# French trip diary 10-25 June



## umcorps (Sep 10, 2005)

As an extreme lurker I thought I really ought to put something back into this site for a change. So, as we just got back from a great French break, here's the trip diary....


Sunday (10th June)

Left Leeds mid morning. Arrived at Eurotunnel around 5-30 pm for our scheduled crossing at 8-30 pm and were offered the earlier, 6-30 crossing at no cost. Had planned to overnight on the Aire privee at the Elf petrol station but it wasn't where I remembered it (Elf station is now Total by the look of things). Didn't fancy a night on the lorry park so went off to Calais Plage instead. Lots of room and not too much noise from the local lads in their hot(ish) hatches. Lulled to sleep by the thrum of the car ferries coming and going.



Monday

Overcast and cool so decided to make it a driving day, heading west down the autoroute with the idea of staying around Mont St Michael. Arrived in the general area by mid afternoon. Was reminded that France is quite big! We'd decided to try out the aire at Mont St Michael and what an aire it is! Actually, it's more of a dedicated camp site for motorhomes with everything except a shower block. Our book (2006 verision) said it had 15 places. More like 115! Beautifully laid out, fully landscaped. Most placements are double width (min) and separated from each other by mature hedging and shrubbery. Cost per night is 8 euros but that includes unlimited water and power (many of the placements have their own hookup points). 



There is an entry/exit barrier. To get into the aire you need to pay your 8 euros and get the entry code at the hotel reception nearby. Drive past the aire, turn left at the junction heading for the Mount and the hotel is first right, just before the supermarket. Get the code before trying to enter, otherwise you'll feel like a right prat as you wait at the barrier for your spouse to find her way to the hotel and back while the traffic piles up behind you and people start making uncomplimentary comments about the English attitude to forward planning. Once on the aire, beer and a barbecue took the stress of the day away.



Tuesday

Struck out on foot for Mont Saint Michael. It's about 2 km from the aire but its a lovely walk so we weren't complaining. By 11-00 am the place was heaving. Must be hilarious in high season. Wandered back and picked up a few bits for lunch at the supermarket. It's not really much of a supermarket, more of a huge souvenir store with a bit of food on the side. Not somewhere to rely on for provisions if you plan to stay for any length of time. As no one seemed to be bothering much about who was on the aire and as the entry code was still working, we spent this night without charge. I'm not sure they will be so slack in high season.



There were plenty of vans camping wild in the car park at the Mount. It looked safe enough and, if we hadn't needed the water we might have just done that instead. You certainly have better views there. But if you want some personal space, or if you have kids who need some space to romp, the aire is well worth the money. If you do want to wild camp, the campsite opposite the aire has an aire interieur where you can fill up and dump waste for 2.80 euros.



Wednesday

V grey and unseasonally chilly. Decided to check out a ruined castle at Hunaudaie, said to be very picturesque and romantic. Arrived around lunchtime and confirmed that said castle is, indeed, incredibly pretty and romantic providing that a) you can make out the basic shape through the scaffolding that is currently up while the castle is renovated and b) you can see the scaffolding throught the rain which, by now, is coming down in stair-rods. We did not get out of the van. :roll: 



Headed for the aire at Erquy instead. A fine, large aire and right on the beach, facing west into what turned out to be a beautiful sunset once the rain stopped. Unsurprisingly popular, so get there early if you want a space. 5 euros per day including water. Don't be tempted to avoid paying. The local gendarme likes to visit in the early evening to give his writing hand some exercise, which caused marital disharmony in the van next to us. This was the only aire we visited where the local boulanger visited in her van in the morning to dispense bread and croissants.



We decided that, if the weather was kind, we'd stay here the next day and walk round the bay into the town and see what was what.



Thursday



Pouring down. Plan B - head west for Camaret-sur-Mere, chosen because the aire sounded like it might be a good one. Turned out to be a very good call.



The aire at Camaret is right above the town, adjacent to to a set of standing stones, similar to Carnac except they have about 40 stones to Carnac's hundereds. Excellent and easy coastal walks are available in all directions. The nearest sandy beach is about 700 metres away (note, not a swimming beach. Good for surfing I would imagine but there will be a savage undertow. Caution needed!). The aire is beautifully laid out, each placement separated from the next by a raised planting bed. Apparently it was voted aire of the year in 2004. The placements are about a van and a half wide so if you park to one side there is lots of room to get the awning up and the barbie out. As the weather had cleared nicely, that was exactly what happened. 5 euros a night including water. Bargain.



Friday



Wandered down into the town, about 1km from the aire (out of the entrance, turn left and follow the road down the hill). Basically, once on the front, if you throw a rock you will hit a decent restaurant. We ended up for lunch at "Le crabe qui rit" and, by the time we were done it wasn't just the crab that was laughing. We enjoyed it so much we resolved to stay over and do it all again the next day.



Saturday



Stair-rods r us. Plan B. Lets see if it's raining in Loctudy, just west of Pont l'Abbe. 



Got there mid afternoon and, yes, it was not raining. Which was nice. The aire, however, is another story. The good bit - it's about 100 metres from the beach. The bad bit - it's tiny; about eight placements only. Each placement is marked and is the width of a car, meaning if you park inside the lines you are so close to the next van that neither of you can open the doors. So no one bothers with the markings, meaning there are even fewer spaces than you think. Oh, and the aire service point isn't working. At all. Not even plumbed in. Just holes where the taps should be.



Best of all, just over the road is a beach bar. Who have a house band. Who start to play at 8-00 pm and who are stll playing at 2-00 am. By which time, the drunken chorus of "With or without you" loses all it's dubious charm. 



Sunday



To Quiberon. One of the great aires. We thought the bad weather would have put a lot of weekenders off and, as we arrived, that looked right. Only three other vans there, meaning we could plant ourselves right at the front of the aire, overlooking the Cote Sauvage. A house with a view like this would cost millions. The view is ours for 5 euros a night plus 2 euros for water. We pay gladly. 



By the time we've had lunch, the weather has improved markedly and a walk along the coast seems in order. Vans start to arrive in their droves. Smug? Us?



Monday



Some good weather arrives. We stroll into town, get some shopping in and wander back along the coast, stopping off at the restaurant that stands alone just outside Quiberon to the west (can't remember the name but not the one on the point). Excellent seafood and great, home made desserts. Roll back to the van, kip, light tea, wander down to the beach and watch the waves and the setting sun. Bliss.



Tuesday



Still good weather. No way am I giving up this pitch. The idea emerges (ie neither of us is taking responsibilty for this) that we go into town again, but walk out to Port Haliguen and come back round the coast to the town in time for lunch. This seems like such a great thing to do that neither of us actually bother to look at a map first to see how far it is.



4 hours later we get back into Quiberon, wondering if anywhere will still be serving lunch. A great walk once you are actually at Port Haliguen. The costline is really lovely. But there is rather a lot of it. For once, it was good it was a bit overcast. Plodding round there in full sun would have been no fun at all.



Wednesday



A day of near misses. We had resolved to visit Gavrinis, the neolithic tummulus on an island in the gulf of Morbihan. So (very reluctantly) we left Quiberon and headed for Lamour Baden to get the boat to the island. Along the way we stopped at the Super U in Auray to get provisions. The fish counter had a promotion on langoustines so fresh most of them were trying to climb out of their box. I was a bit unsure if I had a pan big enough for them in the van but the nice lady behind the counter said she would cook them there and then while we did the rest of our shopping ("avec un petit sel monsieur?"). 10 mins later we left with the freshest bag of langoustine it is possible to get. Try that at your local Tesco.



Got to Lamor Baden at 10-30 to find that, as we were out of season, the next boat was not till mid afternoon. So we passed on that.



Note that, if you are wanting to visit Gavrinis, you can't park on the quay and access is quite tight in places. There is a car park for motorhomes up the hill from the quay (head for the quay but don't turn into it, carry on up the hill signed as a no through road) I didn't check it out personally so I have no idea how big/small it is. It looked like wild camping is discouraged locally so don't anticipate being able to overnight there, especially in season.



We decided to head inland in anticipation of getting back to the Channel coast later in the week and thought Josselin seemed like it might be worth a look, so pointed the sat-nav in that direction. Not a bad idea. The aire there is excellent - a large, tree-lined square in a quiet residential area with a brand new service point and all free. Recommended. The town itself is also very pretty in a biscuit tin sort of way - lots of old, half timbered buildings (and a rather good English bookshop) dominated by the huge castle overlooking the river. However, we arrived to find that we had missed the only English speaking guided tour of the castle (it being out of season. Did I mention that before?) and, as you are only allowed in as part of a guided tour and as my French isn't up to that kind of speed, we decided to give it a miss.



Other than the castle, there isn't much else to do in Josselin and it felt too early to stop for the night so, after some thought, we decided to move on. 



An easy run on fast, empty roads meant that, by early evening, we were surprised to be back on the coast at St Pair-sur-mare just down from Granville. I had wanted to end up at Granville at some stage but the book wasn't clear on how large the aire was there and I thought it could be a popular one and might be a bit tight by this time of day. So St Pair it was. 



Not a bad aire, well marked out, just in front of the local tennis centre. 5 euros including water but, beware! The taps on the service point are not the usual type. They have no thread on the spout, which is oval - not unlike an old bathtap. So unless you have a push fit for your hose, or a clean bucket and a funnel, filling up with water here isn't easy.



Langoustine for tea. Many.......



Thursday



Although only a couple of kilometres up the road, Granville still looked like a good place to visit. And so it was. The aire isn't the easiest to find, being right up on the top of the point near the lighthouse with a one way system that means you have to go back on yourself to get there. It would be "interesting" to navigate to in a very large motorhome as the roads are narrow and bends are tight. But, once you do find it, its a good one - quite roomy with free water and electricity. It's also surprisingly sheltered given it's position. It was blowing quite a gale that night but we didn't feel a thing. Charge is 5 euros per night but only payable if you stay after 17-00 hours. If you just want to stay during the day, its all free. Lots of good places to eat on the front overlooking the harbour and a wide range of shops in the town. Another good call.



Friday



Lateish breakfast at Granville aire interrupted by the local gendarme complaining that our ticket had fallen down and he couldn't read it. It had probably fainted in shock at the sight of sunshine. All very pleasant and easily resolved, but a reminder (if one were needed) that it's not worth spoiling your holiday for 5 euros.



Did a short trip up the coast to see the castle at Pirou. A little gem of a place, complete with a moat, just like a proper castle ought to have. Then headed in and up a bit to see the ruined abbey at Jumieges aiming to stay overnight at the aire there.



The trip to Jumieges can be interesting if you are south of the Seine. There is a free car ferry (le bac du Jumieges) just off the D313 which was fine for us, but you must be less than 3 metres high and under 3.5 tonnes to use it. Access ramps at either side are steep - we grounded our exhaust both on and off, but no damage was done. If you have a bigger van, there is a much bigger ferry to the east at Duclair. Not sure if that is free or not.



We arrived at the abbey in late afternoon and it was as beautiful and atmospheric as it was supposed to be. The aire is about 200m from the abbey on the road to the ferry. It's a large gravelled area with the somewhat homemade looking service point at one end. If you want water you need to get jetons from the tourist info centre opposite the abbey. Parking is free.



We were a little uncertain about staying because they were clearly preparing for some kind of festival the next day involving a large bonfire in the field by the side of the aire. Visions of Wicker Man and all that. But it proved to be no problem and turned out to be a lovely, peaceful place to spend the night. Even had some hares snuffling around the van at one point. Some kids from the village turned up around 11-00 pm and started letting off firecrackers but there was no malice involved and they kept their distance. I kept an eye on them until they ran out of ammo then turned in and left them to it.



Saturday.



The following morning revealed why such a large area is only authorised for 10 motorhomes. This is where the coach trips to the abbey park up while their punters take in the views. So, as they arrive, its a quick breakfast and then off we go to...



Le Crotoy. A little village on the baie du Somme. The aire is about 2km out of the town and used to be next to the municipal camp site. However, the campsite seems to have closed since the last time we were here, so no signposts! Signposting for the aire is not good until you are on top of it. Don't go through the town but head out towards ****. The aire is then just visible from the next roundabout after the town. 



The aire is a good sized piece of ground behind the sand dunes right at the end of the promenade. Nothing special, but a wonderful location if you like big expanses of sand and even bigger skies. Its popular and gets full quickly. Cost is the usual 5 euros a night, plus 2 for water. Again, the gendermes visited in late afternoon to check people had paid.



It's a good location if you want to do beach stuff with the kids, but do keep an eye on them. This is one of those flat expansive bays where the tide goes so far out you can't see the sea at low tide, but comes in so quickly on the turn it can outflank you easily. Also, you can't see the aire from the beach (or vice versa) and with dunes being rather featureless, it's quite easy to lose your bearings, as our son found out several years ago here when he got thoroughly lost, giving us all the worst 3 hours of our collective lives.



We walk into town in the teeth of a gale (but full sun) and get some fishy bits for tea. And then got the faces sandblasted again on the way back. Sun, sea, sand and free cosmetic surgery. My, how we laughed.



Sunday



Woken at dawn by a demented and very persistent cuckoo. Lie awake considering the widsom of adding a gun to the van inventory. Only one possible plan for today - run back up to Calais, fill the garage with wine and hunker down back at Calais plage for an early night before getting le Shuttle back home early Monday. Needless to say, it chucks it down with rain most of the day.

Monday

Up at 4-00 am in Calais, get on the hopeful side of the Dartford tunnel by 7-00 am and think we are doing well. Soon discover that, while it might have rained in France a fair bit, it's REALLY raining over here. A1 is closed in both directions and we don't see home until almost 4-00 pm.

I need another holiday.


Mark


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## Waleem (Nov 1, 2006)

Mark
Thanks for that. It reminds me how much I am looking forward to going in August !! We know Le Crotoy well-a nice little town. The Aire at St Valery Sur Somme is also a good one-just down the road.
Our intention this year is to take the kids to the Normandy beaches/museums as my Son is very interested in WW2 history.
We usually combine campsites and Aires because the kids like a swimming pool occasionally.
We usually stay at Le Crotoy or St Valery Aires the night before our return crossing-they are roughly an hour and a half from Calais.


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## 94639 (May 1, 2005)

Nice report Mark, thanks very much. It bought back memories of our visit to Erquy last year. And yes the gendarme was in action during our stay, he caught out quite a few surprisingly most were French and Belgian.


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## DandM (Nov 7, 2006)

I just love reading stuff like this, full of very interesting places to visit, better than any guide book.

Thanks for sharing.

We are preparing our motorhome for our main holiday trip, starting 5th July with the long overnight journey to Dover after that its a weekend in Gent (to watch the Tour de France as it passes Blaarmeersen on Monday 9th)
then down to Luxenbourg for a day or two before heading down to Marseillan Plage where we have booked a site for a week (my daughter her hubby and our two granddaughters like the pools and entertainment) after that we have a whole week unplanned for our trip back to Calais for the ferry. Three and a bit weeks of touring in all, can't wait!!!  

I hope to write a trip report on our return


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## umcorps (Sep 10, 2005)

" The Aire at St Valery Sur Somme is also a good one-just down the road."

Agree! That was our fallback position aire if Jumiege had been pants. But it would have meant crossing back over the Seine again which might have been too much fun for one day. But St Valery certainly has the better view if you like water (as I do).

And, yes, Le Crotoy is an excellent stopoff to/from Calais. If I'd have had my thinking head on I'd have gone there the night we arrived rather than tracking back to Calais plage. Would have made the journey to Mont St Michael shorter too.

"And yes the gendarme was in action during our stay, he caught out quite a few surprisingly most were French and Belgian."

I've concluded that the French take the view that the law applies to everyone except them personally. We saw some great examples of this in action - particularly an incident where the road was partially blocked by a fallen tree and had been signposted as closed but people insisted on ignoring the signs with hilarious if predictable results. So it's probably easy money for the local gendarme. :lol: 

Mark


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Excellent. Thank you!

All that waste lurking on MHF until now! 

Dave


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## freewheeler (Nov 6, 2005)

I love this reports - the best bit about MHF - well done! 

Can I go off at a tangent and ask DandM about Blaarmeesen? - we are going over and have not formalised a plan yet to watch the Tour - is this a good location to watch? I was thinking of avoiding Gent but want to see a finish - what would parking be like for a 7m M/H? 
Any other suggestions for the first 3 days of the tour in Northern France would be appreciated. I have heard that Compiegne is supposed to be very nice but it is hardly the Alps/Pyrenees is it?


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## DandM (Nov 7, 2006)

In reply to the Blaarmeersen question from freewheeler....

We visited this site in April and decided to visit again as its not too far from Calais for our first stop and initially I booked from Friday till Monday.
On receiving a confirmation email from the site they informed us if we were moving on the Monday it would have to be very early as the "Tour" is passing the site and all roads would be closed. So we booked an additional night so that we could watch a small part of this fabulous event.
So it was purely by accident, although we are delighted to be given this opportunity to watch this famous race.
The campsite is situated directly next to a smashing wide boulevard bordering a canal which the race will pass along so its a perfect place for viewing. I have no idea if a finishing stretch is nearby and I must admit I have no idea where the route goes from there. It was just pure luck that I picked the site for our first stop and that the timing was perfect. I was a bit surprised that there was a pitch still available for us given the popularity of an event like this.
Sorry I can't be more helpful

Dennis


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## DandM (Nov 7, 2006)

sorry freewheeler, you also asked about parking.

The campsite at Blaarmeersen is next to a large lake which is a very popular spot 10 minutes from the centre of Gent. There is a large carpark to accomodate the visitors but god only knows how early you would have to be. It is a big area but then the "Tour" is, as you obviously know a huge crowd puller.
Good luck in whatever choice you make

Dennis


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## freewheeler (Nov 6, 2005)

*Apologies*

Apologies to umcorps for hijacking your excellent post about your France trip. 
The Tour de France is coming soon and I am trying to work out the best way of seeing it so I was keen to get some info.

Back to your post about your trip - as I mentioned before, these trip accounts are one of the best things about this website and I love reading them. 
Very informative and a good read - excellent stuff!!


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## Batch (Dec 2, 2005)

Thanks Umcorps I have been planning my July trip and was going to go to some of the places you've mentioned. Any pics of the aires?


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## Frantone (Sep 6, 2006)

*Trip report*

Thanks for the good read! I really enjoy other people's trips.
We've also just returned. It was our 'maiden solo voyage'. (We went on the MHF Ganspette trip to learn the ropes).
We had a great time despite the crap weather, and learned huge amounts. We were lucky enough to be in Saumur on the night the castle was lit up and fireworked! We camped on the island (Isle d'Offard) and had a great view with a free live band in the site entrance!
One of the other highlights was the French Passion system. We only used a couple but will be back for plenty more! The two week trip was a real eye opener and has given us the confidence to return in a much less formal manner to use more aires and 'Passion' sites. Vive La France!!!

TonyP


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## Nora+Neil (May 1, 2005)

Great report.

Have started a log book with notes on different places.

Thanks.


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## umcorps (Sep 10, 2005)

"Any pics of the aires?"

Not really. A shot of the bonfire to be at Jumierge is as close as it gets.

There are a few other scenic ones attatched too


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Great report why don't you publish it (cut and paste) as a blog on here? Also add campsites or reviews to the database then we will know that you are a truely reformed 'lurker'


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## umcorps (Sep 10, 2005)

More photos (clicked on "submit" too early!)


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