Camping in the dordogne in August do we need sleeping bags?

[starstarlet]

Hi there,
We're a family of 5 and off camping in the dordogne in August for the first time - all very excited! But should we take our usual season 3 bags? Can anyone advice what would be best? Hoping it will be warm.
Thanks

I haven't camped in the Dordogne (or in fact anywhere since I was 12) -but we did holdiay there last August.

The weather was pretty damn hot most of the first week, but a couple of days were very wet, windy and almost cold. I would think it best to be over warm than having a cold nights sleep.

enjoy - the dordogne area is lovely.

I'm taking our sleeping bags (similar region) and am even considering vacuum packing some duvets. Have heard that the evenings can get a little chilly. HTH.

We were there a couple of weeks ago and it did get very cold most nights. We had a blanket underneath and a duvet over, I wore my fleece over my long sleeve PJs, and could have done with our fleece blanket on top but DH forgot to pack it.

Some evenings were warm enough to sit out until late but there were one or two where I couldn't wait to get into bed to get warm. Obviously early June is much cooler than August though.

I hope you have a great time.

Thanks. We love the dordogne but it's first time camping abroad. Have another query were there lots of Mozzies?

Loonytoonie - How do you re vacuum pack stuff when you leave?

Yes take sleeping bags, it can get cold at nighttime.

Yes definitely take plenty of insect repellent.

There were some about in the evenings so if we did manage to sit out we got bitten, even wearing Jungle Formula. I think there are more mossies about in later summer too.

Yes you will definately need sleeping bags - it really depends on where your campsite is as to whether you get bitten or not too. We were above the river in the hills so there were no mozzies by our tent and were only bitten when we were down by the lake at the fire.
I hope it's warm for you, we went 2 years ago, had a scorching week then cool / cloudy/ drizzle for 10 days - take waterproofs too!

We were there last year and would agree that if you are away from the rivers a bit the mozzies shouldnt be too much of a problem. They tend to prefer the cosatal areas and areas of standing water.

starstarlet it's an idea that I picked up from this forum, from topbanana I think (forgive me if I'm wrong). She uses a pump that has a 'suck' facility also, and her DH has adapted it by adding a bit of pipe to it for it to suck the vacuum bags.

It's still very much in it's planning stage with me though which means that I'm talking about doing it, but may not get around to following it through

We took sleeping bags to the Loire at the beginning of the June and were quite warm with a thin double (super cheapie Tesco bargain) and a nicer one opened up over the top. The kids wore thermal pjs and had a variety of inexpensive 2 season sleeping bags and were fine. We took fleeces and body warmers which meant we could sit out late without worrying about the chill. Also took thermal camping socks but didn't need them as it was never cold enough.

Thanks everyone - top tips!
Let's hope it's sunshine.

Just come back from a trip round the Dordogne region and the weather was generally pretty hot and we used our sleeping bags. The hottest day was 34 in the shade, and still high 20 something at night. I had a 3 season bag, which I just opened up and lay on. Although hot, we still managed to sleep ok though.
Our main problem was with mosquitoes - vicious variety!
Where are you going?

Hi lucky13, we're going in August. We're Camping at le-paradis.fr/ do you know it? What did you use to fight the mossies? Any top tips....

Hi. Just looked at le-paradis.fr, thanks starstarlet, it looks lovely! We're almost decided on the dordogne for our hols, however haven't chosen a campsite yet! I've been put off by different threads and comments... Why is there so much to think about? And why does dh not understand ;-)
I'd love tips on what people have used for fighting Mozzies too, they always feast on me and my 9yr old dd! Thanks x

Hi there,

We live in the dordogne, and have stayed at Le Paradise loads. Its a really lovely campsite. Its Dutch owned and has been owned by the same family for about 40 years. The toilet facilities are fab - always spotless, special area for little ones. They have 3 pools - one being a lovely shallow one. The play area is great - nice sandpit too. The grounds are amazing - beautiful flowers everywhere. They even have a very big herb garden where you can go and cut your own herbs for your cooking! Its laid out very well too - its like lots of little 'cul-de-sacs off the centre road (if that makes sense!!??) so you only have about 8 pitches in one area. Loads of trees for shade and privacy. Sorry waffling here!

Have a great holiday!

Liz

Wow. I'm glad I booked it now! Sounds fab. Just need the sun to shine!

Yep, fingers crossed for the weather! It seems to be getting better. Today was quite cloudy, but lots of hot sunny spells in between!

Hope you have a lovely holiday

Liz
x

We are now thinking of booking this! Liz, how has the weather been over the last week then? What is the forecast for August? We have to escape this awful weather!

star, if we book, perhaps a flag with Pombears and Fruitshoots to identify us as fellow Mnetters?