# Nous sommes returnee (or summat like that).........



## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi all,

Just back from our hols, thought you might like to hear about our travels, hopefully shan't bore you too much…

Managed to get on an evening ferry (17th May, Norfolkline) 1 day earlier than planned at no extra cost. The ship is nothing special, a bit basic, but adequate. There are basically two small areas on the ship on 2 floors. On the first level there is a reception that doubles as the shop selling a very basic range of the usual stuff, cigarettes, spirits and a few bits and bobs of branded merchandise but strangely, no wine or perfume, still, as this ship is primarily for truckers there probably isn't much demand for chanel on this channel crossing (pun intended). There is also a large seating area with a small snack bar and a television area, this is where the truckers seem to spend most of the time, a mix of all nationalities, but we noticed predominately what sounded like east European languages mixed with a scattering of French, Italian, Spanish and German, but strangely very few UK truckers on board. This isn't a critiscism, just an observation, they were all very friendly and courteous, the best bit though is there is no coach parties of screaming kids and booze cruisers. In the other area is the cafeteria selling very reasonably priced meals at about £6 each. On the second level is a large lounge with recliners and a nice view out of the front of the ship, this is where we spent the majority of the crossing, which passed pleasantly and uneventfully (unlike the return crossing, as described later).
Disembarked that evening and it struck us that the loading/unloading took a lot longer than the other short sea ferries, it turned out that we were on the only one of their 3 ships that only has a door at the back and takes longer to load than the other 2 ships.

We decided to stay at the M/H parking area at Malo les Bains, east of Dunkerque, which looked quite close on the map, but took the best part of an hour to get there, mainly because we got a bit lost, but even when you know where it is it takes about 20 mins to get there. A parking area is all it is, with no facilities, but a nice view of the sea from the van. We spent the night there with about 20 other vans. We also noticed that there were several police patrols of the area throught the evening. From here you can have a pleasant stroll down the prom where there are numerous restaurants.

The following morning we left and had a remarkably stress free navigation of southern Paris via the A1, A3,A86, A6/A10 as recommended by one of our members whose name escapes me, but thanks anyway, this is definitely a good way to get round the capital.
That afternoon we arrived at Beaugency on the Loire and discovered a nice M/H parking place on the outskirts of the town situated in the trees overlooking the river and the bridge, a very pleasant place to stay, and free. The sun was shining, the town was lovely and there was a market the next day so we stayed here for a few days exploring the town, spending a few bob on the market, walking along the river and watching all the old boys playing boules on the square opposite the parking area, nice.

Next stop Rocamadour to view the amazing town built into the side of a rockface, a must see if you are passing through the area, we stayed at a campsite in the hamlet of L'hospitalet which overlooks Rocamadour but also discovered a free m/home parking area at the top of the town near the lifts, all this and other stopovers will be entered in the campsite database when time permits. Spent a while in the area and than ended up at the Chocolate box village of St Cirq-Lapopie on the river Lot, stayed there the night at the aire at the base of the village just outside of the campsite. The weather during this time was not too good, in fact it never stopped raining, so at this point in true m/homing tradition, we abandoned our plans to go east along the Lot river and head south for the sun instead.

Next day, rattled it down the autoroute via Carcassonne to Gruissan Plage on the med, a place we had visited a few years back and still how we remembered it. We stayed for a few days at the excellent aire at Gruissan (plage des chalets), in our opinion, the best of the 3 around the town and spent the next few days lazing on the beach sunbathing and swimming and cycled into Gruissan to look at the shops and all the posh yachts in the marina. The weather then got a bit overcast, so we moved along to the aire at Narbonne plage, situated on a rough graveled area by the sea, over the road is a small water adventure park, so this would possibly be a good aire for families, but fairly close to the main road so a little bit noisy athough it didn't bother us too much and the weather had gone all sunny again.

Next day we travelled east again and followed the Cap D'Agde to Sete road (N112). This road runs parallel to the med and during the day there are literally hundreds of motorhomes parked at the side of the road taking advantage of the superb beach along this stretch, some stay the night, but we stopped for a few hours for a swim and bite to eat, before exploring the lovely old port of Sete then moving along to the aire at Palavas les flots, this one was a former 'aire of the year', so we expected something good. It was nice and clean, good facilities and nicely situated in a marina and on the banks of the Sete to Rhone canal, all very nice, but we did find it noisy, traffic wise.


We then moved on to one of our favourite places, the Carmarque area and the Gypsey town of Saintes Maries De La Mer. We had heard stories that the aire along the beach had shut but that proved not to be the case, its still there and you can still drive along a rough track from the aire that runs adjacent to a salt water channel and the beach for miles and park where you like. A man on a moped comes and seeks you out each morning for your €6 overnight fee, no matter how far down the track you drive, when your water runs out or the toilet is full, just drive back down to the main aire/servicing point to replenish. It's best to park near one of the bridges over the saltwater channels though, then its only a few hundred yards to the lovely sandy beaches. A superb aire, we stayed for 4 days, doing nothing more than sunbathe, swim, drink wine and relaxxx, although Judy went for several horserides along the beach while I kept the beach mats warm, £18 for a 2 hour ride along the beach and through the salt marshes amongst the flamingoes was excellent value compared to UK prices she says. (tip, take your own hat if you do ride, as froggies don't seem to bother to wear them and the ones provided aren't too hot!).

At some time , you have to drag yourself away from the beaches and start heading back and that time had come, the next plan was to have a look at the Ardeche and Tarn gorges and do a bit of canoeing, we followed the Ardeche gorge from St Just to Vallon Pont D'arc but we didn't find many places to stop along the famous road, but many of the views were spectacular, eventually, we ended up at Vallon Pont D'arc and hunted out the aire which turned out to be a bit disappointing, just a graveled carpark at the rear of the town, so we stayed instead at the excellent municipal campsite on the banks of the river and caught up with a bit of clothes washing and had a good long hot shower. Here was the first time we managed to use the canoe. The current was quite fast though and its probably better to hire one from one of the many in these regions that drops you off upstream a few miles for an easy paddle back to where you're staying.

Next stop was the Gorge Du Tarn, we followed this from the lovely town of St Florac down to Millau, a truly spectacular drive, and better than the Ardeche in our opinion. As far as we could see, there were only 2 aires on the eastern side, one lovely one at St Florac and one at Ispignac, the rest of the route is 'aireless'so we stayed at a few sites on the route across, then went and had a look at the 'Viaduc de Millau' from underneath, and visited the excellent Millau market before going back over the top of the viaduct and heading north staying at a nice little aire at Aydat, south of Clermont Ferrand near a lake and the aire at Beaugency again which broke up the long slog back to Calais via Paris again for our usual shopathon at Cite Europe and Auchan (isn't it amazing how many places you can find to stash booze in a motorhome!). 

Our last but one night was spent at the Calais aire which has now been spoilt IMO, they have resurfaced it and put proper marked parking areas and a m/home servicing point. The area is now fitted with an electronic barrier. To gain access, you have to purchase a ticket (€7) for the barrier from the nearby Municipal campsite, only open until 1900hrs in season and 1700hrs out of season, so what happens when you arrive after these times, I don't know. Luckily for us, the barrier was broken and we spent the night free, there were a lot less M/homes there than normally at this time of year so I think a lot of the European m/homers are now giving it a miss which is a shame, although you can still access the servicing point without entering the parking area if you want to fill up before going elsewhere.
Final night at Dunkerque (got lost again on the way to the m/home park!) before driving to the ferry…

Arrived at 0930 in time for the 1030 crossing, only to be told that one of the ships was out of action and the 1030 was cancelled, so we were now on the 1245. Sat in the queue until 1230, still no sign of a ship, trucks and cars backed right up to the roundabout and a sense of chaos was in the air, no information was being displayed, no service personnel to be found to find out what was going on, spoke to a few of the regular van drivers and it happens quite frequently apparently, eventually I walked the long walk back to reception to try to find out the situation, eventually after a lot of complaints, we eventually discovered that there was a ship arriving at 1400 (ish), we eventually left Dunkerque at 1600hrs, 5 ½ hrs late, this all was apparently the knock on effect of 1 ship being taken out of service the previous day with 'technical difficulties', I did a bit of moaning at reception because of nil feedback to the customer and was given 2 meal tickets for the return trip for my trouble, many got nothing for their inconvenience, not the best way to finish a nice holiday and we have decided not to travel with Norfolkline again because of this. The crossings and the prices are great, but as soon as a ship develops a fault, they don't seem to be able to cope with the backlog, perhaps sometimes, cheapest ain't best?

Anyway, apart from that little glitch at the end we had a fantastic holiday, but at the same time its nice to be back, on logging back to MHF I've found there is 'only' 712 posts since my last visit so I could be busy catching up for some time.

Now to plan the next adventure…..

pj


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## GypsyRose (May 9, 2005)

Welcome back!! I found your account most interesting!! We are off later in the year and whereas I spent time in France as a child, we have never toured in the MH and I am sure France has changed a lot over all the years LOL! 
Really interested in the gypsy town of Saintes Maries de al Mer... off to google it now!! 
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us all!! Ana xx


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## Motorhomersimpson (May 9, 2005)

Welcome back Pete, looks like you had an excellent trip, apart from the return ferry.

Excellent post by the way, I enjoyed reading through it and it almost made me feel like I was actaully there.

MHS...Rob


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## Texas (May 9, 2005)

*The wife is not amused Peejay! *

I've just read part of your holiday account to her, her face took on a look of despondency at the part about the ferry having no 'duty paid' perfume shop.

We usually travel by 'Seafrance' but this year being the 'tight git' that I am, I booked a ticket on Norfolk Line to take advantage of their cheap prices.

Do 'Speedferries' have a duty paid shop on their vessel? I hope not, as this was the alternative company I would have chosen to get across the channel.

Apart from your ferry calamity, it sounds like you had a great holiday, *welcome home.*

Texas


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanx for all the 'welcome backs',

Texas, I Know what you mean, my other half was also most dischuffed, she never buys any on board, far too expensive (for me) , but always likes to have a good squirt of the freebies.

pete.


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## hymmi (May 9, 2005)

Hi peejay,

Welcome back,that's a really interesting read thanks,makes Skeggy sound rather dull :wink: 

Membership's gone up a bit since you left too,happy reading..............


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