I HAVEN’T slept on a French beach since I was a student. It was romantic, but even back then I wasn’t keen on the assorted insects that ended up in my sleeping bag during the night. Now, once again, I’m spending the night on a Gallic beach, but this time I have my two young children and their mother with me. And we are staying in our very own home.
Actually it is a motorhome, which is as comfortable as a villa but with the added benefit of giving us sole use of an entire sunny beach on Ile de Ré, off the west coast of France. And on the way to the island, with its whitewashed houses, oyster farms and vineyards producing cognac and Pineau des Charentes, we have been able to stay at some beautiful spots, away from the crowds of tourists.
It didn’t seem feasible back in England, looking at the almost 7.5m long, 2m wide monster Mercedes Scout, loaned by Chelston Motorhomes, that was to become our holiday home.
“I’ll navigate,” says Paula, my wife. Ben, our seven-year-old son, yells: “It’s the size of a house,” as he dives into the belly of the beast with our six-year-old daughter Rebecca. “Where will we be sleeping?” she asks. Like a magician, David Hart of Chelston draws back deep blue curtains above the driving compartment to reveal a huge cubbyhole and mattress. “Most children like to sleep up here,” he says. “Cool, ” Ben shrieks.
Our plushly carpeted home for the next week has soft furnishings, a fridge-freezer, shower, cooker, WC, television and DVD. We filled every drawer and cupboard. Being able to simply pick up handfuls of clothes, toiletries and food and carry them a few feet to our holiday home is a liberation from the usual packing routine. And we can stack our four bikes on the back.
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There are also none of the last-minute worries about where we will be staying. If we don’t like an area, we can move on. All we have to do is get the vehicle to France.
Travelling to the overnight P&O ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre, I become white van man. In the driving seat I’m as high as if I sat on my car’s roof, and with a 2.2-litre diesel engine, I feel in charge of the road. But I’m soon humbled as I struggle to keep the Scout moving in a straight line when its sides pick up the wind as I reach motorway speeds.
After a reasonable night’s sleep in our ship’s cabin, we head for a one-night stop at Chenonceaux in the Loire, east of Tours. We complete the 400km (250-mile) journey without a hitch in just over four hours, and by lunch we are plugging into the electricity supply and turning on the gas at our pitch at the quaint Camping Moulin Fort.
The small site hugs the sweeping River Cher, and it is just a few hundred metres downriver from Château de Chenonceau, the queen of Loire châteaux because of its fantasy palace appearance. We cycle to check out the local town and, of course, the château, which was partly in the French Free Zone and partly in the occupied zone during the Second World War.
By the evening, we are shattered and, rather than cooking, we book into a local restaurant, Clair Cottage. The children consume healthy portions of duck with rosemary and garlic, Paula has salmon and I have locally caught trout.
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After cycling back to the Scout, it is time to make the beds. And I mean “make” literally. We need to convert seats and tables into a sleeping arrangement. There is a lot of unavoidable unpacking and dismantling with a motorhome.
The next morning another drawback presents itself: we have no milk or croissants. Driving to buy some will mean taking — and first securing — the contents of our home, so I must cycle.
After breakfast we discover that the shower is effective, secure our belongings and set off on the 320km run to the coastal idyll of Ile de Ré. The three-hour drive is uneventful, until we take a wrong turning and I must turn the Scout around on a narrow road. My three-point turn becomes a 43-point turn.
Pont de l’Ile de Ré gracefully links the 16,000 people on the small island with La Rochelle on the mainland. It curves its way across the sea and, even though we are buffeted violently by ocean winds as we rise to its highest point 42 metres above the water, the view is truly majestic.
The drive across the island to our pitch at Camping Interlude takes us through thick forests and by the sea, revealing glimpses of fishing boats. After this charm, the campsite is initially disappointing, crammed-in pitches spread out like a vast shantytown. But our pitch lifts our spirits: it is just 200 metres from the sea, across unspoilt sand dunes.
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We tuck the Scout under some pine trees, unhitch our bikes and get off to explore, finding a glorious, huge, empty beach right outside our door. We pedal to the nearby village of Le Bois, with its market, craft shops and restaurants.
Drifting off to sleep to the sound of waves is soothing, but after one night we want to escape farther. We set up camp for two nights alongside a deserted beach at Grenettes on the island. I feel slightly exposed on the first night, but by the second I am reluctant to leave.
Despite a lot of time on the road, the trip has been a hit for Ben and Rebecca. “It was really fun to sleep in the same room as Mummy and Daddy,” Rebecca shouts. “Our secret bedroom was brilliant,” Ben says. And almost in unison they add: “We loved parking our bedroom on the beach.”
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Getting there: Daniel Lee and family travelled in a Mercedes Scout from specialist suppliers Chelston Motorhomes (01295 711720, www.chelstonmotorhomes.co.uk).
Hiring a motorhome: The Motorhome Information Service (01444 458889, www.motorhomeinfo.co.uk) has a database of hire companies and a helpful free magazine, Horizons. Hire costs for a typical four-berth motorhome are £600 a week in high season, £500- £550 in mid season, £450-£500 in low season. A larger vehicle such as the Scout may cost as much as £795 a week. For overseas use, an extra charge of £85 may apply for additional insurance and breakdown cover.
Campsites: Pitches in sites with lavatories, showers and plug-in points cost £10-£15 a night. The Caravan Club (01342 326944, www.caravanclub.co.uk) and the Camping and Caravanning Club (024-7669 4995, www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk) have special member sites and travel services at home and in Europe. There are other specialists, such as Alan Rogers Travel Services (0870 4054055, www.alanrogersdirect.com), and Eurocamp Independent (0870 9060604, www.eurocampindependent.co.uk), with sites and travel services in Europe.
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Red tape: In the UK, it is illegal to park overnight on the highway — this includes laybys. If you don’t want to use an official site, you must get permission from the landowner. In European countries there is more freedom for off-site camping. French motorways have good service areas for rest stops, but there are restrictions on overnight stops.