We had such a good time at this campsite last year that it was inevitable this year's holiday would be at the same place.

Our 2001 holiday was booked with Motours and as everything had gone smoothly there was absolutely no reason to change to another operator for this year (2002). They still offer a large selection of locations and are most competitive with their prices.

Our usual route would involve a very long drive from the West Midlands down to the south of France, very nearly 1,000 miles and something that definitely should not be attempted by the first timer. Frequent rest stops are a must and if necessary, a few hours sleep en-route should be gained at one of the many rest areas along the autoroute.

I am fortunate that I can regulate my sleeping pattern during the week before so that our midnight start from home and arrival at the south of France around late afternoon is nothing more than an ordinary day. Of course, having extensive experience of driving long distances helps a great deal.

This year's spanner in the works however, was caused by bad weather in the channel so our Dover-Calais ferry was delayed by about two hours. I couldn't take advantage of the delay by having a nap as we were only three hours into the journey, it would have been impossible anyway as while waiting at Dover port our car was pounded by torrential rain and gale force winds. Concerns that the roof box would be filling with water were later proved to be unfounded

Once on the ferry and heading south the weather started to improve with the black clouds staying firmly over the UK and a brighter sky over France.

Once off the ferry and on the autoroute all signs of rain had disappeared and we settled into the long drive to the sun. Once you are well experienced with driving on the continent it is all too easy to forget what it was like the first time. Driving on the right together with map reading, the language, the money, the people, they can all be daunting to the first timer but it is amazing how quickly you settle in and regard it all as normal. If you are reading this and have never tried this type of holiday you should not be scared of the trying experience, treat it as an adventure and you will remember it for years to come.

After a couple of hours at the wheel I felt that a rest was needed and maybe a quick nap. The delay at Dover had set us back and this rest stop would have been about 200 further on otherwise. The service area we stopped at was unique in that southbound traffic crossed over the autoroute to the services that were positioned on the northbound side. I took half an hours sleep while my wife, our two children and my Mother took a walk around the service area. The reason I only had half an hour was because I was woken by my wife who informed me there were two men looking over a British truck with a view to stealing it and my advice was needed.

On arriving at our destination we had a slight hiccup with our booking but this was put right by Motours reasonably quickly and the reasons are not worth going into here. The site and accommodation were exactly the same as last year; pictures and details are on this page.

Our children enjoy the opportunity to go swimming in the superb site swimming pool and must spend the majority of their time there. The only improvement that the owners could make to the pool is to install some sort of water slide.
Our daughter however had broken her forearm and had been wearing a cast for the past couple of weeks.
One solution to this problem was to invest in a protective shield that covers the lower arm and makes the cast waterproof.

Considering our holiday was in September, I found the heat unbearable at all times of the day and night, my wife and children however appreciate the climate and any remark I make is quickly admonished.

We were visited by a number of oddities during our stay, a lizard that found the concrete patio of our chalet irresistible, a plague of mosquitoes each and every night and a frog clinging to the outside of the window that was doing his best to rid us of the latter.

Sooner or later the end of the holiday was bound to arrive and it would be time to head back home. The return journey though is always different as we were unable to leave the campsite until mid morning when the chalet would be inspected and our deposit returned.
This meant our progress north would come to an end around late evening when we would still be about 200 miles short of Calais. Our plan, as last year, was to pull off the autoroute near any reasonable sized town and search for one of the many motels normally found around the autoroute junctions.

This time we tried around Cambrai but failed to find anywhere available even after driving right into the town. I'd spotted a small bed and breakfast sign in a hedge somewhere between the autoroute and Cambrai and decided to go back to see if we could find it.
We found the sign and followed the directions down a long lane until we found ourselves in a large dark courtyard. I came to a stop by the only likely looking door as an external floodlight came on and the silhouette of somebody could be seen walking towards the glass-panelled door in front of us. A lady greeted us and in return I put my limited French to use by explaining the accommodation we were after but she was unable to help in this respect. We did manage to discuss the possibility of there being somewhere near though and a short phone call later she was directing us to another place about 12 miles away.

We arrived at La Ferme Auberge du Vieux Puits well after 10pm and Mme Gyselinck ran across to greet us wearing her dressing gown. We thought the lateness of our arrival might have seemed a little rude and unthoughtful but we were welcomed and shown to our rooms above the old barn without a hint of objection to our being there.
The rooms were quite pleasant although the bath in our room decided to leak water all over the bathroom floor and into the bedroom. We cleaned it up as best we could but were unable to describe the problem to the owners. The breakfast made up for our mishap with an unending supply of croissants, orange juice and coffee.

Conclusion
Another pleasant stay at this campsite and although we shall be trying elsewhere in 2003 I'm sure we will be returning in the near future.

 La Petite Camargue's website can be found at
http://yellohvillage.com/yelloh/YV10

Email: petite.camargue@wanadoo.fr