Thursday 6th August 2020

There was no avoiding France anymore! Today we set about finding somewhere to enjoy in France.

We filled up with fuel before the border as German fuel is still much cheaper and stocked up with beer for the same reason. Then crossed into France as the weather heated up. Very conscious to keep the van temperature down to keep the dogs cool we were keen to get somewhere.

Neil found a Château at Lunéville with a nice aire at the entrance to a campsite, the campsite is currently closed due to Covid but the aire was still open and with only one other neighbour we pitched up and had lunch in the shade.

After lunch we strolled round the little town, lots more masks were being worn but the shops were open and the church bells ringing.

The bells were random and just kept going, as we joked and laughed that the bell ringer had gone mad we turned a corner and stumbled into a massive funeral. We quickly turned direction and walked the long way round.

The gardens of the Château were impressive but very hot, we kept in the shade and walked round but soon realised there wasn’t much to the place. We voted to move on, we’d only paid €9 at the aire so it was worth losing.

I quickly found a nice looking site with a lake on route to our Friday booked campsite so we headed for it. We crossed a few farmers fields and annoyingly paid French tolls and arrived in an empty aire at Gironcourt-sir-Vraine but the lake was full of fishermen, with nothing else in walking distance we decided it wasn’t for us either, we moved on again.

Our next option was a campsite in a small village which had reviews mentioning a hotel and restaurant. It was a nice find. The campsite in Arc-en-Barrois was along side a river so the dogs could cool down and had all facilities we needed.

We took a walk round the village but the hotel was full and the restaurant was closed so saved money and enjoyed drinks back at the van.

Overnight Location: Arc-en-Barrois, France

Overnight Coordinates: 47.95114°N 5.00492°E