And every year the camping groundhog greets us. Also this summer we have set out from Hamburg with bag and baggage and if you want to know how our bike vacation became a beach vacation and what a packed campsite operator and an annoying bachelor party have to do with it, then sharpen your ears now.
As always, I have linked my favorite places and excursion tips here, so let's go: off to the Odenwald.  

Not at all boring: Family vacation in the Odenwald 

Why the Odenwald? Because it is about 600 km south of Hamburg and that is our magic driving time limit. Because very dear friends live there. UUUND: because the Odenwald is really beautiful! We spent the night at the campsite Idyll, about 20 km southeast of Darmstadt. Small, but mighty! Because there was also a natural swimming pool with chips & Co. and cool mountain bike trails just around the corner. 

 

Grüezi Schwiiz and adieu mountain bikes - the moment when a planned bike vacation turns into a beach vacation

Via Weil am Rhein we then went to Switzerland. Weil, because there is the Vitra Museum and a visit is worthwhile! Even before Lotta, on our first camping vacation as a couple, Nils and I have made a stop there and exactly 10 years later, we are sitting here as a threesome. Okay, maybe only two, because one has to shoot the souvenir photo. 🤣

From Weil we went directly over to Switzerland and there everything was different than expected. Our first destination was about 100 km south of Bern, a small Eldorado for mountain bikers! So it was thought ... and could have been so nice, if in the first night, between loud techno beats and funny bachelor party bawling not all our bikes would have been stolen! Including bike rack by the way, because there they had all been secured overnight by us. Or, if you will, immediately handy packed for criminal gangs of thieves, with enough manpower and strong muscles. The place operator could have been us on the spot perhaps still ne real help, if he had not partied himself in the night hardest. And so our first sightseeing destination in Switzerland was the police station. A link to the campsite I save me at this point - because this place I can and may expressly NOT recommend to you!

This was followed by a rather hasty departure and a short, rather unpleasant and not worth mentioning hanky-panky with Airbnb.
But the reason why we really wanted to stay another day or two in the area was a long-planned first date in Alaïa Bay. Alaïa Bay is the place to be for those of you to whom your board means the world. In the middle of the Swiss Alps you can surf, board and skate there. In our case, Nils was drawn directly to the water and Lotta and I enjoyed the view there double and triple. ✌🏻

 

Your route will be recalculated: Ardèche instead of Alps

Then it was first change of plans, because without bikes is bad biking. And so our next destination was: Ardèche - and what a good thing that you are so flexible when camping! And that made up for so much! The campsite was called Camping Le Pequelet and it was exactly how you want a place on the Ardèche: right on the river, small, local and so authentic. Canoeing was a must for us and not only because of that the planned two days in the Ardèche turned into five. On the very first day we met a nice family from Henstedt-Ulzburg and in nice company it is simply even nicer to spend a vacation. 

So, now Atlantic please!

After we had finally found our camping luck again, it went then off to the Atlantic. On our first campsite we were arranged with friends from Hamburg, in St. Jean de Luz, not 20 km south of Biarritz. We had booked a pitch with sea view and we had it! And let's be honest: what could be better than zipping up the roof tent in the morning and looking out to sea? Pretty much nothing. Except maybe with nem coffee in hand, above from the roof tent to look at the sea.
The place was called Camping L'International Erromardie and I can really recommend it to you. The sanitary facilities are tippitoppi, the children's entertainment also. When it comes to children's entertainment, opinions differ - we really don't choose our campsites according to the entertainment package, but I'll put it this way: it was really good here. No non-stop kids disco, but pony rides and face painting. It's about a 30-minute walk to St. Jean, and if the question is Biarritz or St. Jean, my answer is St. Jean. The smaller but also cozier of the two, quiet instead of noisy, pedestrian instead of three lanes. Plus, there are insanely beautiful hiking trails along the cliffs, we couldn't get enough of them! 

Last destination: Cap de l'Homy

Our last big destination on the Atlantic was Cap de l'Homy. A typical Municipal Atlantic campsite in the middle of the pine forest, although strictly speaking there were no pines, but sea pines, but we want to be there times not so petty.
To the beach it was a few meters more than in St. Jean, but fully okay. The place was really nice, quiet and hey, so here were all the German holidaymakers! 7 days without bikes felt a bit long for us, not because it wasn't really gorgeous there, but because you can't get too far on foot in the corner. And we are then but rather team active vacation. We come but certainly again - and then with bikes in the luggage!

Not without reason: a night in Burgundy

Because to drive about 1600 km in one piece is not quite our thing, we have made a short stopover in Burgundy on the way back. And I'll put it this way - if you don't catch the day of the year when an alt-rocker concert is raging there, it's also really nice there! The campsite was called Camping de Messeugne and it is located about 300 km southwest of the German border. 

In total we have toured 3.5 weeks through Germany, France and Switzerland, we have made over 4000 km , have "lost" 3 bikes and found our camping happiness again at the Ardèche. We hiked, surfed, swam and rode (so Lotta). If I had to give this vacation a headline, it would be as follows: Life is what happens while you're about to make other plans (now that's not really from me, but from John Lennon).