# The tales of our holiday June 30 to July 21



## altair (Mar 25, 2006)

Hi all,

This is how our holiday went.
We started out from our base in Kent at about 4 P:M on Saturday June 30th stopping for fuel and an air freshener, I had forgotten to close the shutter in the toilet the previous weekend when we left the van and it was a bit whiffey. Fulled and de-ponged we made our way down to Dover to spend the night on the Esplanade for an 8 P:M start. It was raining before we arrived.
All systems seemed OK. We parked up and settled in. The rain got worse. Someone was manouvering to our rear so I checked the reversing camera. No picture! It had been fine on the run down but it was well and truly dead. Still I could manage the trip on mirrors OK. 
We decided to dine out in a nice restaurant we have used before so out we went in to what was now a monsoon. The couple dining next to us were on a motorcycling trip to Switzerland and the girlfriend ( early 50's) was not looking forward to it, but obviously did not feel able to back out.
We turned in with several alarm clocks set. It rained that night. Sunday morning was dry, and the crossing to Dunkerque with the Norfolk line was uneventful. We arrived at our first stopover Veules les Roses at about 4 P:M. This is a small Aire above the town with space for about 16 vans and was quite full Veules is a small seaside town with a nice beach and a few boats there is a second world war monument at the top of the clife overlooking the town.
It rained that night.
Monday we headed south and managed to cross the Seine at Duclair by a chain ferry It takes about 10 minutes and we hardly had to wait at all. Once over the ferry we headed for Alencon and Mayenne stopping for the night finally at a town called La Bacconiere The Aire is behind the church with space for 5 vans. One other van was parked up when we arrived. There is nothing else to recommend this as a stop over. With the meal over I tried to set up the Maplins satellite kit. After about ½ an hour of fiddling I was finally able to get a picture, after which we turned in. 
It rained that night. 
The next day, Tuesday, it was on towards the Loire valley. There is a nice Aire behind the church at Champtoceaux and next to the swimming pool It is set high up and overlooks the river, last year services were 3 Euros to the information office which did not open ( everyone still made use of the electricity though). We wanted (the navigator wanted) to try a different site this time so we headed for Donges.

By lunchtime I was having distinct qualms about the state of charge in our habitation batteries (2 X 110 Amp Hours ) the voltage was down to 11 volts. I had thought it was a bit low the previous evening but had not been overly concerned. Bit of a mistake really. After lunch the low voltage cut out let go to protect the batteries, no power in the habitation. That settled it, out came the handbook turn page to the circuit diagram, out with the test meter and prod about.

The fault was obvious, the engine was not passing power to the habitation when it was running but the fridge controller knew when the engine was turning, so on the road it was drawing power only from the batteries. I did not measure it but it was probably over 100 watts ( 10 Amps perhaps). Next stop the Bricolage for a suitable switch ( I had spare wire packed)

On to the Aire at Donges. This turned out to be next to an industrial estate and appeared to have an exit too narrow for a motor home and an entrance with a height barrier too low as well, so we took the bridge at St. Nazare to the southern bank and the Aire at Paimboeuf. The Aire here is on the old quay. This is no longer used as all the traffic has moved downstream to deeper waters. We parked up 10 feet from the edge of the water with a view across the estuary. The dockside attracts fishermen in cars and campervans, unfortunately it does not appear to attract any fish.

Time for action. With thanks to my boys for their Christmas present I unshipped the generator from the side locker plugged in the AC outlet and fired it up; pleased that I had filled it with oil and fuel before I stowed it.

After about 20 minutes a French fisherman arrived, managed to park between us and the edge of the dock and proceeded to set up 4 rods. He then started to tut about the noise from my generator.
My french is not good and Churchill probably had a better accent but I explained the nature of my problem and that I was going to continue to run the generator until I had a reasonable charge back in the batteries. He seemed to accept that and decided that a portion of the quay farther along was more to his liking and moved. Four hours later the high tide had come and gone and the fish hadn't so he packed up and went home. Meanwhile I had stripped the cover off the power controller and wired in my bypass switch, With a 12 Amp charging current it seemed to run a bit hot for my liking being hidden away under a seat, so I added an extra cooling fan (12 volts and stripped out of an old computer power supply). Yes, you can't make something from nothing if you don't have a good supply of nothing to make it from.
After the evening meal we were ready to go for the morning with some charge in the batteries and reading over 12 volts again and everything stowed. That evening we walked round the town it was deserted. But there is a bakers on the quayside road on the upstream end.

It really rained that night.

The route for the day was somewhat zigzaged as we made for La Roche Sur Lucon and ultimatly Angoulins. By now I had the measure of the TomTom, by and large it is best to ignore it.
Our van is a Hobby 750, 6 wheels and 4.5 tonnes; that is why it can can manage with a few spares of an undefined nature. I have learned that when we encounter a restriction sign for lorries above 3.5T it is best not to ignore it in towns. Making a U turn is no fun especialy with no reversing camera. Also the tomtom database is not up to date with French one way streets. Our tactic is to set the destination on the tomtom then ignore it and let the navigator map read to our destination. That way we use good roads with scenery and there is no " are we there yet ". Also we have noticed that it is quite often difficult to glean the exact location of an Aires from the directory. ( It might be easier if you are French). We have also noticed that when following signs to Aires there is always one missing at a crucial junction, presumably because "all the locals knew where it is so they don't need a sign ". More of that later.

Angoulins is the exception to this it is well signed because even the locals do not know where it is. It is worth the effort, a beautiful spot with a sandy beach (covered at high tide) and quiet. The down side is that there are no services on the site. There are beach toilets close in one direction and a water tap in the other direction outside the sailing school.
The toilet level was low so no problem with that so was the waste water level but we needed fresh water. 
So out with the trolley and the 50 liter tank and off to the tap 15 minutes of pushing the tap on later the tank was full so back to the van. The road surface is fine so no problem there. Back at the van I have a submersible pump that lifts the water up into the water inlet (this has failed so I removed the lock mechanism to prevent it being stolen to cut a habitation key) I open it with a screwdriver.
Two trips and we were full. The site filled up by 7 P:M and we were treated to the spectacle of a group of frenchmen trying to get an automatic satellite dish to aim by prodding it with a large broom, a technique that seemed to work eventually.
Our electrical problem had been contained after the days run, the fridge was still cold and there was a reasonable charge in the batteries although they were not full.

We strolled round the bay, had our evening meal, watched a video and turned in.

It rained that night.
It is possible to cross the Gironde at the mouth of the mouth of the estuary between Royan and Pointe de Grave but we elected to take the payage south and the ring road round Bordeaux heading for our destination of Biscarosse. The plan was to stay overnight at Arcachon, but after searching for the Aire for about ½ an hour and crossing and re crossing the path of several other vans doing the same thing we gave up and followed the coast road south to the Dune Du Pilot where we found a camp site behind the biggest sand dune in the world.

They had space so we stopped for the night. The cost was 19 Euro our first paid for stop but well worth it. The walk to the top of the dune over 100 meters and 600 steps was a bit daunting but worth the effort and most surprising it is easy to come back down if a little intimidating at the top. We left the site at about 11 A:M and moved the short distance to Biscarosse where we found an Aire beside the LeClerke supermarket that is very popular. We did a shop in the local Lidl and went back to the LeClerke for fuel (1.03 Euro / lit and the cheapest we found) where we met an Irish family in a Dethleffs van. They were going to the same camp site on spec, we had booked, but first they were looking for a motorhome shop.

He had committed a classic, in emptying the Thetford cassette he had managed to drop the big yellow cap down the waste chute, and was having to tape a rubber glove over the spout. I am a bit paranoid about this even though we carry a second cassette; does any one else carry a spare yellow top because they seem almost unobtainable once you are on the move.

We moved on to the camp La Domaine de la Rive http://www.larive.fr/ site and booked in, our Irish friends were also able to find space as well.

We parked on the pitch with no bother and were soon hooked up to AC, the gazebo deployed and the sun chairs unpacked. Home for the next 10 days

Yes it rained that night.

The next installment will follow soon, The camp site


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi altair;

Nice report, Hopefully it wont rain in the next installment otherwise you'll just have to head south to the sun (?)......

thanks for the write up, looking forward to p2.....

pete


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Nice Post altair

Why not turn it into a blog then it won't die when this post gets down the pecking order and out of the top 30 (by lunchtime today probably  

hit my blog button below for examples


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

sallytrafic said:


> Why not turn it into a blog then it won't die when this post gets down the pecking order and out of the top 30 (by lunchtime today probably


Good idea altair. I don't want to miss part 2. Thanks for writing that up.

G


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## altair (Mar 25, 2006)

I'll try to do thaat later today
Tim


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## altair (Mar 25, 2006)

Hi all,
Back from a 60th birthday party this weekend, we took the van to sleep over so I could imbibe a few. We also ran guided tours of the van and hope that we have converted at least 1 couple to motorhoming

Anyway on with the tale


Part two: The campsite.

The navigator got a bit panicky back in April and wanted to be sure that we were booked into a campsite so that we could stay put with services and local amenities and she could soak up the sun. 
I checked several site guides and reports in the motor home magazines and the Domaine de la Rive site seemed to tick enough boxes. However the snag was that the minimum booking period for the 2nd week in July was 10 days Friday through to Monday week, Still it did include Bastille day and 2 years ago there had been fireworks on the Canal du Midi on Bastille day. As the minimum period seemed common to a lot of sites for that holiday period. I paid the deposit and peace reigned supreme or at least it did after I had booked the ferry and renewed the annual travel insurance.

The camp site is well signposted out of Biscarosse (past the Lidl store). We took the precaution of stocking up on staples for the 10 days at Lidls as camp stores can be a bit pricey, probably a good move. Then on to the site.

Reception was straightforward, and the staff polite and multi lingual, they found my booking with the deposit, I paid the balance with a card and we were almost in. 
They require 20 Euros as a deposit for the barrier control card, and you even get your own note back when you leave. The note was presented a card obtained and we were almost in. 

A pilot was summoned and after a short wait he duly appeared on his golf cart. When you pre-book you are allocated a pitch, when you just turn up on spec you can take a quick look to find a pitch that takes your fancy, then you can see if it is free. The length that you stay can be decided at a later date, if the weather turns nasty or fails to turn good you can settle the bill for the nights stayed and leave. This was the method employed by the Irish family, The weather failed to turn good so by the Monday they were on the move, to continue the quest for a yellow Thetford cap, and I suspect with out much success.

So back to our Pilot, We showed him the map reception had provided us with, showing the location of our pitch, He then consulted his own identical map and after a short period of reflection he was off with us following, at last we were in. 

The pilot serves two very important functions, first, without him you would never find the pitch, and second, he drives at a suitable slow speed, ensuring that the children scatter out of his way not yours, an accident at this point would really take the edge off the holiday. With the pitch located and the best approach and position on it discussed, in English he guided us onto it. 

Finished with engine for 10 days.

The pitch was about 100 M square with 1 shade tree for the afternoons, an electrical point (16 Amp connector), a shared water tap and waste water drain for the 4 adjoining pitches. We had AC power on board within 5 minutes. Next the various sun chairs, umbrellas, swing ball sets etc were unpacked and at last the Gazebo. 

At the Excel show at the beginning of the year the navigator had splashed out on an unfolding gazebo in blue, 2.5 M square after a most impressive demonstration of an erection; she was impressed anyway. The Blue cover was not immediately available for delivery, and you don't buy the yellow because it attracts the flies something awful, and she was happy to wait the 8 weeks for the blue to be delivered.
8 weeks came and went with no sign of said gazebo. A phone call produced the response “ Ah yes we were going to phone you, what colour did you order? The order form does not state it.”
Me “Blue, and why did you not call earlier ”
Them “ Ah, yes. We don't do the blue in 2.5M only 3 M”
Me “Yes you do, that's why we have had to wait 8 weeks for delivery, Ask the salesman”
Them “ We can't ask the salesman he doesn't work for us any more”

It would appear that the sales force on some stands is temporary and probably on a fierce commission, from our experience I would advise being very wary of what any of them say.

Them again “ can we ship you the 3 M gazebo in blue with matching side screens at no extra cost since you have had to wait?”

We had ordered the side screens and the increase in size was quite acceptable. It was with us the next day. No arguments and remedial action straight away, what more can you ask for?
The navigator was a little concerned that 3 M would be too large, but ours is a large van and on a 100 M square site it still looked small.

A word on erecting them yourself, the demonstrator at the show has been polished and stretched with erection after erection, as you do, (that's the gazebo ). When your brand new one arrives it is a bitch. The advice of experience is, be patient and persevere, and only ever pull on the corners until you have made it as big as it will go. Then lift the covers off the corners so as to relieve the tension and then push up on the corner struts while pushing in on the locking pins. When you have thoroughly exhausted your vocabulary of swear words and the more polite children have been taken out of earshot the pins will locate and lock in their correct position, the cover can then be stretched back into the correct position and the legs extended to their full height. All that remains is to attach the side screens and anchor the assembly to the ground. It is probably quicker to erect the device than it is to write down these instructions. 


We began our task at the same time as the French caravanners on the adjoining pitch, henceforth refered to as the Pecheur of whom more later, began to erect their awning. About an hour after we had finished they had completed stage 1, Why is it that caravanners have awnings tents etc. 4 times the size of their van and always full of stuff?
Following the successful erection the navigator expressed herself as satisfied.
The final footnote to the gazebo is that after 10 days of buffeting by the French weather the cover had stretched and the frame polished to the point that it could be erected almost as swiftly as demonstrated by the show salesman. With such a swift erection the navigator was exceedingly satisfied.
Gazebo up, power on, fridge well on its way to arctic temperatures, it was time to break out the bikes from the rear rack. My bike, actually borrowed from no.2 son, a bit battered, with front and rear suspension and god knows how many gears came off first then the navigators, a Di Blasi fold up job and a trike to boot. I know, another erection job but this time only 20 seconds from folded away to being ridden. So with fresh transport we were off to explore the park.

What we found in the next installment.

Yes it rained that night.


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

Thank you 
I've enjoyed the read and I'm waiting for the next installment.


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