Destination, Poissy
The following morning it was still a bit damp and my kind German neighbours, who were travelling in a top of the range motorhome, offered me a coffee. I think they possibly felt a bit sorry for me travelling around in a car without any home comforts. When I showed them my boiling electric kettle and travel cafetiere they laughed and nodded their heads.
One steaming hot filter coffee later, I started packing away. As I packed up, I drew quite a little audience from the campsite. Some of the other campers had a rooftent as well, although they appeared to be from Switzerland and their rooftent was a different make. I was delighted when they clapped as I flipped my TentBox effortlessly into it’s travel position and zipped it away!
It wasn’t the first time on my trip that I’d had people admiring the TentBox. I’m hoping that means there’ll be a few more TentBoxers on the European roads next time I get across the Channel.
Today was the penultimate day of this trip, and tonight would be my very last night in the TentBox. I was a little sad about that, but in my mind I was already planning my next adventures.
For today though, I’d be heading up to my campsite at Poissy, on the outskirts of Paris. I was hoping to make a couple of stops along the way, including at the incredible Château de Versailles, then pitch up and head into Paris.
As I made my way along the autoroutes from Bourgogne I was struck by the number of rest areas (Aires) there were. And also by the number of wind turbines. I thought we had a lot in the UK but France definitely put us to shame on that account. There were literally thousands, and they stretched out along the motorway for miles and miles.
Unfortunately, the closer I got to Paris, the less open road I had before me. The traffic was horrendous and I soon realised I would miss the timed entry for Versailles. I wasn’t too upset by this as I have been there before, it would have been nice to break the journey but now I was just keen to get to the campsite. I had other tours organised and I didn’t want to miss them all.
Stop 1: Île du Roi, Poissy
Paris Camping Île du Roi is just outside of Poissy in a village called Triel-sur-Seine. When I arrived the gates were locked and although there were people in the campsite bar next door, no one seemed to be paying me any attention.
I parked up in a little area across from the site and walked over and tried the intercom, nothing. Then I looked on Pitchup for a number, again nothing. To be fair it wasn’t a bad place to wait, right on the Seine with a seating area for guests at the site, which I figured I kind of was.
As I sat and watched the waterskiers weave their way down the river, I noticed a few people come and go from the site. I decided I would tailgate the next person who went in … dodgy maybe, but I had plans!
To be fair it worked like a charm, and I was soon through the big wooden gates and on to the site. That didn’t get me very far though, as the reception was closed. However, it seemed my nefarious activities had gotten me noticed and I was soon approached by a hippie looking guy smoking a cigarette. He didn’t look like the sort of person who’d be in charge of the reception. But luckily between us, we were able to have what amounted to quite a productive conversation and it wasn’t long till he showed me to my pitch.
Turns out that as well as being in charge of the reception, he was also a really friendly and helpful guy whose name was Julien. Not only did he lend me an electrical cable, he also found me a brand new connector which I could keep.
Julien stayed and chatted while I put up the TentBox, and mentioned the campsite Karaoke that evening. Apparently it was the highlight of the week. But I had plans so I mumbled something about trying to make it back and said I might see him later. Then I rang an Uber to take me into Poissy so that I could get the train into Paris.
Stop 2: Gare de Poissy
As with the Ubers in Rome, I struggled to get anyone to accept the trip. So even the journey is only 15 minutes by car, I was a lot later getting to Poissy than I expected. But the taxi rank and drop off point is right outside of the Gare de Poissy, so the station was very easy to find.
Having been dropped at the station, I bought a ticket into Paris and waited for the next train. If you’re thinking of getting the train into Paris, it’s worth doing a bit of research before you go as there are lots of ticket types and it can be a bit confusing. Trains from Poissy run roughly every 20 minutes into Paris and take around half an hour to get into Gare St Lazare.
France have the same double decker style trains as Italy and as I waited, I mused how nice it would be if someone could tell our UK operators about those. Before long I was on my way into Paris although my schedule for the day had gone out of the window.
I didn’t really mind, I’ve been to Paris plenty of times and there was nothing I was missing that I hadn’t seen several times before. This visit was more like dropping in to see and old friend, and catching up on the news.
Stop 3: Paris
Gare St Lazare is one of the mainline stations in Paris, it reminds me of the London mainline stations as it is absolutely huge and very, very busy. From there I was crossing into the Saint Lazare metro station to get the metro down to the Invalides station on the bank of the Seine.
Having missed my tour of the Eiffel Tower, I didn’t really have a plan. Having got off the metro, I spent a while in the Place des Invalides, which had been the scene for quite a few of the 2024 Olympic broadcasts. After all the driving the past few days it was nice just being out and about and watching the world go by.
I still had time to catch my Seine boat ride, so I hotfooted it down to the quayside at Port de la Bourdonnais and hopped onto the boat.
The weather wasn’t great, it had started drizzling, and the shrieks of my fellow passengers every time we passed under a bridge were ever so slightly jarring. And despite the captain making an announcement asking them very nicely not to do it, they carried on.
I suspect I’d have been a bit more enthusiastic if I’d not done this trip quite a few times before. It was nice to see a few of my old favourites though, especially the magnificent cathedral of Notre Dame, which is still being restored after the dreadful fire of 2019.
When we got back to the quayside, there was just enough time for a picture of the tower before the light went. I sat for ages on the pedestrianised bridge at the foot of the tower. There was music playing from what appeared to be a mobile soundsystem and loads of people were just chilling. I was due to be doing a night tour on an open top bus but I was considering going back to the campsite for an early night, as I had a long drive home tomorrow.
And then I remembered the karaoke!
So I made my way back to Gare St Lazare and hopped on the first train back to Poissy. Luckily there was an Uber at the station so it was much quicker getting back to site.
Overnight: Ile du Roi
I could hear the music as we neared the camp, and when we arrived I jumped out of the car and practically ran into the bar. Karaoke at Ile du Roi is very special, and if you are thinking of staying here, you must go. The whole camp seemed to be there and everyone was joining in.
It was absolutely hilarious, and very rousing. Some of the singers were amazing, some not so much, but everyone was giving it their all. We had rock, ballads, songs from the musicals and of course the epic ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ which crosses so many genres. The music was bringing everyone of all nationalities and backgrounds together and even the bar staff had linked arms and were singing along. I was sitting with a German couple who’d been studying in Paris and had lived at the campsite for some months. It was their last night at the camp and when they told me they were very sad to be leaving, I could totally understand why.
When the last song had been sung, everyone called their goodnights and made their way to bed. And before long the campsite fell silent, except for the soft whisper of the wind through the trees.
As I reflected back on my trip, on all the amazing places I’d visited and the incredible adventures I’d had, I realised that it was often the people who had made them so special.
