Interesting article, wild camping south of France

[chaser]

For some reason this has just popped up on my news on phone.
Very interesting how things have changed.

Wild camping in the South of France

We re-visit our wild camping spots in the South of France to discover things are now very different

campervancastaways.com

 

[jumartoo]

For some reason this has just popped up on my news on phone.
Very interesting how things have changed.

Wild camping in the South of France

We re-visit our wild camping spots in the South of France to discover things are now very different

campervancastaways.com

I could have written that! It's exactly our experience, but in Spain and Portugal in the winter.

Our first winter was 1998 and for, maybe ten years, we could go for days without seeing another motorhome, especially travelling inland. We definitely had the best days of motorhoming, parking anywhere without a problem. We were quite often seen as a spectacle and the locals would wander up for a chat and a look inside .

Happy days.

We can still find some quiet spots, but it's not so easy any more

 

[Littlewheels]

All brought on by the introduction of the Internet the ruination of so much.

 

[Lenny HB]

Been there done that on The Camargue, I heard recently if had been stopped it was a great spot.
A least we were fortunate to experience it a couple of times.

 

[Jim]

It's easy to blame the internet. You could easily argue that they (we) themselves started the rot, large gatherings like that will always end in tears. In my 30 odd years of wild camping, we were always selfish and when our spot was found by others we would always move on sharpish. Never been one for spending too much time parked alongside the great unwashed FLT's

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[pjay]

Brings back some great memories for us too.
Piemanson Plage, hundreds of motorhomers overnighting on the beach and a huge encampment of ramshackle caravans that had been there for years.
Loads of vans parked up along the Sete road within feet of the sandy beaches of the med, once everything was full, toddle off to the nearby campsite where they would let you service your van for a small fee, there used to be a name for this scheme but I cant remember what it was called.
St Mairies de la mere, small fee to ovenight along the dyke next to the med, guy on a moped used to come and collect the money each night, if you went along far enough it was free as he couldn't be bothered to collect all the money
No apps or anything, all we had was the old French aires book, finding some of the places was a challenge and you had to ask the locals in your best french.

Pete

 

[Spriddler]

For some reason this has just popped up on my news on phone.

Last summer I was chatting in the garden face to face with my son about our plan to replace the friction rollers on his caravan motor mover. He had his phone in his pocket.
Later that evening he received a couple of adverts on his phone from motor mover accessory and parts suppliers. We hadn't previously done any searching at all so I guess there's some interactive 'listening' feature on his phone.

 

[Littlewheels]

It's easy to blame the internet.

It’s not difficult to though, everyone is an expert in everything, business ideas stolen in a flash, the bad things about Social Media, Banking Fraud becoming commonplace and seemingly an acceptance of the norm from the Banks and they are no better not to mention people following your every move via your phone.

 

[nicholsong]

Well this has covered the S. of France and a bit on Spain and Portugal, we had 5 weeks on a Greek island last year where we were the only MH on the island and parked at whichever beach we fancied - no restrictions. I can imagine other Greek islands I know being much the same.

The bigger islands like Crete may be different, but it is 140 miles long so maybe not. I would be interested to hear.

The Peloponnese was also no problem but if it follows France could become the same in time, although being further from the centres of European population may protect it. We did not see many Greek MHs or caravans, so maybe the Greeks would rather have a boat to do similar holidays, I did for 30 years.

 

[chaser]

Makes you want to be there don't it.

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[Gaston aires]

Stayed on the beach at Biot near Cannes 5 year’s ago with another few dozen campers. Fabulous spot just off the road and on shingle. Can’t imagine that being allowed anymore but who knows ?
Phil

 

[tribalbrit]

A beauty spot with tens of motorhomes parked up is no longer a beauty spot. Hence banning them!