Real French Sun and Fun
26 December 2015 at 14:42:00
We have camped in the Paris region twice and ventured down to the South West Coast previously, after dipping our toes in the Newquay water.
So this year we headed to the sun and sand of the French South Coast.
Our journey involved an early hours EuroTunnel, and we were lucky enough to jump on one an... hour ahead of schedule. Once on French soil we headed 8 hours South to our overnight stop in Clermont Ferrand. A cracking little place reviewed elsewhere but ideal for a stopover. Any further and we would have been pushing it too far.
The following day we did the restof the drive, including a stunning drive up, over and then down from the mountains.
We arrived mid-afternoon in Argeles and we swiftly greeted (there are a couple of English speaking receptionists if needs be!) and shown to our tent pitch. We have a Carradale 8 man tent and it only fit the pitch diagonally! That's is not to say the pitches are small (they aren't huge either!) rather than our tent being large. The ground was bare after a summer of visitors (last 2 weeks in August) and needed a good deal of careful stone removal. Note that the electricity connection is not a 3 pronged style so take a converter (we bought one from the local outdoor shop and it cost best part of E30!).
The campsite is on a main route to the coast (5 minutes in the car) but set back so that once inside you felt really well removed from the outside. This was complemented by the peaceful nature of the site and general relaxing air. The site is not huge, certainly not on a par with others in the area, and it gains hugely from this intimate feel. That said, it packs a heck of a punch in terms of facilities.
The reception is cool and calm, the shop perfectly well stocked for most needs (there is a very large supermarche on the retail park on the way to the village, 3 minutes along the road) and there is a takeaway we used on our arrival night. Nothing spectacular but perfectly acceptable food for a lazy evening!
The bar area is simple and leads out to a small terrace overlooking the large entertainment area. There is entertainment every night, however on the nights we didn't go down, we could barely hear it from our pitch 150 yards away. Perfect balance. They had many different themes, but our favourite was the Michael Jackson Thriller night. What a superb effort to put on such a show. And even more wonderful that it had a real French feel to it. No catering for English/Dutch/German hordes. You are in a proudly Catalan region of France, not Little Britain in the way that some Northern French sites can seem. All the better for it, and a great chance to practise some language skills. We certainly felt people appreciated the efforts we made.
The pools are wonderful. They are small enought hat our 8 year old could wander around and still be in clear sight at all times. Deep enough for a good dip and swim, with a set of slides to add a bit of fun. They don't need to be huge all-singing all-dancing efforts to provide hours of fun. There are all manner of arranged activities around the pool, and what seemed to be a 'Le Pearl' dance routine to signal the end of the morning session. Mad dogs and Englishmen remained!!
Bathroom and toilet facilities are simply wonderful. Clean and available,although they do close for a few hours in the middle of the day. We also enjoyed the horses who enjoyed being petted and the communal BBQ area.
The guests (so we gathered from a friendly chap who loved his rugby (it's amazing how you can enjoy a chat with limited language when you have a common interest!)) are often repeat visitors over many years and there is a real family feel about the place. The children's club appeared to do a huge range of activities however as our daughter only has a few phrases in French, and none of the animation staff spoke English, we weren't able to make use of them.
In the local area there is the main beach at Argeles. There is a 'market' area which is ok for some souvenirs. There are restaurants and bars a-plenty too. However, I do feel that it is a cheaper and slightly less desirable area. To call it a French-Blackpool like others have might be a bit harsh, but it certainly isn't a lovely little French seaside esplanade either. Worth a visit but perhaps just the once, unless that's your thing and then go for it! Note of caution; if you are using the tourist train (very well run and ubiquitous!) the last couple of runs of each night are HORRENDOUS scrums! All queueing went out of the window as people crammed on to them. The last one of the night parks up a few hundred metres down the road and then check where each group of people is going before planning what can be a very long (1-1/12 hours) route home! But we didn't find any taxis either!
In the surrounding area, we loved Colliure, beautiful little seaside village with restaurants and quaint shops. We also visited the more touristy Canett-Plage. Further afield, the coastal corniche down to the Spanish border is a spectacular and hair-raising hairpin-laden drive. We stopped off at a beach-side restaurant in Llanca and had a cheap seafood lunch. We drove down to Barcelona in only 2 1/2 hours and enjoyed a couple of days sight-seeing within easy reach of Argeles.
On the way back we went on the auto-route up the Eastern side of the country heading towards Lyons etc. The traffic was incredible and we missed our original tunnel departure. Would use the Clermont route again next time.
All inall I can not recommend this place enough; learn a bit of French before you go and enjoy!!
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