Camping Les Berges du Canal, Villeneuve les Beziers

[JoannaLesley]

We are thinking of booking this campsite in August, to continue our walk along the Canal du Midi. We will be 3 adults and a whippet. Has anyone stayed here? What did you think? It looks good on the web. Not one of the cheapest (especially with an extra person and a dog), but hey ho, it is the south of France in August after all!
I'm interested in your comments.
P.S. If you are in the area and see a party with a black whippet - it could be us. Drop by and say hello.
Jo

 

[ValA.]

Hi Joanne
We had a look around this year, whilst in the area (where we've stayed a lot over recent years though on a different site), and thought it OK but I must admit it wouldn't be on my 'first choice in the area' list. It's a very 'French looking' site, if you know what I mean - a bit unmanicured, and with lots of shade from tall trees, pitches on hard packed ground so no grass. We didn't 'rate' the sanitary block, really, it was clean, but not pristine. The pool is fine, smaller than it looks on the website, and clean with sunbathing space, and the site is within walking distance of Villeneuve Les Beziers where there is a nice little local market and it's obviously very well situated for the Canal du Midi.
It does accept the ACSI card from the 23rd August onwards, for 14 euros for pitch, two adults, car and caravan which is a saving of over 10 euros per night! Or Camping Cheques from 26th August at £13.95 for the same package.
When are you planning, and where else have you stayed along the Canal du Midi? We've walked or cycled a lot of the Canal in that area - but never in the more north/western area.
I'll keep a lookout for the whippet - as we'll be there in August again! Have you read Narrow Dog to Carcassonne by Terry Darlington? I got the follow-up - Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier - for Christmas.

 

[JoannaLesley]

Hi Val,
Yes, I have read Terry Darlington's book - several times, in fact, as I find it very funny. His writing style seems to be an acquired taste though, as I know others who can't get on with it at all. I've also read Narrow Dog to Indian River (no Jim this time), but not the latest.
Our whippet is a new acquisition, so we don't know whether she will join us on our walk - so far she's more inclined to lie in front of the fire than venture out. I'm not sure how she will deal with the heat, but we shall see...
My daughter and I will be on our 4th year of walking the Canal. We go in August, as she's a teacher, but we don't make a rod for our own backs in terms of effort. We generally walk for, say, 3 or 4 mornings in a row, but then have a day or two off to enjoy our holiday in other ways. OH doesn't walk. but he does the ferrying back and forth by car each day and usually brings along a delicious picnic lunch to our agreed finishing point.
We quite like "French" sites, so that wouldn't be a problem. On the whole, we don't use the pool a great deal - I sometimes go in at the end of the day, but my daughter is allergic to cholorine, so we sometimes find a river or sea beach instead.
As for where we have stayed - we try to find somewheere roughly central to the area we plan to walk, so that OH can drop us off and collect us without too many problems and also so that we don't keep moving. We have had to move out of the way for very many cyclists on our route, but have seen very few walkers.
Year 1, we walked from Castanet Tolosan on the outskirts of Toulouse to the port at Bram. We stayed at Camping le Cathare at the Chateau de la Barthe (definitely a "French" site! One of the highlights - and I mean it - was a tree frog climbing out of the handbasin plug hole).
Year 2, we walked from the port at Bram to the port at La Redorte and stayed at Camping a l'Ombre de Micocouliers at Trebes.
Year 3 (last year) we walked from La Redorte to the ecluses just outside Beziers and stayed at Camping La Pinede at Lezignan Corbiers. We had been there once before, about 10 years ago.
This year we plan to walk from the flight of ecluses to (probably) Agde and then maybe backtrack to the Canal de la Robine, depending how we feel.
This will probably be the last year that we do this kind of holiday, as I am likely to be forced to take redundancy/early retirement at Easter and we plan to move to the Aude in due course.
Jo

 

[DavidKlyne]

Hi Val,
Yes, I have read Terry Darlington's book - several times, in fact, as I find it very funny. His writing style seems to be an acquired taste though, as I know others who can't get on with it at all. .
Jo

Certainly is, Margaret enjoyed it but I struggled with it and I have read many canal associated books in my time and had a boat on the canals before we started caravanning.
We stayed here in August http://www.davidklyne.co.uk/camping_les_sablons.html which was only a short cycle ride or walk from the Canal du Midi.
David

 

[ValA.]

I remember replying to one of your other posts about sites with freshwater pools!
We've walked from the locks in Beziers to Agde - in various stages over a few years. Don't be tempted to walk on the 'apparent' path shown on the north side of the Canal which goes through the Reserve Naturelle le Roque Haute - as the pathway is blocked by the 'Chasse' and we had a very long (and very hot) detour back almost to the Le Dragonniere campsite and then back into Portiragnes. It was such a hot day, we got absolutely over-heated - and were really glad of the umbrella which we took in case of rain, just to give us some shade. We found welcome relief in a little cafe in Portiragnes (not the plage but the village) - the only place open on a baking hot day!
We are very lucky and have a friend with a house in the Aude - and we have our own set of keys - so can go down there at any time - we've been down just before Christmas several times, in the summer when we have the caravan we usually call in to check that all is OK with the house, and we've been in Autumn, so this year we may try to get down in early Spring when the Almond blossom is out on the hills!

 

[JoannaLesley]

Well, I've taken a chance and booked this site for 12 nights in mid August. I'm already excited! As usual with high season bokings, they wanted a deposit, but at least they took a card. In the past few years I've taken a chance and sent cash (having once sent via the bank and found it outrageously expensive) or persuaded a friend with a euro bank account to write me a cheque. This is much easier, but fairly rare, I think.
The confirmation arrived today, so that's done. However, I see that the confirmation letter says that we have to pay the balance a month before we go. I've never heard of this before with a campsite. Has anyone else had this?
I wonder whether it is a standard letter and usually applies to mobile homes rather than pitches. I'll probably write back and query it.
Jo

 

[DavidKlyne]

Joanna

We arrived at the Les Sablons, the site I mentioned above, in late August and despite using the ACSI Card we had to pay in advance for the first week of our stay. When I asked why this was she told me that all the other pitches that had been booked had been paid for in advance. Come what they call their real low season it reverts to paying when you leave. Had we not had to pay for a full week when we arrived I think we would have left the site after three or four days as it was just too crowded coupled with a selfish neighbour. Otherwise the site was fine.

David