Having suffered very inclement, unseasonable weather in the Channel Islands (June 2011), and being desperate for a bit of sun, my wife and I decided to bring our ferry booking Jersey-St Malo forward by a few days. We were duly disgorged from Condor Ferries at midday and decided to drive south till the clouds parted! Some good friends who were staying near Limoges, had constantly been texting to describe “yet another gorgeous day”, so we decided to aim generally for that area to a Camping Cheques site (Camping de Montréal) at St Germain les Belles.
The 361 mile drive south (acc. to sat nav) seemed exceptionally quick and easy on the Route Nationales and cost only €18 for a shortish section of autoroute. Concerned that we would arrive too late for a pitch, we phoned ahead to be assured by the manager that he “lived on site and would look forward to meeting us whenever we arrived…”
Talk about the ‘wow factor’ on arrival in glorious weather as we were met as promised by Patrick Dantzer, the manager. We passed through a most welcoming entrance to an idyllic setting of a beautifully laid-out campsite next to a lake. Our first pitch afforded a stunning view of the lake-side pitches below, one of which we managed to move to on the second day. Baguettes were ordered for breakfast, sun canopy unrolled, chairs set out – and we settled down for a couple of days to meet our friends!
Two weeks later we were still there – enjoying beautiful weather, lovely lake-side walks, cycle rides to the local Boulanger/Patisserie in the village and trips to the plethora of fascinating, interesting places - too numerous to mention - in the Limousin region. The facilities at the campsite were excellent; spotless toilets (seemingly endlessly cleaned at all times of the day), a small, very reasonable restaurant on site (serving breakfasts as well), a lovely, very clean, but small swimming pool which was not ever noisy or over-used by children – who seemed far more interested in splashing about in the adjacent lake – a real bonus for the more senior campers craving a bit of peace and quiet. During the high season, a lifeguard is on duty on the lake’s beach and pedalos are also available. Many of our fellow campers appeared to spend the days fishing in the lake, for which perhaps a permit was necessary?
Camping de Montréal really is the first campsite that my wife and I have ever stayed at for longer than two or three days. We thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the superb standard of the site, the manager’s interest in us and attention to detail, the friendliness of the villagers, the weather of course, the opportunity to use either Camping Cheques or ACSI (plus I gather various other French camping cards), the closeness of a Supermarché in a nearby village – but perhaps most of all, waking up to a wonderful lake view out of the back window of our motorhome.
St Germain les Belles is a gem of a village just far enough south (approx 30kms from Limoges) to enjoy super weather without the extra cost of driving further south. My wife and I would thoroughly recommend Camping de Montréal as being one of the best campsites we have ever had the good fortune to stumble across.
Patrick, EDIMBOURG, SCOTLAND, June 2011
