Ideal stopover at Camping la Pinéde en Provence

We decided to break up our journey back from Spain with an overnight stop at a campsite so we could connect up to electricity and have a hot shower in the morning. Consulting the ACSI website I found Camping la Pinéde en Provence near Mondragon, just north of Avignon. We didn't book it, but turned up at 3.30pm on Thursday 2 January.

Reception was manned by a gentleman and Tony practised the French he's been studiously learning by asking for a camping pitch for one night for a small camping car. The man replied with a flood of French, the gist of which we came to understand by his waving of arms at the office printer. We were welcome to stay but wouldn't be getting a printed receipt. The price was €18.60.

I'm unsure how the price was €18.60 when that's not one of the ACSI prices; maybe they have added on tourist tax. Anyhow, that represented good value for great facilities and unlimited electricity.

We picked a pitch on a terrace leaving once space between us and units either side. As the evening went on other spaces became filled and I got the impression we weren't alone in using the campsite as an overnight stopover. It's really well located about 10 minutes from the motorway if you are heading north or south via Lyon.

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