Holiday over

Actually our holiday was over nearly two weeks ago but it
has taken me this long to get back to the blog. A brief resume of our holiday
follows for those interested; I will try and add some more detailed site
reports to www.ukcampsite.co.uk when
I get a chance:

We travelled by Norfolkline Ferries Dover to Dunkerque for
the first time this year; mainly because it was the cheapest price. Unlike some
other cross channel ferry companies Norfolkine don’t pretend their boats are
anything other than ferries, the service is good but basic with décor that
reminds me of Cal Mac in Scotland.

We stayed for the first 6 days in Belfort at the southern end of the Vogues mountains. Our campside, l’Etang des Forges, was just on the edge of town near a park and a lake, good clean facilities and
though the pitches were green and spacious the site felt as if it could do with
some gardening. Belfort's old citadel was worth the visit as were the Ballons to the north.

We moved on to Les Abrets, just north of the Chartreuse massif. Le coin tranquille is a great site, our pitch had great views over the fields to the mountains beyond. Some great walking nearby although ours was curtailed by Sarah falling and hurting her wrist necessitating an unexpected morning out to a French Hospital and several days where she didn’t want to do anything which made her wrist hurt more. This is a great part of France to holiday, with or without children.

The track back north was broken by a couple of days at Forge
de Ste Marie (nice pitch but the site is overrated) and a few more at Chateau
du Gandspette near St Omer. This was a nice site not far from Dunkerque; we
stayed for a few days because the children have been saying they were
interested in the first world war. We went to Ypres for
the day and were impressed by the museum; you get a sense of the futility of
war, the effect the war had on the people involved and the impact that it had
on the town itself.

 Overall we had a great time, helped by the fact that we didn’t
need our waterproofs once from leaving the UK
till we returned and daily temperatures for most of the time which were well in
excess of 25 degrees C.