Printable View
in august i will be touring the loire valley on a push bike for ten days starting from blois downstream and making lots of detours to the castles in the country. anyone knows the area and if it lends itself to hanging? i want to camp all the way, stealth or not! :-)
btw, i will pack a gt ul, mw3c in short version, the jrb shenandoah and a diamond 7x7' cuben tarp in an osprey hornet 46l. i still need a bugnet...
Hi there
I live in Eastern France and by me over night bivouac'ing stealth style is no problem... setting up camp, though is not really an option outside of official camp sites.
The Loire valley, however is a very popular destination so in August it will be busy in many of the chateaux areas. The more famous ones receive thousands of visitors every year.
France being a pretty rural country you'll no doubt be able to stealth it, but August is also French national holiday month so there will be more people and tourists around than usual.
There are loads of excellent and cheap campsites in France, every town has a Municipal or private site and one person on a bike will pay very little. I don't know if they have enough trees or what their policy is on hammocks. I've always camped in a VW bus, I've never set a hammock up in a campground.
Along the river there are likely to be areas, and the region is fairly well forested and it has night fishing areas where anglers will camp out while fishing.
The main problem is hammock camping is pretty much unheard of here in France, I'm a real curiosity to my mates. Many camp grounds just won't know what you want to do even if you call to ask ahead of time... ... So I'd certainly plan on having a ground option as well as a hammock.
cheers
Gareth
thank you mate for the excellent info. i have the feeling it will be fine - i can go to ground without any extra gear in summertime.Quote:
Originally Posted by garethw