# 4 night Easter trip to France



## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

I assume this is the right forum to post regarding trips in the past. I think the European/Continental Members' Trips are for planned ones?

More another time, but I'm just back from a 5 day, 4 night Easter trip to France, using just a day's leave (Alison had to work Maundy Thursday until 5pm). We stayed at:

1) Chateau du Gandspette (September MHF rally) site near Dunkerque, 
2) Aire at Lac du Der, near St Dizier,
3) Aire on bank of the Moselle near Epinal & the Vosges, 
4) Aire on bank of the Marne canal & river at Epernay.

Here are some pics for now:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daburleigh/Easter2006
They are constrained to 1600x1200 due to limited webspace.

Back to work tomorrow :-(

Peterborough at the weekend 

Dave


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## hymmi (May 9, 2005)

Hi Dave,

Welcome back,lovely pics thanks.

See you on Thursday,won't be long  :wink:


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

Great pix and from a lovely part of France where I went last year. Did you find the wild camping place near the sailing station.

I want to go back there but I think September will be my first opportunity.


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## Telbell (May 1, 2005)

Thanks for the info dave. As a matter of interest what was your furthest mileage from your arrival port??


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Telbell,

Epinal was our furthest point, around 350 miles from Dunkerque. I don't recommend those distances in that time for motorhomes, unless that's the point to which you want to get quickly (and share the driving to do so), then spend your time relaxing and gently exploring. We went there on the Sunday, and the day was a bit of a mess due to a lack of strategic planning on my part, plus a bit of bad luck weather-wise. 

To make the most of such a short trip, while you can happily leave to a breakfast conflab the tactical decisions of what to do and where nominally to aim to stay the night, you can't similarly wing-it strategically. This was my mistake, largely through having an open mind in advance of the trip as to what we wanted to do where, coupled with work pressures meaning it was around 9pm before a 5am departure from home for the ferry before I thought I'd better put some water, food and drink in the van!

Thus it was that on Sunday morning at Lac du Der I was perusing the Michelin Green Guide and realised that the bumpy bits (high Vosges) were a fair bit further east than I had thought, but it would be a shame if we didn't pay them a flying visit. So we did, but it hardly did the mountains justice in the constant rain that tipped down that day. We saw some nice views, but not photogenic ones in the grey mists that swirled around the trees. Then to cap it all an enjoyable walk through woods took longer than intended, and on returning to the van I realised it was gone 5pm on the Sunday before a well-respected Easter Monday holiday and there was little diesel left in the tank! 

A rapid consultation of TomTom's petrol station POIs then required a change of plan and took us to a Carrefour 24hr fuel stop, where we put upon a charming French lady to use her credit card in return for cash. I don't understand why fuel pumps can't accept our cards automatically when every other use of a UK credit card with a pin worked throughout the trip (and no signatures at all, which was a first).

The other daily driving distances were fine for us, and enjoyable rather than any burden, but the van was chosen and equipped for fast, easy motoring. It was the first time I had used TomTom in France and its ETAs on its default settings were uncannily, amazingly, spookily accurate.

Pusser, not sure what sailing station wildcamping you mean, but we stayed where it says Vous etes ici on photo 14 (also 17 & 18 ), which is at the station nautique, port de Nuisement. The puzzle for me is that the Guide Officiel 2006 Aires de Services Camping-Car states this (listed under Arrigny) has 100 emplacements, whereas I reckon you could squeeze in just 8. To go anywhere else you needed an open-sesame device to raise barriers. Perhaps peejay could comment if he spots this.

Dave
Edit - actually Eloyes was the furthest, 10 miles further SE and up into the hills.


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## 88742 (May 9, 2005)

Great pics, is No:6 the new engine mod?

We chose the Lincolnshire outback for our Easter break, to see how the new 3G gizmo worked  it didn't :? had to drive into Grantham and buy an aerial, then it switched to GPRS no problem.

Only 10 days away from living 'rough' for two Months :? .......... can't wait.

Ian


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## Telbell (May 1, 2005)

THanks Dave-that's a fair bit of driving-I suspected it was , hence the question! Interesting to hear about your experince of Tom Tom. We aim to use ours "continentally" this July in Germany & hope we weill be similarly impresed.
Thanks again


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi Dave,

Hope you had a good trip.

I've had a look in the 2005 aires book and the lac de nuisement aire says 10 emplacements, its 100 for the other two located on the other side of the lake including the one at the 'station nautique' that pusser is maybe referring to. Maybe theres a print error in the 2006 book.

Just around the corner from where you stopped is another good parking place next to the disabled parking with nice views of the lake if you visit again, thats our favourite spot. 

pete.


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## smifee (May 17, 2005)

hi dave 

the vosges is my next destination. printed out a few of the aires de stationnement & service from the cd last week. ordered the ign walking maps i want this afternoon.

not sure when i'll be going as we are still waiting for dates for angie to have a couple of operations. i got fed up with waiting last month and went to portugal & spain for a couple of weeks.

i hope to do a mixture of wild camping & aires and not use sites at all.

will you be going back for a longer visit?

mike


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Thanks pete, a typo it must be.

-----------------

Our Easter sojourn last year to Normandy is here:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-5539.html

As later on this year we intend, if the weather doesn't force us further south, to explore the Loire, this Easter we thought we'd better skip through the Pas de Calais to champagne country, then onto the Vosges.

I'll refer to pictures by number, so you might like to have another browser page open for this (same as earlier in thread):
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daburleigh/Easter2006
If you want any pics, copy them because they are only here temporarily.

Good Friday. Left Basingstoke at 0530 for an 0800 2hr Norfolkline sailing Dover to Dunkerque. Got searched outbound.
Pic 1 - This year Norfolkline seems to be undercutting my last year favourite, Speedferries. There is certainly more room! The new ferry is very swish. 
Pics 2-6 La Coupole near St Omer www.lacoupole.com . They say the visit can take 3hrs; 2hrs was plenty for us unless you wanted to read everything. Their website is clear about it, but it is worthwhile repeating it here. This is not a place dedicated entirely to its WWII role as a V2 assembly, storage and launch point. Rather it is a more general WWII northern France museum that happens to use this facility and inevitably covers its role to some extent. 
Pics 7 to 12 Friday night Chateau du Gandspette site (MHF September 2006 rally). The site had just re-opened for the new season. Alison hung around the semi-open urinals but no-one ventured near. Lots of birdsong. Le Blockhaus d'Eperlecques www.leblockhaus.com is closeby. We have tickets that someone can use in September if we don't go there in the summer.

Saturday. Pics 14-20. Provisioned at the LeClerc in Laon, which will do nicely for stocking up on booze on our return leg. To Lac du Der Chantecoq near St Dizier. Had a nice walk and a cycle ride. Lulled to sleep with the unobtrusive clanking of rigging in the yacht masts.

Sunday. Pics 21 to 28. A silly day with too much driving and insufficient time for walking/exploring knowing we had to get back to around the Reims area the following day. Goofs explained earlier in thread. Overnighted at an aire in Millery near Epinal on the bank of the Moselle. I'll add it to the campsite database idc. No jetons necessary for fresh water but we didn't need any. No shops in the small town but a persistent church bell which apparently went through the night but with the fresh air, exercise, G&T and wine I heard not a single dong. It would have been a relaxing breakfast sitting on the riverbank the next morning had it not been for a battle of wills between a heron and me as to whether I could get to photograph him before he flew back past me the way I had stalked him. Repeatedly.

Easter Monday. Pics 29 to 43. To the plateau between Reims and Epernay. If you've ever thought champagne is a bit of a rip off, well it still might be but the manpower that goes into nurturing each vine is impressive. Visited Faux de Verzy - Japanese bonsai tree aficionados eat your heart out. Then to a delightful aire, just east of Epernay at a small town called Mareuil-sur-Ay, on the side of the Marne canal with the river running alongside. The Camos dome did its icebreaker trick and we had a nice chat with a witty German with a twinkle in his eye. Turns out he visits a daughter regularly just 10 miles from where we live; it's a small world. He seems to have had considerable success with an informal British Passion system - that of simply asking farmers if he could stay the night. He refuses to travel in France in the summer as the aires are too busy, which made us wonder whether we would have to use municipal sites instead this summer. Cycled into Epernay along the canal towpath and river where possible. On return had a pre-dinner constitutional saunter/nose.
Pic 42 - staying the night just a few feet away from our own boules court (and protected by the Mairie's office looking down) had us missing the set of boules we always had lying around the caravan but not in the van this time. Maybe next.

Tuesday. Had coffee and croissants for breakfast sitting in the warm sunshine by the canal and watching and listening to the town come awake after the Easter weekend. Then we drove through the centre of Reims and back to LeClerc at Laon for shopping, before setting the cruise on an indecent speed and sat back watching the miles get eaten up towards Dunkerque.

Got searched inbound, too. Have I got a guilty-looking face or what? The chap freaked me out by having a nose inside then asking me if I was carrying any of, um, certain products that I happen to work on. How the hell did he know? I'm a marked man I tell you. I'm afraid to look over my shoulder in case I see men in white coats.

The Norfolkline ship going back was an old one with dark menacing decor but we sat in reclining seats up front and read the papers as the warm sun reflected off the gentle sea through the bay windows. Dover appeared soon enough. Either that or I dozed. Home by 1930.

Mike - yes we will be going back to do some champagne trips, whether the Vosges as well depends on when/ how long, etc. In that sense, it was a good recce trip.

Dave


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