At first glance, the Aiguebelette-le-lac campsite, in Savoie, looks like all the other similar holiday sites. Tents and caravans follow one another in the alleys, the trees are used to hang the laundry and everyone walks around in swimsuits. Here, there is no swimming pool but direct and privileged access to the natural lake named after the town. No restaurant or other building, either. “The only block of concrete we have are the toilets,” explains Joël, camp referent for the week. The reception, which also serves as a shared library, is a small wooden garden chalet. He goes on: “If your thing is the Flots Bleus campsite, with the supermarket and this, and that, you shouldn’t come to the GCU! »
If the man in his sixties prefers to warn future visitors, it is because the 90 pitches of the GCU association (group of university campers) work on self-management and voluntary work. “We all give a day of service, between reception and cleaning the toilets, for twenty-one days of camping. There is no director or other employees, only campers, ”continues the Savoyard. For the next seven days, however, he has a special position. He was appointed “responsible” for the site following a “camp council” which takes place every week. A treasurer and an assistant delegate are also chosen on this occasion to “adjust and check all the small aspects” of daily life, he explains.
Sites reserved for national education employees until 2015
The GCU concept was created in 1937 by members of the mutual insurance company Maif (Mutuelle d’assurance des teachers de France), just after obtaining the first paid holidays. The association bought land “for a pittance” and let their members benefit from it at very attractive prices. Today, for seven nights on a site with two adults and two children, in high season in Aiguebelette, it takes about 200 euros, in addition to the membership of 28 euros per year for an adult over 26 years old.
Until 2015, only national education employees could take advantage of this stay offer and invite up to two “non-members”. “Today, everyone is welcome provided they adhere to the values of the association,” smiles Joël. These “values” correspond to the principles of “self-management, tolerance and secularism”, according to the GCU website.
GCU campsites, a “big family”
Even if most vacationers are no longer part of the national education system, all have a place with this area, giving the impression of being part of “the same family”, to use the words of Joël who frequents these places. since he was 5 or 6 years old. “Everyone knows each other, is united. We feel safe,” summarizes Jean-Pierre, 81. “I’ve been coming here for thirty years,” adds Monique, 72, who came with her husband, daughter and 18-year-old grandson.
For his part, Pierre-Philippe, 45, considers himself a “GCU child”. He “grew up with these campsites”. “My grandfather was one of the first licenses, he says. I have always loved coming here. So, in my own way, I pass on this passion from generation to generation”. He came with his two teenagers, 13 and 15 years old. “No need for clubs for them, they naturally find themselves with other young people of their age,” he says.
A “great atmosphere” for young and old
“We meet at the ping-pong table then we play games like werewolf, we go to the beach, we watch the sunset over the lake”, confirms Rozenn, 15, surrounded by a little ten holiday friends of the same age. The little ones have fun, meanwhile, with bikes or treasure hunts. For some, it’s “their first time” in this kind of camping, for others, “it’s already been ten years”. But all assure: “There is a great atmosphere for young people”.
Like children, adults also imagine their own animations. In Aiguebelette, there are not (yet), as in other GCUs, organized sports and cultural activities such as kayaking, windsurfing or hiking. So, on the initiative of campers, that day, it’s “international petanque competition”. At stake ? “A pizza from the truck” which comes three times a week. “Last night, it was open stage, explains Joël. We ended up having an impromptu banquet where everyone brought their chair back to the middle of an aisle. »
The “full” Aiguebelette campsite, an unusual trend that is likely to continue
The regular is proud of this “conviviality”. “That’s the spirit of the GCU,” he exclaims. We keep this traditional side, simple holidays a little rudimentary, with 95% of the pitches reserved for tents or caravans. We recently integrated mobile home rental accommodation for the older ones so that they continue to come. But there are fewer and fewer campsites like us. We become dinosaurs! And these aspects of “scarcity” and “back to basics” are attracting more and more. “Mid-July, we were full-full! he wonders. This is a trend that we have noticed over the past two years but which was not necessarily usual. People preferred the Côte d’Azur. According to him, these are also the effects of global warming with a desire to be cooler and calmer.
A good thing for camping but not necessarily for regulars. “It’s great for the location, but since we can’t reserve a pitch long in advance, we’ll have to go elsewhere,” half-jokes Daniel, a faithful camper for years in Aiguebelette.