And then there's the Summer holiday

Of course we need an extended Summer break and not just weekend camps. And this year will be southern France in the Cevennes. We've talked about going south a few times but always decided against the long drive (even though we drove to Berlin one year. Ho hum.). This time we're going to be the crazy family who disappear into the rising sun as everyone else is still snoozing.

We live in Kent and it only takes about 40 minutes to get to Dover so the 7.30am ferry gives us a whole day to drive as far south as we can. A quick overnight stop and off again to a campsite near Florac. The whole journey is about 640 miles with a 2 hour ferry crossing. That's not too crazy is it? Two days of pain to have two weeks relaxing in the sun. 

We're staying at Camping Chantemerle near Bedoues right on Le Tarn. The site has had some excellent reviews and seems like it will make a great base for two weeks. There are 60 pitches so not too big, but big enough to have a bar and restaurant. The description of the food has my mouth watering already - lots of local produce and homemade deserts. I may not be cooking much this holiday.

There's a paddling beach on the river and a little bit further up is a deeper swimming area so we can do lots of wild swimming.

A playground right in the middle of the site that we should be able to see from our pitch.

And to get out and about, two long distance paths cross the campsite. The Robert Louis Stevenson trail runs south from Le Puy-en-Velay to St-Jean-du-Gard and would take around 8 days to walk (about the same on a donkey) so we'll be doing a gentle section or two. Stevenson wrote about his wanderings in Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes which will of course be going on holiday with us.

And that's all of the plan so far. This is a holiday to kick back and relax (hopefully) in the sun and I think we may have found the right place to do it.