Pc Plod Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Hi Everyone, I am spending 3 weeks in June touring the Ardennes. Can anyone recommend any good aires/campsites and interesting places to visit. Thanking you in advance. Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Bastogne is worth a couple of hours, a large unrestricted car park next to the Patten memorial close to the town centre, and a tourist info office/small museum in the main square. (The other museums were closed when I was there a couple of weeks ago.) Luxembourg diesel 1.11 Euro per litre, all filling stations the same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Way2Go Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Don't forget to drive your motorhome around the Spa Francorchamps F1 Grand Prix circuit . . . . . well part of it anyway.It's been a few years since I've been in that region but part of the circuit used to be normal roads. Something to brag about down the pub? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebishbus Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Hi . Charville Mezieres is worth a look at. There is a small aires next to the municipal camp site by the river. Brian B. PS . A good stopover on the way is Bergues , a very interesting fortified town . there is a municipal site by the walls, and there is parking space inside the walls near the canal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Way2Go - 2011-02-28 6:25 AM Don't forget to drive your motorhome around the Spa Francorchamps F1 Grand Prix circuit . . . . . well part of it anyway. Something to brag about down the pub?On our 1st European trip in our 1st motorhome in 2007 we drove around the circuit in Monaco a week before the race when most of the crash barriers were up and through the tunnel under the hotel although we had to go anti clockwise it was one of lifes ambitions fullfilled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bojitoes Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 We agree with the commens about Bastogne, well wrth a few hours. We stayed at a very nice site just over the border in Luxembourg at Esch sur Sure. Good facilities, interesting village a few hundred yards up the road and on a bus route for local town with rail links for rest of the country Will probably call there in a few weeks time on our way back from Spain- anything for cheap diesel Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usinmyknaus Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Pc Plod - 2011-02-27 9:11 PM Hi Everyone, I am spending 3 weeks in June touring the Ardennes. Can anyone recommend any good aires/campsites and interesting places to visit. Thanking you in advance. Harry Hello Harry, We had a great time in the region in June 2009, just not long enough a holiday to do the area justice. Camping Departmental du lac des Vielles Forges, 08500 Les Mazures Tel/fax 03.24.40.17.31 is set on the slope above the lake (reservoir). It was an absolute steal at Euros 11.00 a night. Great setting, quiet (busier at weekends) comprehensive facilities. Level pitches hacked out of the hillside, heavily wooded in places. Great lake and hill walks, boat, canoe and bike rental available too. Friendly and helpful staff. Camping Municipal Les Bateaux, Quai Edgar Quinet, 08500 Revin Tel 03.24.40.15.65. Another very cheap site (Euros 9 p/n) with good, clean facilities. Set against stunning backdrop of mountains on the banks of the Meuse. Next to sports ground but that's not a big issue. Very helpful warden, tough lady, won't stand any nonsense, great walking and cycling. Very helpful tourist info in free, interesting, museum on quay, a short walk from site. They will issue local walking maps (and explain degree of difficulty of each one) for a small fee. Look for local market day, the park by the river and any free arts events. Good, small supermarkets nearby - OK on foot, but hilly. Rocroi is worth walking to from the site. It's a historic, fortified town with an interesting story. There are a number of poignant WWII memorials in the Revin area commemorating the French resistance and local people. Charleville Meziers is worth a visit as has been said. The aire was full when we got there but the adjacent 3 star Camping Municipal was good value at Euros 27.62 for 2 nights, given its close proximity to the town. Interesting buildings in the town. Very helpful staff with fluent English who will enthusiastically tell you about the attractions and they had leaflets when we were there. Its obligatory to see La grande marionette, le Theatre de Marionnetts (they'll explain) I was underwhelmed but the French think we should go. The main post office is good place to get money, but remember to take a ticket for the queue! Camping Municipal Le Mont Olympe, Rue des Paquis, 08000, Charleville Meziers tel 03.24.33.23.60. Lots of eateries. Beware dog mess on pavements. Try to get a pitch away from the area behind the aire, it's where the local yoof congregate evenings until about midnight, Not dangerous, just loud and they have the same passion for noisily pimped old bangers as their British counterparts. On the way out or back, Camping de la Vallee de L'oise, at Guise, 38, Rue du Camping -F 02120 Guise, tel/fax 03.23.61.14.86. Euros 8 p/n. It's a municipal which is mainly a small commune of statics but very friendly and welcoming if you make the effort to say hello. There are touring pitches and the warden (very little English) is a gem and will let you choose where you want. Very basic but clean facilities. Site borders a canal at one end. A short walk to town centre and there is a castle which is being restored by a local society - with a Welsh - do NOT call her English- ex pat who went to visit and stayed to help and who is now head honcho of restoration, or something. English (with a Welsh accent?) tours available, sometimes. Good walks in the area. Hope this helps, if I remember more, I'll post it. Bob :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pc Plod Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 Thankyou all for your replies and a special thankyou to BOB. It will be my first outing abroad with the van, having watched the dvd's called Band Of Brothers it has encouraged me to visit the area and see where it all took place. Regards Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romahomepete Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 The municipal site in Givet is very cheap and open all year. There is an Aire outside with a borne and motorhomes park at the side of the river Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Pc Plod - 2011-03-01 6:40 PM having watched the dvd's called Band Of Brothers it has encouraged me to visit the area and see where it all took place. Regards Harry I don't think there is a lot to see from the battle of the bulge, or if there is I must have missed it. The forest looked just like the forests here. There is a lot more to do with WW1 in that area, last post at the Menin Gate, seemingly endless memorials and cemeteries, all looking so strangely new as they are so well maintained, unlike cemeteries here which do look their age. One of the most moving places was TocH House in Poperinge, where men from the trenches would come for a break, sit in the lovely garden there, then have to go back to the trenches. Or the prison cell next to the Town Hall where a young lad had lied about his age to get into the army, changed his mind when he saw the trenches, but was nevertheless taken out and shot at dawn for desertion. The Normandy Beaches are probably better for a motorhome holiday, as there is the most to see and Normandy such a lovely area. But my visits to WW2 battlefields are always tainted by thoughts of how worthwhile it really was, whether it wouldn't really just have been better to let our 2 worst enemies, Hitler and Stalin, annihilate each other. Certainly there were many innocent people in Normandy silenced by RAF bombs or by censorship, who would rather all the fighting had been done in the East. At least Poland who we declared war on Germany to liberate, wouldn't have been left with Stalin who was just as bad as Hitler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Perhaps I should add that most of the fighting in the Ardennes was in the forest which quickly regrew and looks the same as forests here, or in Bastogne which seems to have been largely rebuilt so looks much different now to how it would have been then. So there isn't much to see. On the Normandy coast there are the massive fortifications of Hitlers Atlantic Wall, plus the hardware brought by the allies, Mulberry Harbour, Pontoons, Bailey Bridges, Tanks, much of it still there and on display, with well signposted routes around it, looking much the same as it must have done then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locoman Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 If you stop at the memorial/museum ( Bastogne) head in a north easterly direction for about 1 mile, and you will find a cycle track/disused railway, next to this by an old level crossing is a new memorial dedicated to the men of E company that died in the woods to the north, overlooking the hamlet of Foy, if you walk carefully through the woods you will still see the remains of the fox holes used by easy company, there is plenty of parking for motorhomes by the new memorial. look out for the US Flags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Pc Plod - 2011-02-27 9:11 PM Hi Everyone, I am spending 3 weeks in June touring the Ardennes. Can anyone recommend any good aires/campsites and interesting places to visit. Thanking you in advance. Harry La Roche en Ardennes is worth a visit: very picturesque, deep down in the valley on the river Ourthe.. http://www.la-roche-tourisme.com/uk_maps.php?variable=accueil|Maps|Category|uk There's an Aire right in the town adjacent the river. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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