Little, Big Road Trip

Advertorial. Words & photos Stefan Christiansen / Busstoff.de

This year's trip will be a little bit different. Vino instead of whiskey and the Mediterranean instead of the Atlantic. Staying on mainland Europe let's do a road trip to the destinations that have excited many vanlifers before us.

Embarking from the Hamburg area in Germany, the first destination would be Bruges, Belgium. There we spent a nice day strolling through the beautiful old town. In the alleys around the market square, there are several independent restaurants to be discovered that look forward to guests and delight the palate with traditional cuisine and at a reasonable price. We enjoyed homemade soup and fresh bread.

After a short drive, we found our first campsite at Camping des Noires Mottes à Sangatte (1) below Calais. Located on the North Sea we spent a quiet night here, after watching some ferries crossing in the sunset ... ooh, what a sight !

The planned route for a European little tour.

The next day on board the Little, Big Bus, we continued to Omaha Beach and stopped at the Musée Mémorial d'Omaha Beach (2). The beach including the monument is within walking distance. In the vicinity, there are other collections of war equipment and merchandise accessible for a fee. We camped at Flowercamping Omaha Beach (3) upon the cliff. Local farmers offered fresh goat cheese and goat yoghurt. We were hungry so enjoyed both for dinner.

Driving further into Normandy, next we visited the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey on the monastery island of the same name. Unfortunately, against our expectations, it was totally overcrowded. So the visit to the monastery will be saved for another visit. We were impressed by the sacred building and it was a nice hike around the bay at low tide.

Ending the day with a wonderful sunset at Yourte A La Ferme (4), a private parking space on the farm of Florence and JeanLuc in Bouin, in the middle of the flat land. Within easy reach of the sea and very quiet, it was easy to lay back in the camping chair and feel at home. Florence and Jean-Luc run both the farm and the campsite, with a good dose of pragmatism, definitely a lot of heart and joy. We'll certainly visit them again.

We interrupted the way south with a detour to Bordeaux where we enjoyed the evening at the Chateau d'Esther vineyard(5) directly at the Dordogne River. Here we had such an enjoyable wine tasting of the Demeter wines from Thomas ... so good in fact that we bought some bottles for the rest of the trip. Below our Busstoff shelf for the VW California, we like to have a bottle of wine ready for the next dinner, wherever that might be.

Camping next to Dune du Pilat, a top spot in France.

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Not far to the West we find the Dune du Pilat which is the largest shifting sand dune in Europe, and has a few wonderful spots on offer. We decided on Camping Panorama du Pyla (6) and WOW, what impressive place for a van camping spot. The view from our pitch looked directly over the massive dune, and out to the offshore oyster beds. Conveniently for someone who loves oysters, like me, fresh specimens are available at the campsite restaurant. A truly relaxing and wonderful place where you watch the paragliders flying around in the constant updraft, all day and even into the night. A reservation a few days in advance is advisable for flying, due to how popular this place can be.

Plan at least a half day for the crossing of the Atlantic Coast towards the Mediteranean. The French countryside is idyllic on a summer day and I shot many photographs. Carcassonne is known to many as a board game, but is also a real life Medieval fortress city. We took time look around the UNESCO world heritage site and could easily have spent many days here exploring all of the tiny streets and shops. Covering around 14 hectares, La Cité is considered the largest and best preserved fortress in Europe. The two wall rings are together about 3 km long and have 52 towers in total. An impressive building! Camping de la Cite (7) is only a 15-minute walk from the fortress for easy access.

↑ A dream of storage space! DAPASSTWAS is simply hooked into the pop-up roof of the VW California.

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Admiring the size of the glacier.

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Continuing towards the Alps, our next stop was planned at the Grand Canyon du Verdon, a gorge measuring up to 700 meters deep through which the turquoise waters of the river Verdon flow. Following a nice route that I had found online, we started on the south side at the Hôtel du Grand Canyon du Verdon, and headed out for the Sentier de l’Imbut trail. Unfortunately, the constant drought over the previous weeks made the forest dry out so badly, the path left a very eerie impression. The Huttopia Campsite (8) was not far away and, in addition to hiking trails, also offers bike tours and rafting. We will be back for some of that another day!

Soon after crossing the border into Switzerland, we arrived at the Aletsch Glacier (9). An impressive hike on the Panorama Trail in wonderful weather, with incredibly clear air at the glacier, We will certainly remember these moments for a long time. Avalanches in the area extended the hike form a planned 5 hours to a huge 9 hours, so arriving back at the camping site we were all the happy about our Busstoff (7) www.campingcitecarcassonne.com (8) www.europe.huttopia.com/de grosser-aletschgletscher Lieblingsplatz, allowing us to enjoy some very relaxed hours both inside and outside of the Little, Big Bus. Perfect as a mini kitchen and additional table.

One last thing to tick off on the way home to Germany. Bond, James Bond, drove over the Furka Pass (10) in Goldfinger 1964. We moved over the Grimsel Pass and up into the clouds, and then further north towards home.

Read more on the Little, Big Bus at www.kleinergrosserbus.de

↑ Plenty of space to let off steam while cooking. Calitheke SPIELPLATZ counters from BUSSTOFF, to hang on the sliding door.

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Index.

www.busstoff.de - Individual camping gear to use your van’s space to the max, easy to install for a trip and just as easy to dismantle for your daily drive

(1) www.campingdesnoiresmottes.fr

(2) www.musee-memorial-omaha.com/en

(3) de.flowercampings.com/campingplatze-normandie/camping-omaha-beach

(4) www.yourtealaferme.com

(5) www.www.chateaudesther.com

(6) www.camping-panorama.com/stellplatz-frankreich-dune-von-pyla

(7) www.campingcitecarcassonne.com

(8) www.europe.huttopia.com/de

(9) www.www.aletscharena.ch/naturphaenomen/grosser-aletschgletscher

(10) www.alpenpaesse.de/alpenpaesse/grimsel-pass