# Back from France for 1st time



## griffly16 (Jul 6, 2006)

Well, the first trip to France was an unqualified success. 10 days and mostly staying on Aires (7 nights), campsite (2 nights) and wild camp (1 night).

What a fantastic attitude the French have to MHs. Aires great, cheap (or free).

1800 miles in 10 days too much though. Will tailor the next trip (in September for Rugby world cup) to have more driving free days.

Will update with locations stayed at etc. in the next couple of days (when I've had some rest....)

Cheers
Griff


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## rebbyvid (Apr 10, 2006)

looking forward to reading it Griff as we are off in June for first time
Rob


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## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

rebbyvid said:


> looking forward to reading it Griff as we are off in June for first time
> Rob


We are also going in june, last time we went was 20 years ago with a trailer tent! Noticed you only 5 miles away from us - could this be a convoy :wink:


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## rebbyvid (Apr 10, 2006)

looks like it we're going 23rd and first stop for a couple of nights will be here http://perso.orange.fr/..manoirdesenlecques/
then wherever
Rob


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## BERTHA (May 21, 2005)

We made the mistake of doing to many miles on our first trip to France, its a big country and also, because of the Aires and such like you "don't need to get there" as much as you think, we learnt this on 3rd week of our 3 week tour last Year

Hugh


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

I couldn't agree more on the 'miles per day' thing.

Last summer, we planned on 100-150km per day. We would leave at c. 9am, and look to arrive between midday and 2pm. This would give us time to explore the area (by cycle and/or foot), and decide if we wanted to stay, or move on.

Driving in France is OK (better than UK), but the holiday is not about driving, it is about seeing and doing.

Gerald


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## Texas (May 9, 2005)

gerannpasa said:


> I couldn't agree more on the 'miles per day' thing.
> Driving in France is OK (better than UK), but the holiday is not about driving, it is about seeing and doing.
> 
> Gerald


I'll second that, we did nearly 4k in 3 weeks on our last trip to SOF and the Med....saw a lot of roads though.

It was a 470 mile trip just to get to the ferry and back :roll:


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## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

rebbyvid said:


> looks like it we're going 23rd and first stop for a couple of nights will be here http://perso.orange.fr/..manoirdesenlecques/
> then wherever
> Rob


We are also leaving on the 23rd!, orginally we had booked Portsmouth to Bilbao, but crossing was cancelled, so now going Dover - Calais mid afternoon, then not planned anything but will head to the coast and down towards the Vendee.
Returning a couple of weeks later, Le Harve - portsmouth to join up with kids and friends at a VW show in Malvern.
Really looking forward to it


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## rebbyvid (Apr 10, 2006)

Looks like we will be a convoy Paul we're going down on the Sat but we're 
not sailing til 1.45 Sun so will maybe see you down there.We're coming back Calais -Dover 7th july
Rob


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## 102160 (Dec 20, 2006)

we are just back. Hull to Zeebrugge meaning a 100 mile trip rather than the usual 230 to Portsmouth (and 1.5 hours instead of 4+) then we did a whole 249 miles in 5 days. Hurrah for France Passion. 45 litres of deisal and €7.50 for the first night in Ieper (Ypres) on the camping municipal (well worth a visit , only 10 minute walk to Menin Gate as well). then France Passion for the other 3 nights.


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## griffly16 (Jul 6, 2006)

France trip in summary:

1st night

Spent at the Calais ferry terminal as we arrived at 3am. Should have been 3 hours earlier but Eurotunnel was a shambles on the Thursday before good Friday. booked on the 23:20, but was pushed back to the 00:20, then the 01:20 and eventually got on the 02:20. Will be writing a letter to Eurotunnel and probably won't use them again at peak times, the ferries seem to be better.

Day 1

On the first proper day we drove to Honfleur, intending to stay on the aire and from the aires website we saw there were 120 spaces. Thought 'no problem' but were just overwhelmed when we turned up. We got the last spot on the main aire, then people started using the short-term park next door. I swear there were more MHs there than at the NEC in Feb! Only 7EUR per night which I thought was good value (full facilities). Wandered around the town and had a couple of drinks overlooking the lovely harbour. Good first stop.

Day 2

Drove to Dinan (via Pont l'Eveque to pick up some good cheese) to find the main aire closed, but Tourist info told us there was a smaller place under the viaduct so we went there. Didn't have a particularly safe feel, but we were reassured as there were about 10 others staying the night so we felt a bit safer. Wouldn't have a problem staying there again, but there are no facilities.

Dinan is a lovely town. Architechture, bars, restaurants etc - all you need. It's about a 15 minute walk from the viaduct park into the main town, but only 5 from the port, which is a nice place in itself.

Day 3

Visited Mont St. Michel which was great, but obviously very busy at Easter. Got a great spot in the car park with unobstructed views of the mount. Spent a couple of hours there then drove up the coast via St. Cast-le-Guildo and Cap Frehel to Plouha. didn't think much of St. Cast as it just looked like a normal seaside town, nothing special. Cap Frehel was worth a walk around the coastline by the lighthouse. Plouha Aire was full but the car park was being used by several MHs so we parked up for the night and had a couple of drinks in the beach bar/restaurant then retired for the night. Nice to wake up next to the beach. In the morning we used the Aires services for the first time - 1 EUR to fill up with water, and emptied the toilet (free). So easy.

Day 4

From there we followed the coast to Perros-Guirec on the rose-red coast. Some great scenery with odd rock/boulder formations close to the coast. The intention was to stay in Portsall on the west tip of Finnistere via Lannion, but we didn't stop at Lannion due to the time so headed for the Aire at Portsall. Whoops. Had the GPS co-ords and everything, checked on the french aires site before we went but we couldn't find it. If anyone has been there recently I would be interested to find out where it's hiding! So instead of staying at Portsall we drove on to Lampaul-Plouarzel. I'm now glad the Portsall aire wasn't there. The one at L-P is free, right by the beach and is great. We parked there and went to a (very) lively pub/restaurant within view of the aire (sorry, forgot the name but it's nearly the end building on the right as you look from the aire). There were people playing petanque, good buzz in the bar and had a great meal of local lamb. Would recommend it.

Day 5

Onto Carnac for the standing stones the next day, via Locronan (beautiful but a tad quiet for our taste). Parked up in the aire - good location, central to town, but after walking round the town for a couple of hours we decided we didn't want to stay there so drove to the next planned destination - Locmariaquer. We intended to use the aire but it was full so drove 1/4 mile round the headland to the municpal campsite. For 12 EUR per night we got a good pitch with hook-up 1 minute across the road from the beach. Had a BBQ on the beach and retired to the campsite bar for a couple of nightcaps.

Day 6

Visited Vannes (not bad) and Auray (really pretty harbour) but decided we liked the campsite at Locmariaquer so went back there for the next night.

Day 7

Fougeres was next on the list, unfortunately no aire in the town (but one a couple of miles away) but again, tourist info pointed us in the direction of the coach park just outside the castle walls. No facilites but what a view. The town and castle is absolutely one of the most beautiful places I've been to. Recommended without hesitation.

Day 8

Honfleur (again!) as we didn't really like many of the towns in the 20 or so miles along the coast before Honfleur.

Day 9

Cite Europe - 25 minute mad dash to Tesco to replenish the wine stocks, then onto Bruges for the final night. Worth the 70 miles extra drive from Calais as it has some of our favourite beers and bars.

Day 10

Back to Calais and Eurotunnel and M20 closures and british traffic jams...... and eventually home.



Observations:

1. Too many miles (1800 in 10 days).
2. There are some really, really bad drivers in French towns.
3. The road system is far superior to ours
4. The aires are great - total overnight costs were 35 Euros (including 2 campsite nights) 
5. There are 1000s of insects in France. Most of them are now splattered over the front of our van...A bit of a clean is required.


Looking forward to our next trip in September, but will plan it a lot better to involve less driving and more relaxing.


Griff


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