A man dressed as a giant cockerel setting off fireworks from the roof of a moving van while little children followed behind carrying lanterns – only in France ! I don’t think our kids will ever forget the bizarre Bastille Day celebrations they got to be a part of last summer in the tiny village of Berny-Rivière in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. Brilliant memories like these and dozens more were made during our 10-night adventure at the incredible La Croix du Vieux Pont in Aisne, one of Eurocamp’s most popular sites. Having enjoyed caravanning and tenting all over Ireland and Scotland, we felt it was time to venture further afield and so we jumped on a ferry and headed to France.
With a 13-year-old, a 10-year-old and two spirited Spanish rescue dogs in tow, the 10-hour road trip from our home in Stirling to Dover in one go was not an option, so we enjoyed a pleasant overnighter in a hotel near London to break up the journey. The next day, with a short hop, skip and a jump over the Channel with P&O Ferries, we were in Calais with several hours to kill before we were due to check into our campsite 65 miles northeast of central Paris. We were only an hour from Ypres in Belgium so we made a detour to visit the impressive Menin Gate Memorial which is dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the First World War.
Both the boys fell silent as they took in just how many names were engraved on the monument and spent ages reading about the di.