The very spacious new aire of Les Poissons d’Argent, Petite Camargue
This has been a surprise! We’ve only found this wonderful aire between Le Grau-du-Roi and Aigues-Mortes thanks to the pre-loaded points of interest on our TomTom, as it does not appear on the Aires guide book. It is set in 20 hectares of nature in the Petite Camargue and it has a restaurant, with fishing included in the €9 daily fee (€12 with electricity). The pitches are generous, with plenty of space for awning, tables and chairs outside. Although it is rather large, there are only around 20 vans here at the moment (6 pm). We are sitting inside waiting for the storm to pass, which is quite spectacular and almost welcome after a very humid day.
After the storm in La Petite Camargue. Glad it’s not my awning!
Our original plan today was to stop for the day and night just north east of here at the aire at the Port de Plaisance in Bellegarde, about 10 km south east of Nimes. We were there around 11 am and, although it was free and beautiful, with pitches separated by lovely hedges of Bougainvillea, it was too close to the very busy and noisy D38 and after our afternoon dog walk, we decided to make a move and try another aire at La Grande-Motte, outside one of the campsites there, but we didn’t like the look or the price of it, as for €16 the vans were parked like sardines and right by the main road again, so we headed towards one of the aires at Aigues-Mortes outside the city walls and found this one on our way there, so we came to have a look and were impressed by what we saw. We’d stop here a few days if we hadn’t agreed to visit Adonis’s parents tomorrow in Portiragnes.
Our spot at the attractive aire at Bellegarde
Port de Plaisance at Bellegarde
Pleasant long walk along the canal at Bellegarde
In the evening of the 23rd July and of Adoni’s birthday eve, we went for a meal at Les Bronzés restaurant, right on Pampelonne beach and enjoyed one of the best meals ever: we shared a delicious large tapa of calamares served with a sweet chilli sauce and garlic dip, followed by a Thai chicken curry for me and Daurade (type of sea bream) for Adonis, accompanied by a jug of the house Rosé, which went down only too well and too quickly! All that, to go with the spectacular view of gigantic yachts on the Mediterranean sea, is going to be a hard act to follow: absolutely superb!
Lots of shade under the pine tress at Cuges-les-Pins
Yesterday morning, we had a total change of scenery at the aire amidst the pine woods of Cuges-les-Pins, very tranquil and relaxing for only €3 a day, with water but no electricity. We were lucky with the traffic, as we left Pampelonne before 9 am and the roads through St Tropez and Cagolin were quite empty at that point and, therefore, we had a very pleasant drive, unlike the day before when we arrived. There was, however, a very windy stretch just north of Bormes-les-Mimosas on the D98 towards Toulon, but Adonis handled it well and I was very glad not to be at the wheel.
Lovely scenery surrounding the aire at Cuges-les-Pins
It was still very hot up on that wooded hill and by 4 pm we felt in need of a cold shower, for which we used the water pipe provided to fill up motorhomes. Even Beano has a refreshing splash, as did the wasps, which seemed desperate for a drink, and we were more that happy to provide.
It’s Portiragnes tomorrow, where we intend to stop for a few days and have a break from the road. It will also be wonderful to have access to the Saysell’s swimming pool!
