# france to murcia{nearly newbie}in december



## tessajoe (Sep 23, 2008)

hi to all,after much deliberation we have decided to leave for our winter getaway on the 27th of december,we are going to use the tunnel now thats not a problem,the problem is the o/h wants to take it easy travelling ie about 100 miles per day,and was wondering what was the best route to take{bearing in mind sites and safe aires that are open en route}we have never travelled through france in dec/jan so are unsure as the best route.we are not to bothered about lecky{but safetey is paramount}sorry to keep mentioning safetey,but we was broken into once before in perpignan while we was sleeping{woke up in time to scare them off but motorhome nxt to us was robbed of all valuables inc passports}anyway enough of that,we would be very gratefull if anyone can help us plan our journey,thank you.


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

tessajoe said:


> hi to all,after much deliberation we have decided to leave for our winter getaway on the 27th of december,we are going to use the tunnel now thats not a problem,the problem is the o/h wants to take it easy travelling ie about 100 miles per day,and was wondering what was the best route to take{bearing in mind sites and safe aires that are open en route}we have never travelled through france in dec/jan so are unsure as the best route.we are not to bothered about lecky{but safetey is paramount}sorry to keep mentioning safetey,but we was broken into once before in perpignan while we was sleeping{woke up in time to scare them off but motorhome nxt to us was robbed of all valuables inc passports}anyway enough of that,we would be very gratefull if anyone can help us plan our journey,thank you.


Hi I can help with a few safe all year round stops on the 1st leg of the journey need to get info out of MH though. mind you we actually found doing more than a 100 miles a day was really easy.


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## whistlinggypsy (May 1, 2005)

tessajoe, now you have decided to travel through France instead of Pommie/Bilbao route i could help you with some places to stay, but with your concern for safety sites en-route seem to be your best bet, unfortunately they are thin on the ground in france in dec.

We are leaving early Dec. travelling through France but only too Valencia area and we will be staying on Aires throughout France.

Have you looked at the campsite database for Aires along your chosen route, you mention being broken into near Perpignan, i was not by chance the Catalan Village :wink: as this is the most dangerous of stopovers along the winter sunshine route.

If you want some more assistance PM me and i will help you all i can.

Bob


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## 101405 (Oct 15, 2006)

It will be a doddle. Use french Aire de service's! Not Autoroute services.
make for San Sebastian then Irun and Vitoria Gastez , Burgos is a great 
stopover . make for madrid using the m30 which will take you right though madrid and onwards to Jaen -Granada, plan your route and stops lots of folk here will give you best /safest places to stop. hide all your documents !any cards you dont need also, Use a photo D/licence as ID not your passport !with any cards , always lock your M/H even if your next to it, Be AWARE . Enjoy have a good journey


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## averhamdave (May 21, 2005)

We'll be going down, early/mid Dec this year but last year we too left on 27th Dec.

Echo all the advice given above but respectfully suggest you will soon change your mind about the 100 miles per day bit! France / N. Spain do not cater for tourists at all at this time of year although you'll find most Aires open. Also the weather will probably be dire until you get into Spain. I will want to be in Benidorm within 3 to 4 days of leaving home and have done it is 2 days previously.


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## Annsman (Nov 8, 2007)

Hi, we're booked on the ferry, Dover to Calais, SeaFrance £26.75 single for 2 adults, 1 dog and Cheyenne 660 motorhome. We went last year in May in a smaller van and the price has gone up 5 PENCE since then. Where do these people get off on such blatant profiteering!  

But on back on topic. Wwe are going down to the Eastern side of Spain to cross the border from France. Can anyone give me an idea of the weather through France then, i.e. snow & ice. Rain we can cope with! We usually avoid the toll roads but will they be the only safe open routes at this time of the year.

Can't wait!


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## hogan (Oct 31, 2006)

Hi Annsman
We have done this trip twice in December
Ice and snow no problem,Rain a plenty,Head south from claremond ferrand on the motoway non toll apart from the toll on Millau bridge.If going from Barcelona to Valencia Dont overnight on the motorway.A nice spot to stay is by the port at Vinaros.
Have a good trip.


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## hilldweller (Mar 8, 2008)

tessajoe said:


> the o/h wants to take it easy travelling ie about 100 miles per day {but safetey is paramount}


Illogical Captain.

The longer you are on the road the more you expose yourself to risk.

100 is only a couple of hours, not worth getting up for.

Suggest you trade in o/h for a better model. Try young Swedish, fit, with black belt Karate, they are all rally champions so all you problems are solved.


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## Annsman (Nov 8, 2007)

Thanks Hogan, We went to Millau last year and thought we might cross the bridge this year just to say we've done it! 

We will use aires in towns through France and probably wild camp to La Manga, where we are meeting some friends before carrying on further South until mid March, then heading back to Italy via Southern France.

The van will be fine in the cold I was just wondering about the roads if snow fell.


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## tessajoe (Sep 23, 2008)

hilldweller said:


> tessajoe said:
> 
> 
> > the o/h wants to take it easy travelling ie about 100 miles per day {but safetey is paramount}
> ...


i am married to a liverpool girl 35 years,now the only difference beetween a liverpool girl and a terrorist,is that you can negotiate with a terrorist,otherwise i would have a thai girl,lol.


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## hilldweller (Mar 8, 2008)

tessajoe said:


> i am married to a liverpool girl .


Oh well, no problemo as they say in Liverpool. You know the signs in back windows "BABY ON BOARD" get one made up "SCOUSER ON BOARD"

Sorted.

100 miles a day though, have I got this wrong, you're on push bikes, yes ?


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

silversurfa said:


> It will be a doddle. Use french Aire de service's! Not Autoroute services.
> make for San Sebastian then Irun and Vitoria Gastez , Burgos is a great
> stopover . make for madrid using the m30 which will take you right though madrid and onwards to Jaen -Granada, plan your route and stops lots of folk here will give you best /safest places to stop. hide all your documents !any cards you dont need also, Use a photo D/licence as ID not your passport !with any cards , always lock your M/H even if your next to it, Be AWARE . Enjoy have a good journey


 Just to add has anyone else gone round in circles at Vitoria we seemed to do so both ways.

Also if you intend to use a bank card make sure that you notify your bank before travelling, our HSBC card was stopped (rather embarrassing when wanting to pay for fuel) because the bank thought it odd that our card was being used in France, it took me ages on my mobile to sort it.


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## hilldweller (Mar 8, 2008)

Briarose said:


> Also if you intend to use a bank card make sure that you notify your bank before travelling, our HSBC card was stopped


Watchdog did this last year. They said it may not make any difference because fraud detection is done automatically by computer. There were certainly plenty of irate people, some I recall on PAYG who ran of of minutes hanging on in a queue.


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

hilldweller said:


> Briarose said:
> 
> 
> > Also if you intend to use a bank card make sure that you notify your bank before travelling, our HSBC card was stopped
> ...


 We had no problem with the Nationwide card thank goodness, it could have been an awful situation to be in, the call centre at HSBC well lets just say the operators couldn't even speak plain english, very frustrating when on a mobile abroad :roll:


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## dragonfly (Mar 10, 2007)

What's this about snow in France? OK, it happens, but last winter we were at Parc Verger, which is open all year, and where we had champagne outside on Christmas morning. On New Years Day everyone joined in a BBQ at lunchtime, and didn't break up until about 4pm.

When the sun is out it can get very warm even in midwinter, so don't write off France in the winter months!

Dragonfly


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## 101578 (Oct 28, 2006)

Oh well, no problemo as they say in Liverpool. You know the signs in back windows "BABY ON BOARD" get one made up "SCOUSER ON BOARD" 

Calm down calm down!!


We've got one of those stickers on back 8) and it works!
 Shocked i am Hilldweller!


Leaky's Scouse wench!


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## kennyo (Mar 22, 2006)

Travelled last year around the 18 December as soon as we hit Spain it started to snow and we had to pull over for a few hours it was about a foot deep on the road.


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## MikeCo (Jan 26, 2008)

To get back to the original topic you could consider what we and many others do and that is carefully plan your route to arrive at Campsites that are open, if this means doing 200-250 miles in a day then do it with the knowledge that you have a safe destination in mind.
Many people use Aires and wildcamp but that is not the way that suits us when travelling in winter.
There are sites open if you do enough searching.


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

The Caravan Club used to publish a booklet of open-all-year-round campsites that they recommend for people travelling to join one of their European winter rallys. I'm sure they'd send you one - or it might be on their website.

G

Edit: Wrong Club It's the C&CC I mean:

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/winterholidays

G


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## MikeCo (Jan 26, 2008)

The Camping and Caravan Club Winter Sun book shows some sites that are open, also if you purchase the ASCI camping site DVD you will find quite a few sites that are open all year if you put the winter dates into the options part.


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## dora (Jan 23, 2008)

The trouble with staying on main sites - it seems to me - is that they can be expensive!, Many of the ones I've seen are around 20 euro a night, which on a tour puts the price up considerably. Aires are fine with me, not sure about wild camping, haven't done that yet, but may end up doing on my New Year trip to Salou. The campsites there are definately expensive.


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## MikeCo (Jan 26, 2008)

I would still rather pay £15 or so and have a fairly safe stopover, especially in winter.


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