Parking "bleu"

[willhoward]

Newbie here on pistonheads posting, but old hand at Le Mans. In the old days our gang would arrive thursday evening at parking bleu, pay for a parking ticket into the car park, and it became a camp site around our ears. Camping for parking money.
For the last 4 yes we have been adding a little style staying in a chateau just outside arnage, but for a stag do thought we had better get back to basics.

The question is, can we still turn up at parking bleu on a thursday evening and expect to camp around our cars, bbq, beer and all

[cooperlola]

No. The ACO is clamping down on camping in car parks, with the threat that you could be turfed out. That having been said, I still haven't had a problem sleeping in a bivvie, on a matress next to the car.

[the leaper]

After going to Le Mans for the past 10 years and using Parking Blanc, I must say I'm fed up with the Brits who park in the car parks and then pitch a tent taking up not only as much of the adjacent space as possible but also the free space allowing cars to come and go, or more accurately blocking access for those of us who have paid the full price for their car and opt to observe the local rules. It seems to me that some Brits seem to see it as good sport to do Le Mans on the cheap as far as possible, without a care on their impact of the enjoyment of others. IMHO anything ACO can do to get tents out of the car parks and into the many allocated camping areas must be for the better. From other threads on the Le Mans gassing site it seems that at last ACO are having a go at doing something about this. Sorry to rant but it is f***ing annoying when you need to get in and out of a space and there's some people doing their best to make it difficult. Maybe one night at maybe 02:00 I'll take the risk of asking people to move their tent. Ouch! R.

[richb]

the leaper said:

Maybe one night at maybe 02:00 I'll take the risk of asking people to move their tent. Ouch! R.

Indeed, in fact already done that! We always stay at a hotel so leave the track around 1:30 a.m. Returned to my car a couple of years ago to find the access lane blocked by a tent so I gave it a quick prod to see if anyone was in it (no) and roughly unpegged it to do my best to move it then drove over what remained in the way. Ah well... seemed a bloody stupid place to pitch a tent anyway!

[willhoward]

ok guys get the message, and wouldn't want to move at 2.30am!!
Now just need to get hold of camp site tickets then.

[littleandy0410]

I've been to Le Mans for the past 5 years, and we've always camped in Camping Bleu. We've never booked in advance, and just pay the (extremely professional...ahem!) staff on the gates. From what I remember, it's only about 20euros for the week per vehicle. (last 2 years we had an LDV 400 minibus, think how many tents and gazebos you get in that!)

I realise that if you aren't driving down til late fri/early sat you may be pushed to get in, but if you're happy to sleep in a car park, you obviously don't require much space! Might be able to tag on an end somewhere, as long as you don't nick someone's parking or block an access route! Worth a shot before paying to park! (How much is Parking Bleu normally, anyway?)