one that burnt down. Our options were limited, the Google reviews terrible but the location brilliant. As we arrived it was clear that this site would not be for everyone! Run down and unkept but clean would be my review. Nestled in the pine trees 100m from lake Lacanau what can be so bad!

Once we had unpacked we took a moment to check supplies and realised we were running low on wine so headed out to refresh our stocks. On our return the Sun was out and we headed to the lake for a swim! Beautiful!

We had a bbq for dinner and enjoyed the quirks this campsite brings… I can see it’s not for everyone but neither is our kind of adventure. Tomorrow we will get the paddle boards out and see where we end up!

Another drizzly start to the day… but after a couple of coffees and some pastries the weather cleared and we decided to explore the area further.

It was easy to pick up the cycle path straight out of the campsite… and that lead us into the small town… where we found another cycle path to a lighthouse.

As we arrived I was sure I’d been before… and I had! When I was about 8! No one else wanted to go up it so I settled for a nose around the museum. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1905 due to the previous one falling down… I guess coastal erosion isn’t a new thing.

We cycled back to the town and had an ice cream after deciding there wasn’t a lot else for us! I think with another day here a ride into Royan would have provided more to see for us. Another 25km in our legs!

Back at the camp we chilled for a while before a trip to the pool. I’d promised I’d go down the slide much to Fraser’s entertainment! Thankfully he didn’t film it!

All showered (I even dried my hair!) we popped over for a drink, the boys played backgammon and then we are getting some “campsite” chips to go with our bbq!

Tomorrow we are off on the ferry to Lacanau.

A short hop down the coast today for 2 nights. We eventually got up around 10 and the children headed to the pool whilst we spent an hour or so getting ready to move on. A quick trip to the supermarket for supplies first before the short trip to the next campsite.

We always forget that supermarkets shut on Sundays here so by the time we made it to the bakery our options were limited! With food now in the van, and a spillage of 3 litres of red wine cleared up 😱 we were on our way.

This isn’t an area we’ve been too before and was really flat on the road in. We turned off and drove through the pine Forrest’s to the campsite. A more commercial site than usual, but with a water park for a couple of days. Once unpacked we headed over to the pool.

We had every intention of going to the entertainment on site… Not mine and stews cup of tea… we quickly realised it wasn’t the kids cup of tea either and they were humouring us! Greatly relieved we all chilled with backgammon and books!

No plans for tomorrow except perhaps to explore a little!

After a great sleep we were up and ready to head off on our bikes. We went out straight away and stopped at the supermarket to get pasties on route.

We headed through the outskirts of La Rochelle and found our way to the bridge over to Ile de Re. It’s a long climb but we were all doing well… with the occasional whinge from penny who had tired out legs!

From the bridge we went in the direction of Rivedoux-Plage where we know a great beach bar. We settled on the beach for an hour to chill and penny and Fraser found some friends to play beach volleyball with.

Although it wasn’t sunny it was really warm and so stew and I went in search of refreshment. Luckily there were plenty of tables free and we were soon joined by the kids for some drinks.

The children had hot dogs, and we had some oysters before a play in the sea.

We got back On the bikes and headed back to La Rochelle centre. We were headed for the best place for an ice cream in La Rochelle… and the queues always tell us that everyone knows this is true!

A cycle through the streets of the city heading for the bike path along the canal and a dip on the pool was waiting! A long day on the bikes with 24 miles covered. The pool felt so refreshing and once we were all showered we had bbq’d chicken and salad followed by crème brûlée.

I’m sitting with a glass of wine enjoying no “entertainment” with tired legs and a happy family wondering what tomorrow will have in store as we move on from La Rochelle and head to Royan for the next 2 nights.

Sadly the pack up this morning was a bit of a pain with heavy rain showers making it messier and hard work. After an hour or so we were ready to go.

We headed first to the salt makers, to buy our cooking and table salt. This really is the area for it and they use the sun to naturally dry the salt out. The couple on the pitch beside us were taking some back and they were from Maldon!

Fuelled and with the additional stop for a bed improvement (2 swimming pool noodles) we headed down the road.

Freckle was going well and we stopped and took the paddle boards off the roof which improved the rise as the wind was quite strong.

We were all totally pooped and so the planned cycle into La Rochelle was abandoned With the children opting for ravioli and an early night, whilst we just had some fresh prawns and baguette. And then the karaoke started! It was dreadful and loud but somehow we all managed to sleep through it! A very much needed sleep!

Not much to report from today!

I’ve finished my book, the children have swum, paddle boarded and fished, and we’ve spent a short time packing some of the pitch up so that if it rains over night we can get down the road. It’s been a perfectly chilled day in the sunshine.

This evening we’ve been for dinner in the restaurant on the campsite for moules. We have toasted absent friends and reminisced about holidays gone past… we have had some brilliant times on this site over the years, and this year is no exception! 🥰