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Domaine de la Yole
B.P. 23
F-34350 VALRAS PLAGE
FRANCE
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On the road
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On the road again and about 300 miles to cover today,
an easy six or seven hours driving. It was a bit of
a dogleg to get back to the peage, but once there
it was a simple route all the way to the Med.
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| As you drive down a slight
hill to the site you will be looking out for a sign
on the right with the name 'Domaine
de la Yole' on it. Be careful that you don't
pull into the Cave du Vin with the same name. The site
proper is the next place down the road and is distinguishable
by the flags and fountain outside the entrance. |
Site entrance |
Our caravan
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Our caravan on this site
was a little larger than the previous site although
without the sun deck and canopy, however there are plenty
of trees to give shade. The caravan was at the extreme
edge of the site which made it probably the furthest
from the beach. It was also right next to the vineyard
buildings, which we had passed on the road to the site.
The advantage was that we also had quite a lot of room
to ourselves without being overlooked by others. |
| Most visitors to this site
will be attracted by the immense beach which is about
800 yards walk from the site. The beach is all sand,
extremely wide and stretches as far as the eye can see.
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The beach |
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Site reception
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The site reception, located as is normal next to
the entrance, was very presentable with multi-lingual
receptionists who were extremely helpful.
Internet access is available in the reception building.
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There is a wide selection of play equipment on site
and the main play area is situated between the shops
and the stage. There are also several boule pitches
scattered around the site. My brother-in-law Colin
and myself are not what you would describe as experts
at this sport but gain much pleasure from our annual
inter-family novice tournament.
It wasn't long before two French experts offered us
a game, which in turn led to much appreciated free
tuition for the next few evenings.
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Play area |
Swimming pool |
There is a swimming pool complex
with two pools and one paddling pool. We used neither
of these as the beach and sea were much more inviting.
If the weather had been a little cooler then we would
probably have made use of them. |
As at the previous site, the
Venue courier was extremely pleasant and presentable.
We had a minor problem that we considered hardly worth
mentioning yet the courier dealt with it immediately
and professionally.
The Venue reception is at the entrance to the site,
before you reach the card-operated barriers. |
Venue reception |
Quad bike |
Not far from the site (left
out of the gate, right at the roundabout then about
three roundabouts on) is a quad bike and go-kart track.
Good fun for all ages above about nine although they
do advertise as being suitable for 4 year olds. I say
nine, as Zoe was nine at the time and too young for
the go-karts and only just able to operate a quad bike.
As it was late September when we visited, we had the
place to ourselves. Unfortunately it was the last evening
before we left for home when we tried it so were unable
to enjoy it more. |
Go-kart |
Mosquitoes were once again
making life unbearable during the evenings. If there
was one reason for people trying this sort of holiday
and saying "never again", it would be the
intolerable suffering caused by these most loathsome
of insects. It is no joke sitting in a caravan late
evenings with temperatures still above 90°F and
having to keep all the windows closed. I often wonder
why the powers that be don't make at least one window
insect proof with a screen.
Half way through our stay a leaflet was delivered to
each caravan. 'Please stay in your caravan and close
all windows in the morning between 08:30 and 09:30.
There will be low-flying aircraft spraying the whole
site'.
We brought along an 'Insecticutor' this year and
managed to finish off a few hundred of the blighters
with a most satisfying 'zap' for each and everyone of
them. It was still reassuring to know that we were now
also going to get air support. |
| Some additional
photos. |
Valras Plage |
Walk to the beach |
Surf |
Flower beds |
Entertainment area |
'Site security' |
Boules |
Mantis |
Keep off the grass |
Ready to leave |
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On our return journey we stayed at a motel near Reims
and made Calais in good time. The only problem, and
one that had us calling Hoverspeed all the names under
the sun, was that the ferry was delayed by about 2
hours. The Seacat terminal at Calais has very minimal
facilities and what they did have was closed.
We are booked with P&O next year and for very
good reason.
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Conclusion
The site is very large and in high season would have
been extremely busy with lots of noise. If this doesn't
bother you then you would be hard pushed to find a
problem with this site at any time of the year.
This site cannot be accurately described as 'on the
beach' although it is the next best thing to it. An
entrance/exit on the beach side of the site opens
onto a very minor road or lane and once crossed, a
sandy footpath of some 800 yards long leads to the
beach. As we were the far side of the site to start
with, the total distance walked became an ordeal.
Put it this way, if you got to the beach and found
you'd forgotten something, you made do without rather
than walk back for it. A trip to the beach became
a well-planned expedition.
Our pitch, and as far as I could tell, all the others,
were generally larger than the average size for France.
To conclude this conclusion, we would definitely
stay at this site again but only at either end of
the season.
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| Move back to
Week 1 or see our review of
Venue Holidays, the company
we booked with. |
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Domaine de la Yole's website
can be found at
www.campinglayole.com
Email:
layole34@aol.com
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