As the name might subtly hint, this part of France is very north. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais county of Nord is so north that it’s edged by the North Sea – and Belgium – and so close to the UK that you can puff here in a trice from London: trains from Paddington to Nord’s capital Lille take under three hours.
Away from urban areas (although do take a day to see Nord’s art and history town Roubaix 20 minutes from Lille), camping in Nord is popular with natural types: its natural park Avesnois has over 1000km of walking trails among its valleys and Nord as une whole has over 20 nature reserves. Visitors to Nord campsites also come for commemoration – Nord covers the area once known as Flanders and was the scene of some of the worst slaughter of the First World War – and to see Dunkirk, the ramparts of Le Quesnoy, and the famous fourteenth century belfry at Douai: you’d be batty not to include this in the itinerary…
