# Daily Diary of France First Timers - March 2007. Part 1.



## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Hi all,

Our diary is here for all to read, however, it is aimed at the "European first timers", like us, who may find the idea of touring a foreign land, to be a daunting task, with lots of unknowns on the way. We make no apologies to the "seasoned European travellers" amongst you, should you find it a bit "old hat" or long winded, but we do hope that everyone who reads it, will enjoy it, and that the less experienced, may find something useful in there somewhere.

*Day One *

Left home on the Saturday, 17/03/07, and made our way down to Kent to join (Scotjimland), Jim, Jan, Paul and Charlotte, at the Golden Lion Pub, at Luddesdown, (BA13), near Cuxton, off junction two of the M2
A very pleasant evening with good food, quality beer, and good company.

* Day Two*

Sunday sees us setting off at 10.00 and heading for the M20 for Dover, which is only about 45 miles ahead. Although our ferry booking is not until 12.15, it is always better to be early than late. 
Having booked in, and on our way round to the boarding lanes, we were motioned into the customs shed, and asked some questions by a very stern looking lady. The one that sticks in our minds most, is, "apart from kitchen knives, are you carrying any other items that might cause harm, such as other sharp implements, or ……..a baseball bat"??? Well, being as it was our first trip to the mainland Europe in the MH, and Rita's first trip to France, she was already feeling a little bit apprehensive, and this really didn't help her much. She really wanted to ask the woman, "do you feel that we might need one, where we are going", but thankfully, thought better of it.
Rita and I must look like a pair of undesirables, as this customs lady kept looking and staring at us in an overly suspicious manner. When I invited her into the MH to have a wee look, she waved us on. (Phew, she almost came close to finding the two illegal immigrants that we were trying to smuggle out, because they couldn't afford to live in "rip off Britain" any longer…………oh sorry, that was us!!!) lol
Anyway, by the time we got through customs and onto the boarding lanes, it was 11.30, and time for a cuppa before turning off the gas.
Next thing we know, there is a knock at the door, where upon a total stranger wants to invite his American pal along, to have a look inside our "European" MH, to compare it with an ARV. This sends the already nervous Rita into the defensive mode, and I vacate the MH to have a chat with matey and his pal from across the pond.
We weren't to know at the time, but they turned out to be a couple of genuine ARV owners, thankfully!!! You can't be too careful in these days.

The crossing was quick and uneventful, but a little rough. We were in the lounge at the bow of the ferry and decided to make our way to the stern. Due to it being a bit rough, Rita held onto a handrail, and couldn't bring herself to let go. In the meantime, I am quite happily staggering through the lounge thinking that Rita was right behind me. I had to go back and rescue her. The two of us, must have looked like a right pair of pi## artists. 
14.30 CET sees us disembarking and turning right, out of the docks. That's as far as our plans for this big adventure had originally got to. However, due to the forecasted weather previewed on the internet, over the forthcoming days in northern France, we decided to start making our way south. We programmed the Tom Tom, avoiding toll roads, to take us to an Aire outside Rouen, called La Mailleraye Sur Seine. This was a recommendation from Jim & Jan, and should only take about 2.5 hours from Calais.
Like we have said previously, this was our first time, and so, we found ourselves on the AutoRoute…….going through the "paege", oh, and then…….another "paege. In all, about 15 Euro worth, arriving in the town about 4 hours later, but not on the Aire yet. According to the MHF download, this wee Aire is in a housing estate behind a mini market……… not quite!!! Another Aire (camping) we found in the village was still closed. So there we are, cruising around this wee French town looking for somewhere to park up. Emotions within the MH were now rising, for the umpteenth time today. On our third trip up the main street, I had spied, what looked like a car park and sports pavilion, and decided that this was to be our overnight stop. Suddenly another MH comes down the road, waves as he passes us and proceeds to carry on down the hill. Right says I, negotiating the small roundabout AGAIN, "I bet he knows the way to the Aire". The severely peed off Rita says, "he is probably a local, coming home, from a having had lovely weekend away". Not to be deterred, I follow this MH down the hill, where upon he turns right. I duly follow, only to discover that we should have turned left. Both MH's about turn and arrive at the Aire, smack bang on the banks of the river Seine. 
"Do you want a cuppa" says Rita? "Sod off, I am having a decent drink. Where's that beer" says I ? Lol.

The Aire is small but very pleasant and peaceful.

*Day Three*

After a cold night, with rain, sleet and snow, up comes the sun and provides a lovely morning for watching some very large ships passing, creating, a wash that almost comes over the very low bank. Scary!!!
TT again set to guide us down past Le Mans to Tours. Once again, avoiding the tolls…….we find ourselves on the Autoroute (paege). Strangely enough, we could see a couple of MH's travelling along side us, but on the route we should have been on. Never mind says I to Rita, "we'll be ahead of them when we turn off for the N route". At the paege, the very attractive French lady greets us and informs us that we are category 3 and that she would like 18.50 Euro, sil vous plait, (spelling).
Normally I am easily swayed by beauty, however, on this occasion, it was non starter. In my awful attempts at French, I politely communicated that we were a category 2. She said "pardon", looked out of her window twice, at the height of the MH, shrugged her shoulders, muttered something which sounded pleasant enough, then asked for 13.50 Euro. Having paid the toll, we moved off to join the N route, only to see the backs of the two earlier sighted MH's, in the distance. Bu##er.
About 25 kms outside Le Mans, we shopped at a Lidl, then pulled into a layby for some lunch. Using the laptop and the "CampingCar-Infos DVD we looked at an Aire in Le Mans. It did not look very nice at all, judging by the photo provided, and only took 6 vans, so we found another nearer Tours, called Nueille Pont Pierre, which took 10 vans.
Again, avoiding the tolls……..yes, you've guessed it, we found ourselves being guided on to the Autoroute (paege) on the outskirts of Le Mans. To be honest, the N route just disappeared at a new roundabout, and as it turned out, we had taken the correct route in order to stay away from the centre of the city. It was only a short route and amounted to 01.80 Euro. We picked up the N route again, and found the Aire. It is behind the Post Office and the Police station, and is well sign posted. It is free, including the 10 amp mains, but it is not quiet.

*Day Four*

The Aire was full when we turned in for the night, but was quickly emptying by the time we were up and about. With the grey and black waste sorted, we decided to fill up with fresh at the next Aire, which would be in Poitiers. With the lovely "Jane" on the TT, and the even lovlier "Rita" on the Michellin Atlas, off we went, heading for our next destination. If I had left "Andy Mc Driver" on the TT, I know, that Rita would have thrown it out of the window, and me promptly behind it. So Jane it was.
Once or twice, Jane had us thinking that we were heading up the garden path, however, she came up trumps each time. The problem with the road atlas, is that it is such a large scale, that you can be a couple of pages away, before you know it, which caused Rita to become disorientated, but only as far as map reading went, I hasten to add. lol.
The Aire in question was not in the MHF download, so I just entered the street name into the TT, as I haven't worked out how to enter coordinates…..yet. Jane took us straight to the street and we found the Aire within seconds. Now then, it certainly was an Aire in the way of services, and looked very new, but there did not appear to be anywhere to park up for the night, and the two council workers parked on the Aire, were unable to help.
So, back to the Aires Guide to find an alternative, which turned out to be, Nieul L'Espoir, about15 kms SE of Poitiers, a journey time of 23 minutes from where we were.
We arrived at this lovely little town, and saw the Aire come up on the TT, but not where it should have been, as we were taken through the centre of the town, when in fact, the Aire is just on the outskirts, as you enter the town. Don't look for the usual blue signs as there aren't any. 
We pulled onto the Aire and I went to get a jeton (token) from the La Mairie (spelling) whilst Rita made a brew. With token inserted, I proceeded to fill up with water…….not. No response whatsoever from the services bollard. Not feeling very chuffed, I made my way back to the La Mairie to explain the situation. The very efficient lady at the reception understood my plight, made a couple of phone calls, and gave me another jeton. Off I goe's now knowing that this was not going to be a successful solution to the problem. 
On the way back to the Aire, I came across a pickup truck with the word "Commune" written on the side. I wonder………and true enough, it turns out to be a local council vehicle. I spoke to the driver, who seemed to understand about my problem with the water. He came across to the Aire and did all the things that I had done, but to no avail. Off he went in his pickup to return a few minutes later with a huge bunch of keys, and tried to open the access panel on the bollard. 452 keys later, we are in to the panel. By this time, he and I are underneath an umbrella whilst being battered by hailstones. No joy, so he gives me back my jetons, and then tells me that there is a water tap at the "centre" and makes a cross sign with his fingers. Ah yes, I saw a sign that said "Centre Medical". "Right Rita, I says, we are off to the medical centre to fill up with water". "Does he know someone there then", she asks. "Oh they probably help each other out, in this wee town", says I. 
We followed this very helpful chap out of the Aire , up the street, turned left and headed up the hill. By the time we caught up with him, he had opened a large green gate. Oh dear, I now realised that it wasn't "centre" he said to me, it was "cemetrie" and as all these gravestones came into view, it was clearly apparent that this was the different type of "centre". He motioned our attention to the tap, jumped in his pickup and drove off. Rita said, "you're surely not going to fill up here, are you?" Her question was immediately answered by the uncoiling of our hose, and a quick connection made to the tap
A few minutes later, an elderly lady with some flowers appeared just inside the gate, looking very flustered and sounding very annoyed. I stood and listened to all these words that meant absolutely nothing to me, but as soon as she said "camping car", that was my cue. All I could say was "La Mairie" and motion from "there to here". She initially seemed to be happy with my explanation, but then appeared to complain to a couple of gravediggers that turned up. Oh dear, not popular.
Back at the Aire, the sun was shining and I decided to BBQ, before having a shower with all that lovely water we had just pinched. After setting up and starting to cook, dark grey clouds were looming over and it began to rain. I quickly wound out the awning and kept nice and dry. Not only did it rain as it did when Noah was still about, but the wind got up too, and I found myself hanging onto the awning, whilst trying to turn the sausages, and drink my can of beer at the same time!!! 
Suddenly the MH door opened, and with that, came an offer to finish the grub off in the oven. Rita saved the day. No sooner had she taken over, the sky turned blue and the sun shone. Brilliant, grrr.
It soon rained again though, so that put paid to a walk through the town. I know, we'll watch a bit of telly, or so I thought. 95% signal strength on the Astra 2D…….but no signal quality. What's that all about then??? 
Oh well, back to the CD's , books and this diary.

*Day Five*

Woke up this morning, to the sound of a text alert on my mobile phone. It was from our daughter, wishing me a happy birthday!! Who, me?……….Ah yes, I remember now, it's my 50th birthday today. No different to any other birthday though, as I have forgotten most of them too. Rita cannot believe that someone can forget their own birthday, especially their 50th. In my defence, I spout off something about it being "a man thing".

This Aire is very nice and quiet, until several cars turned up and emptied their contents of fishing gear. There must have been a competition on, somewhere near us. We nearly got boxed in, had I not moved the MH before breakfast. Once ready to move off, we head for Charroux, in Vienne, where an ex Fire Service colleague and his wife are living. It is only an hour away, and the D route takes us through some of the most picturesque countryside so far. You'll all please note………..NO PAEAGE. 
It also took us through a small village, where I noticed that the pub was attached to the church. Now, I find that very civilised. 
*Warning, as you approach Charroux from the NE on the D10, there is a new height restriction of 2.7 mtres,* ( maybe that's why it wasn't in the TT low bridges database). *You can turn left prior to the restriction, for access to the town. *
As we pull into the town, the lovely Jane tells us to bear left. We do, but soon realise that we will have to turn round, and believe it or not, the only place to turn round is………the local Fire Station forecourt! How weird! Well, it was for me anyway.
Once in to the centre of town, the Aire signage is good, and the Aire is just round the bend from the town square. As we pull in there is a French registered Burstner MH in the corner, and the owner is outside having a piddle up against the fence. I said, "that looks like a newish van to me Rita, surely there's a toilet on board". "Don't know she says, but there's no need for that"!
Rita and I get settled in and have a quick look around. Back at the MH, our friends arrive and take us up to their place for a spot of lunch, and a typical French beer for me, and very nice too. They have one or two places to go to in the car, and invite us along. We are driven through all these little villages with a Chateau here, and a Chateau there, and come across another Frenchman, having just had a pee up against a wall, in the middle of a village main street!!! Gordon Bennett!
We find ourselves parked up outside somebody's house. It only belongs to……..another ex Fire Service colleague, and his wife. Smashing.
We all arrange to get together for a meal in the evening to celebrate my 50th. Meanwhile, we are taken back to the Aire, where upon, we move the MH up to our friend's house and park in their large gravelled driveway. That evening, we had good food, good company, and plenty of merriment. Absolutely wonderful.

*Day Six*

Today sees glorious sunshine and blue skies. Our friends go about their daily routine, while we attend to our chores. Off back down to the Aire in Charroux we go, to find the wee French piddler, (remember him?) on the service area with his MH. I wander across to have a look at the set up, thinking that I will use the jetons from Tuesday's escapades. WRONG. It's a different style of bollard requiring a different type of jeton. Although I cannot read French, the typed poster taped to the bollard clearly indicates the many locations where jetons can be purchased from. Off I go to the local tourist office, as it was the nearest. By the way, there is a shop in Charroux called "The Best of British" where you can purchase items that are unavailable in the local stores/supermarkets, such as Polo's and Jeyes disinfectant, which were on our list of things to buy, but couldn't find anywhere, until now. 
Apparently, these little shops are part of a franchise, and are dotted around. We were surprised at the number of expat Brits who live and work in Charroux, many of whom, operate their own businesses, as well as owning property.
Anyway, back at the Aire, the piddler is still plugged into the bollard, so I make my way to our MH. Suddenly, there is a shout from behind me. "Allo, Allo", (not kidding). It was matey, the piddler, coming towards me with a bottle of something in his hand, (surely he's not piddled in that as well, I thought).
Now this bottle had a wine label, with a big red cross on it, of which I was immediately suspicious. However, it turned out to be some "moonshine" he has produced from plums and raisins, and he is keen to offload some of this onto me. Was I right to be suspicious???
Joking aside, he was being very hospitable and friendly, and I was more than happy not to offend. 
I opened the door to our MH and called to Rita, that we had a visitor. As soon as she saw us, she thought, "oh that's typical, I send him off on an errand, and he comes back with a total stranger, brandishing a bottle!!! And, it's not the first time either.
My new pal, Piddler, comes into our MH, and pours his "hooch" into three glasses for us all to have a "wee swallie".
Well, Rita's face was a picture. She had a sip of Piddler's offerings and quickly realised that this was absolutely nothing like, anything she has had before. She coughed, then her eyes nearly popped out, her jaw fell open and she was wafting her hand in front of her mouth, trying to cool down her tongue and the back of her throat. I then had a sip, and suffered all the same signs and symptoms as poor Rita. Piddler just said "salutie" and down it went. We now know it to be his own version of Cakvados. When we had recovered from the effects of our new friend's hospitality, we were able to discover that he was from Cherbourg, and that his offering is a popular tincture in that area. I got to thinking how much better the MH would go, if we could have some of that in the fuel tank. My pal Piddler said his goodbye's, and wished us "bon voyage".
After doing our chores on the Aire, we went back up to our friends house, had some lunch, and then were transported again, through the countryside to a town called Confolens, on the D948/ D951. This was a beautiful old medieval town with lots of nook's and cranny's, and full of character. Walkers beware, when casually strolling across the old cobbled bridge. It is not the pedestrian footbridge that it initially appears to be. Locals come racing over it regardless of pedestrians!
Our day ended with a very pleasant meal in a restaurant, back in Charroux.

*Day Seven*

Grey and damp, appears to be the order of the day, as we say cheerio to our friends, and head for La Rochelle, about two hours away.
12.45 hrs sees us at the barrier to Camp Municipal de Port Neuf. As the office closed at 12.00 hrs, we have to park up on the little layby outside the barrier. We had some lunch, and then I went for a quick snout around, heading towards the sea front. I came across a park with a boating lake, children's swings etc, and crazy golf. Having crossed the main road, I came across a cycle route running in parallel with the main road into the centre of La Rochelle, excellent. Weather pending, we intend to put this cycle route to good use. The bikes have been on the back of the MH since the 17th March, and not been used yet.
Apart from catching up with laundry, etc, one of the other reasons for booking into a site, is to for Rita to draw a fair comparison. On the Aires, she wasn't sleeping to well, partly due to the perception of insecure overnight parking, (UK yob culture, etc), and partly due to road noise from passing traffic. Personally, I have never felt more secure about overnight-ing, as I do here in France. It has been a pleasantly safe experience for me.
This Municipal site is quite pleasant, clean and basic. It is next to a large sporting complex, which includes the La Rochelle RFC. With it being training night on the floodlit pitches, and our MH parked facing in to the grounds, Rita was able to have a couple of hours of panoramic entertainment, watching all those fit French men !!! Me, I was more interested in trying to get a bl##dy signal on this stupid satellite system, and then cracking open a bottle of Pineau Des Charentes. A lovely wee tipple.

*That's it for now folks. Part 2 to follow soon*.

Jock & Rita

*Footnote*.
We didn't have internet access whilst on the trip, and so could not post on a daily or regular basis


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## Scotjimland (May 23, 2005)

Nice one Jock, 
thanks for sharing .. not a French virgin now ..:lol: 

looking forward to part 2 and the pics .. 


PS .. Ale still good here :wink:


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

ScotJimland said:


> PS .. Ale still good here :wink:


Ale's good here now as well Jim, as I brought back 72, sorry, 71 tins of "Old Speckled hen. I drank one last night at Calais, whilst parked up near the marina, where you suggested. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I can't post Part 2 yet, as the laptop shut down whilst creating the diary in "word 97". Now, word says that it cannot open the document. Grrrr. Part 1 was already on a memory stick.

Jock.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

J&R;

Great story so far!

Don't worry about those customs chaps, they are a special breed, ie miserable gits that never smile.

You seem to be getting well initiated into the 'aires experience' and I can feel you both (well, you Jock :roll: ) gradually warming to it.

Visited the municipal at 'port neuf' a few years back and it was a bit grim then, glad to see things have improved.

A top notch write up, and looking forward to a tollfree P2 :roll: 

pete


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

Good read Jock,very useful for all us French virgins,it can be intimidating planning a trip like this but you make it sound so easy.

Sounds like you had a great time and I am looking forward to part 2.

ps welcome to the 50 club-you now qualify for Saga insurance.

Steve


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## exmusso (Jun 18, 2006)

*French Trip*

Good read Jock,

Just had a quick read and will E-Mail the text to my laptop for a more leisurely read later.

We'll be doing the same thing shortly so entirely relevant to us.

Looks like you enjoyed yourselves and overcame the 'challenges.'

Cheers,
Alan


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*France*

J & R

Good strong stuff - like a good read early doors. Now you have a taste of it there will be no stopping you - Tesco points a must from here on!

Russell


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## 2kias (Sep 18, 2006)

Good read Jock.Looking forward to part 2
We are off for the first time in a few weeks although we have been with the caravan before. Might meet the piddler!


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

A great read Jock & Rita  

You did very well on your first trip to France. Fancy peage trying to charge you as a 3 tariff!! we usually pay level 2.

The aires download from MHF to tomtom is ok as a guide but is often wrong. I try now to visit camping car info and look for the aires we might visit and then view multimap and print off map and info ( I know extra junk to carry but it has helped us. Sometimes Aires are signed from one direction and not another which doesn't help.

So you will be off again soon :wink: now that you have mastered foreign lands  

Thanks again


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## trevorf (May 16, 2005)

Hi Jock & Rita

Great to hear you finally made it to France, will it be a regular event now ?

Trevor & Julie


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## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

Thanks for the diary Jock, great stuff mate.....
Will try to extract further info from you when I see you, as I think we are going to need some insider info for our trip in August mate.....
Not exactly a virgin to driving abroad, but never motorhomed over the water, so lots for me to learn.
Thanks again, great read :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Keith


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## mangothemadmonk (Aug 6, 2006)

You mentioned a baseball bat. As I do carry one, only for leisure purposes mind, would this cause a problem with customs?
Johnny F


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## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

Glad you enjoyed your trip . . a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you ccasion4: 

This time France . . next time ???


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Hi all,

Many thanks for the replies so far, and for the good wishes.

Q.....Would we do it again?

A......When is the next ferry? :lol: :lol: :lol: 

We are already booked with Sea France for August, whereupon, we are hoping to go to the Caravan Salon at Dusseldorf, as German virgins this time. :lol: 

Johnny F, with reference to the baseball bat.....make sure you have the ball as well, cause without, you are a prime suspect. 8O 

Rita, yes the Camping Car Info DVD is a god send. (Peejay's advice)

Part two, as soon as it can be extracted.

Jock.


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## 88870 (May 10, 2005)

Thanks for the good read JockandRita.  

You got off lightly with customs, we were throughly searched by French (with guns!) and then English Customs within the space of 100 metres whilst trying to leave France! Took about an hour and a half to 2 hours.

Probably didn't help that I couldn't remember where we had just come from .. we had been driving 12 hours straight and I got my days confused. 

I think they thought we were smuggling drugs .... something to do with the surfboards and red eyed look we had about us. They poked into all the nooks and crannies, even around the water heater which involved emptying half the garage to get to.

I asked them if it would be quicker just to bring the sniffer dogs aboard but they said they were busy on the lorries! According to English Customs (who insisted on searching in exactly the same places the French did 100 metres earlier) they had to do the search again as they were looking for different things?!!

By this stage I had given up and gone and sat by the space heater in their warehouse (it was flippin cold, late evening and I was in long shorts :lol: ) :roll: 

Hope all goes well with your re-entry!!


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## Suenliam (Mar 22, 2006)

Jock and Rita - thanks very much for the read. Makes me even more anxious to get across the Channel at the beginning of May although we have been lots and lots of times it is still exciting. 

Thanks also for the picture of Charroux. We stopped for an early morning hot chocolate there many years ago and promptly forgot where it was! I think they were just paving the area shown in the dusk photo when we were there! 

All the best for your next foray across the Channel. 

Sue


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## 97993 (Mar 5, 2006)

I am far from being aTom Tom expert Jock, but I would have it checked out mate
the second pics the Leaning tower aint it? a bit of course if you ask me,
a great write up thouroughly enjoyed
Rita well done!!! we had bets on a murder charge pending your return :lol: 
Geo


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Geo said:


> Rita well done!!! we had bets on a murder charge pending your return :lol:
> Geo


Noted George. 8O 8O 8O

Right folks, Part two is up and running. >>Here<< 

J & R


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