# South for the winter



## tombo5609 (Dec 29, 2007)

After just completing a 12 week tour of France and Germany we have decided to take our Hymer 644 south for the winter. We have no particular route in mind but will travel at a leisurely pace and hope to spend several weeks in southern Spain. We would appreciate any advice from anybody with reccomendations on a route or stopovers. Getting away from the winter weather is the main requirement. Thanks, Tom.


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## Don_Madge (May 1, 2005)

Hi Tom,

This is a trip we did to Spain/Portugal last winter (2007) . The fuel prices are a bit dated.

This is a summary of our trip down to Conil de la Frontera, Spain in
Jan 2007. As you are considering a trip south for the winter might find
this info useful..

We used the Dover/Calais crossing, as we have a 275 mile journey to
Dover we have found in the past a Saturday is a quieter day to do the
journey. Also you get a truck free day on Sunday, your first day in
France.

Sat. 13th Jan.
We had a very uneventful trip to Dover where on arrival we found the
ferry was delayed for two hours. As we planned to spend the night on
Calais docks it was not really a problem except we arrived at
midnight instead of 22.00hrs. We stayed the night on the "unbooked
crossing" car park. There were about 6 other vans there. It was
fairly quiet night as not too many trucks are on the move Sat night
Sun morning.

FRANCE
Sun. 14th Jan.
A very good refuelling place at Calais is the Elf filling station
just off Junc 3 as you are leaving the port complex. Take the last
exit of the roundabout and the Elf station is on the right. We paid
€1.02 for a litre of diesel.

We travelled 363 miles and stayed on the aire at St Maure which is
about 20 miles south of Tours on the N10. We used the Peage
(motorway) from Calais to Tours. A16, A28 to Rouen, Le Mans and
Tours. Totals tolls were €49.90. We have been using the aire at St
Maure for many years and it is usually very quiet at night, if you
don't want an early call park well away from the "bottle bank".

Mon 15th Jan.
Today we had a 320 mile trip to St Jean de Luz were we stayed at
Camping Larrouleta (€15.50 per night) for two nights, we like to have
a day off after three days of driving. The site has wifi connection
â‚¬5 for 30 min.

A very good refuelling point is the Champion hypermarket which is 14
miles south of St Maure on the N10, we paid €0.97 for a litre of
diesel.

The N10 is now nearly all dual carriageway to Bordeaux. We did use
the Peage from Chatellerault north to Poitiers south at a cost of
€.70 we think it's well worthwhile it to avoid the hassle of going
through the towns.

When you reach the Bordeaux ring road follow the signs for Bassin
D'Arcachon and Bayonne A 63. I would suggest you stay on the A63 to
the Spanish boarder as the N10 gets very congested going through
Bayonne, Biarritz and St Jean de Luz.

At the Leclerc hypermarket at St Jean de Luz diesel was Euro 0.99 per
litre. In France diesel prices varied from €1.16 on the "Peage" to
€0.97 at the super/hypermarkets. Extreme caution should be exercised
when refuelling at Super/Hypermarkets as some of them have a very
restricted manoeuvring area.

In France the Autoroutes (Motorways) are signed in Blue the N routes
are signed in green. The Autoroute is mainly a toll road and the toll
sections are clearly signed "PEAGE". Tolls can be paid by cash (â‚¬) or
the "Plastic". The tolls can work out very expensive over long
distances.

Many people use the word "PEAGE" when referring to toll roads
throughout Europe.

SPAIN

Wed 17th Jan.
We travelled 270 miles to La Cabrera, which is 60 km north of Madrid.
We travelled via the A63 peage (€2.20) into Spain, AP8 San Sebastian
(€1.45) then A1,Vitoria, AP1 Burgos (€9.15) and A1 La Cabrera. We
stayed at Camping Pico de la Miel (€18.50 per night) the site is not
suitable for ARV's and the touring pitches are restricted in height
by metal overhead frames.

Thurs 18th Jan.
Today we had a 300 mile trip to Camping Cubillas (€14.50 per night) a
lake side site 9 km north of Granada.

Fri 19th Jan.
Today we had a 205 mile trip to Camping La Rosaleda at Conil de la
Frontera which is about 30 miles east of Cadiz in a non "touristy"
area. The site has excellent facilities, well designated pitches of a
good size. There are only a few pitches suitable for ARV's. Suitable
for long stays with very good discounts (€255 for 30 nights) there's
also a very good on site restaurant. Free wifi connection is also
available.


MADRID RING ROAD.
With the completion of the Madrid ring road transiting the city is
now very easy. It's a very well engineered "Spaghetti" junction, I
set the cruise control at 60 mph and maintained that speed for most
of the trip round the ring road. For rapid entry/exit to the city
there are the R (rapid) routes they are clearly marked "Peaje/Toll"
We used R4 to exit the city and it cost us €7 for the 56 km
journey well worth the expense to avoid the very heavy traffic
leaving the city.

If you are transiting the city from the north (E5/A1) to the south
(E5/A4) just follow this route.

From E5/A1
Take M50, Head towards E90 A2 Zaragoza M45 A3 A4

Head towards R3 Valencia E901 A3 Valencia A4 R4 A42 R5

E5 A4 Cordoba Exit 46.
Or for rapid route follow signs R4.

These instructions might seem complicated but they are easy to
follow. If by any chance you do get lost just follow any A4/R4
Cordoba sign.
In Spain the motorways are called Autovia and Autopista, normally the
Autovia is free and the Autopista is a toll road. The Autovia is
signed A, while the Autopista is signed AP. There could be some
exceptions.

Safe travelling.

Don


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## 101405 (Oct 15, 2006)

Andalucia/ southern SPAIN
Come and enjoy what will be like a very good english summer, The best climate in europe is from Motril to Tarifa with the best bit between Nerja -Malaga . But it can feel cold once the sun drops and night temps drop to 5c
Cultural wise not great Except for Granada and Cordobra but its cold up there as they have a winter ?Explore all the coastal towns along the way stop off at Torre-del-mar our coastal town , Spanish .safe 4km prom 2 good campsites . make your way to the tarifa coast past Gib!,wild .park national, Roman ruins (city) Bolonia must see! fantastic coast (real sand) Cadiz, and your not far from portugal . Learn a little spanish and enjoy.


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## Don_Madge (May 1, 2005)

Hi Tom,

You might find this info useful if you are travelling to Spain/Portugal
via the west coast of France.

Calais, Rouen, Tours, Bordeaux, St Jean de Luz, San Sebastian, Vitoria,
Burgos, Madrid, Granada and Malaga that's if we are heading for Morocco.

If we are going to Portugal it will be Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, and the
Algarve.

If you want to visit northern Portugal and come down the west coast to the
Algarve then a good route is, Burgos, Valladolid, Salamanca, Villa Formosa,
Guarda (the highest town in Portugal), Viseu and Aveiro. Then follow the
coast south to the Algarve.

Boulogne.

A good over night stop in Boulogne is on the Quai Gambetta, leave the A16 at
junc 3, take the D96, then at the roundabout turn left and take the D940
for Boulogne.The parking is on the Quai Gambetta behind the Jardin de
Nausicaa. The area also doubles as a coach park. We have parked there many
times over the years without any problems. I 'I've never been parked there
without a least another couple of vans even in winter. You can sit and watch
the Speedferries craft coming and going. It's about a 15 minute walk into
town along the Quai.

This a link to the map of Boulogne. http://tinyurl.com/yxqale

France.

There are numerous places to stay en-route (wild) here are a few:-

Ste.-Maure-de-Touraine (south of Tours) Aire de Repos in village well signed
from N10.

On the A63 Bayonne Service Area Labenne East & West is good night stop with
marked areas for Motorhomes/Caravans which trucks are unable to get into.

There's Aire at Ondres Plage (10 ks north of Bayonne on the N10) it was not
open the last time we visited (Jan ?) but there are two/three very large sea
front car parks that are OK for an over night stop. The car park is free in
the winter but you have to pay in the summer

Ondres Plage is 4 km of the N10 on the D26 and is signed as you enter Ondres
from the North.

You can check out the place with Google maps http://local.google.com/ type
in Ondres Plage, France. Click on Satellite and zoom in. You can see how
many vehicles there are in the car park. I find this facility very useful
for checking out places.

Spain

In the winter in Spain on this route most restaurants and garages will allow
you to park overnight if you use their services.

I would suggest you use the Peage (A63) from Bayonne to San Sebastian as the
coast road (N10) gets very busy and goes through all the towns.

The motorway AP8 from San Sebastian to Bilbao gets very busy at times.

We've never been snowbound (yet). The Spanish are on the ball with their
snow clearing. The ploughs are out along the Autovia long before the snow
starts to fall. Two places where you could have problems. The first at the
Puerto de Somosierre (Alt.1440metres) between Burgos and Madrid. One winter
we went over the Pass behind a snow plough.

Snow chains are compulsory over the pass after a snow fall.

The other place you could get delayed is through the Gorges south of
Valdepenas. This is a spectacular road, good scenery. Some truck drivers
treat it like a grand Prix circuit. It's a dual carriageway but the road
twists and bends. (The first time we went that way we thought it was
dangerous. Now we find it exciting).

It can get a bit hairy around Granada when there's snow about.

There are plenty of night stops as far as Valdepenas after that they are few
and far between.

If you want a camp site in the area I can recommend Camping Despenaperros at
Santa Elena. Leave A4/N1V E5 at KM 257 enter the village and follow the
camping signs. If you arrive in the dark be careful as you enter the site as
the entrance is offset to the road. The gate is wide enough but you will
need to take care.

There is a very convenient site at Aranda de Duero http://tinyurl.com/yxacvz
about 50 miles south of Burgos.

Camping Soto del Castillo http://tinyurl.com/wetl8 at Aranjuz which is a
very popular stop over for the Brit's going south for the winter..

There are two alternative sites north of Madrid at Manzanares El Real

http://tinyurl.com/y7cjfz and http://tinyurl.com/y7pbo4

There are also three sites at La Cabrera which is about 60 km north of
Madrid.

I hope this helps.

Safe travelling

Don


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## tombo5609 (Dec 29, 2007)

Thank you all for very informative and interesting replies. I have printed them off and will spend a few happy hours planning our route.
We have spent that last ten years touring the US in a motorhome so if anyone would like info then I would only be to happy to oblige.
Thanks again, Tom.

PS. I have just reread my posting and realise a visit to spellcheck might have been a good idea!!!.


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## 101405 (Oct 15, 2006)

Just a rider ! for traversing Madrid best use m30 this is a good run right through Madrid none stop follow signs for A4 Cordobra / Jaen /Granada. 
You must stop at Burgos and visit the city/Cathedral. might be a bit chilly? Snow !Buen viajes.


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## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi.

The route we took this year on our way to Benidorm was.

(1) Diver Calais on a 9.20am sailing Sunday. We use Sundae as it is a very quiet day on there roads no lorries so you make good time. We did not use one motorway through france. Only use NO & D roads. We route then went. Calais- Abbeville-Roan-Bernay, and then stopped at an aires at broglie.

(2) Monday. We left Broglie at 9 am to - S's - Alencon - Le Mans - La-Flesh - Saumur where we were going to stop at an aires but the sat nav sent us on a route that ended up at a bridge with a width & height restriction. So we went onto an aires at Le-Coudray-Macouard.

(3) Tuesday. We left at 8.30am to - Thouars - Parthenay - Niort where we found the aires in the middle of the town. We stayed here two nights.

(4) Thursday We left at 8 am to get out of the town before it got busy. We went onto Surgeres - Rochefort - and down to the aires at Sat-Georges-de-Didonne. We spent the afternoon here on the beach and left at 5pm to go on to the aires at Cavigna.

(5) Friday We left early 7.30am from Cavigna to try and get round Bordeaux before it gets busy. No luck stuck in traffic for over an hour. We made our way down to the aires at Biarritz where we spent 2 nights.

(6) Sunday. We left at 8am for our drive into spain. Our route was to Sane-Sebastian - Pamplona - and down to Alfare where we left the spanish motorway. We then went onto Zaragoza - Teruel - Navajus where we stopped at a campsite. Yet again the roads were quiet as it was a sunday.

(7) Monday We left at 9.30am to Valencia and benidorm.

(8) Total distance 1165 miles but you could shave some miles off this if you are sure of some smaller roads.

steve & ann. ----------------- teensvan.


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