# France for the first time



## averhamdave (May 21, 2005)

Hi all. We are off touring into France with friends (2 campers) from October 4th for 12 days.

Have been before in caravan - all arranged by the C&CC, but this time we have just booked ferry and that's it!

We arrive at midnight in Calais - where to park for night?

What will weather be like? Should we just keep heading south?

Well it should be fun providing we aren't gassed, mugged, robbed........

Dave :lol:


----------



## aido (May 17, 2005)

*post subject*

Hi Dave
there is a nice site 12 miles from calais in Guines" La bein assis" is the name of the site,after that head south have a great time......aido


----------



## Scotjimland (May 23, 2005)

averhamdave said:


> We arrive at midnight in Calais - where to park for night?
> 
> What will weather be like? Should we just keep heading south?


Arriving at midnight I would stay at the aire by the beach or in the lorry park by the marina and get a few hours sleep .. To continue driving south during the night would be tiring and sooner or later you would need to look for a stopping place. Aires on the Autoroutes are best avoided.

Leave early next day refreshed and head south ...

Don't know about the weather .. lol.. best of luck and enjoy your trip..

Jim


----------



## 89660 (Jun 2, 2005)

From Calais take d 940 to cap Blanc Nez, there is a large car park off the road used by Motorhomes. A nicer spot is at Cap Gris Nez a bit further west along the same road , then follow signs along a minor road. For the time of night that you are arriving then Cap Blanc Nez is easier to get to and to park up on. The ground at Cap Griz Nez is uneven and best seen in daylight.


----------



## apothecary (May 14, 2005)

*Calais Overnight*

Hi Dave,
Enjoy your trip. When Viv and I go to Calais, we use the motorhome stopover at Calais Plage. As you enter Calais harbour , you should be able to see some vans parked on your right. Easiest way to get there is about 10 miles around the motorway network. Don't panic! Leave Calais harbour and you'll be travelling East. After a little way, the road turns 90 degrees right, i.e. south. Head in that direction untill you see a sign for Boulogne (A16 motorway- Free!) turn right onto motorway and come off at junction 43, Bleriot Plage. Head north following signs for Bleriot plage and watch the signposts at the roundabouts. After about two or three you'll see the bottom sign says P Camping Cars. Just keep following these signs. If you manage to get lost, head north until you hit the sea front, then turn right and follow your nose.
Have a great trip. Don't worry about being gassed, you won't be. It's an urban myth! But keep an eye out for muggers or thieves. They definately do exist, in this country as well as ours. Don't get paranoid, be sensible and enjoy!

Regards

Dave Moore


----------



## averhamdave (May 21, 2005)

Thanks for the replies. I think we'll park up at Cap Blanc Nez, get a few hours sleep and then set off.

What's the weather going to be like if we go as far south as Nice? And if we do how long will it take us to get there? !!!!!


----------



## averhamdave (May 21, 2005)

Thanks, Apothacary, that sounds even better.

Cheers Dave


----------



## marionandrob (May 14, 2005)

Hi dave
We,ve just come back from our first ever road trip to France.we crossed Dover to Dunkerque with Norfolk line and steamed off down the motorway network to visit our friends who emigrated to a village just outside Avignon last year. After a few days in Provence we then made our way slowly back up the N roads to Dunkerque via Granoble ( and almost Geneva thanks to a few map reading errors)
What did we learn?
most notably our french is crap!
French banks do not keep Cash! you cannot change sterling in small towns but everywhere accepts credit/debit cards.and even large motorway aires have cashpoints
Motorways have Aires ( stopping places) about every 20Km or so, some have petrol stations,some are just stopping areas, we stopped overnight on one with a petrol station, quite noisy but safe!
The cheapest places we found for diesel are Intermarche or Champion supermarkets ( usually on an N road just on the edge of a town- and often 24 hour, stick your card in the pump just like Tesco) Motorway gas stations charge about 15c more per litre supermarket price for diesel (Gazole in French was about 1.05 euro per litre.
We would definitely use the Motorway network to just south of Reims, getting back from reims to Dunkerque on N roads was hard work due to the large number of towns,South of Reims we often drove on N roads for 30-45 minutes without seeing another vehicle.
Lots of the N roads heading south are the old main trunk roads,so lots of small towns have lorry parks where they do not bat an eyelid if you camp overnight, ( we did this a couple of times)a lot of these have a hotel/restaurant or at least a Boulangerie/Patisserie nearby, the smell of fresh bread is a remarkably effectve alarm clock!
Lots of towns and even quite small villages in Provence have camp sites and aires, they are usually quite well signposted, we stayed on a couple of municipal campsites and found them quite pleasant with shaded hedged pitches. 
Get a good road map and be ready for eccentric signposting. we found that when approaching a junction on an N road the first sign you see will be local stuff, a bit nearer the junction you will get the names of the next large town on each road ( NO ROAD NUMBERS) then right at th junction ( often in the mouth of the turning) yo will get a sign with the road number at the top so to navigate via N roads you need to know the name of the next town along the road 
If you plan on going via Grenoble,Reims or Lyon use the motorway ( peage) to get round the city, it will save you a lot of grief and in most cases the bit around the city is free ( I think we paid a couple of euros around Reims because I made a cock up with the navigation) 
motorway signposting is very much like the U.K but cross border through routes may be signposted through to cities in other countries, we saw signs for Geneva, Milan and Barcelona on our travels!
The weather was good while we were away ( 10th to 24th September) it gets warmer the further south you go (30c in Avignon) but you need to think about the amount of driving, its about 650 miles from Dunkerque to Avignon which took us about 10 hours of actual driving, you then need breaks for meals etc.
This post is getting a bit long so i'm going to sign off, 
Have a good trip.

Marion


----------



## GypsyRose (May 9, 2005)

Marion, that was very interesting and good information ... thank you!  We are off (also the first time in the MH) early Dec .... for 3 months and I will make note of your comments. Sounds as if you had a good time! Ana xx


----------

