Ferry to Calais on Christmas Eve......where next? (1 Viewer)

stevegreen

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We were originally due to catch a ferry on the 23rd of December over to Calais and were planning to head down to Saumur for Christmas Day but the obvious problems on route to Dover have forced us to re-plan everything to 24 hours later. The fact that the house wasn't quite ready to vacate has nothing to do with it ::bigsmile:

So, we are now leaving tomorrow, spending the night in Dover and are on the 6.40am Sea France crossing. We will be landing in Calais at around the 8am mark (ish). Can any of you more experienced people reccommend an Aire to stop on for Christmas Eve and Day? Would like somewhere within four hours drive south of Calais, close to a small town that hopefully will have a few nice bars open and somewhere to get a small bird to cook on Christmas Day. We may well move on on Christmas Day and take advantage of the quiet roads, but we may also have a bottle of wine with our lunch! :Smile:
 
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Toffs-G

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Don't know where you can stay but suggestion for your Turk is to go into Auchan Calais and pick up a Turkey crown. Small easy to cook especially in the van.

We always buy Auchan Turkey crowns for Christmas even at home

Just a suggestion

Have a great time :thumb::Smile:
 

pappajohn

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sorry cant help with the stopovers but id check the ferry before leaving home.

dont know about seafrance but p+o have told ALL travellers to check with them before setting off.
even those who prebooked.

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takeaflight

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Hi we usually stay the first and last night here
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They have dedicated caravan, motorhome parking, security van patrols through the night, petrol and services, probably not open Christmas day, its situated on a toll motorway and parking is free.

Roy
 

Brisey

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Hi Steve

I would be inclined to head for Honfleur, plenty of room on the aire and there should be some shops, bars and restaurents open. Wherever you decide to go, have a great trip.
 
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stevegreen

stevegreen

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sorry cant help with the stopovers but id check the ferry before leaving home.

dont know about seafrance but p+o have told ALL travellers to check with them before setting off.
even those who prebooked.

Will do that, thanks. We really MUST go tomorrow, it's driving me mad all these delays........we were supposed to be setting off mid-November........should have been in southern Spain, in the warm (ish) by now!!! :Doh:

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stevegreen

stevegreen

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Hi we usually stay the first and last night here
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They have dedicated caravan, motorhome parking, security van patrols through the night, petrol and services, probably not open Christmas day, its situated on a toll motorway and parking is free.

Roy

Thanks for that, looks interesting. We are hoping to avoid toll roads but I guess we could get on and off quite quickly. Is there a town nearby do you know?

Hi Steve

I would be inclined to head for Honfleur, plenty of room on the aire and there should be some shops, bars and restaurents open. Wherever you decide to go, have a great trip.

Yeah, we had considered Honfleur and it's still a strong contender I think. The amount of bars there probably swings it :roflmto:
 

chesterfield hooligan

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:Smile: Hi we have used the Somme services a few time's, we always stop in front of the shop as you drive in facing the shop turn right then right again and stop on the service point free electric at the power point the toll is 7.5 euro's aprox always police about so fairly safe :Smile:
Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to everyone from Brian and Marion :Smile:

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Aug 28, 2008
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Thanks for that, looks interesting. We are hoping to avoid toll roads but I guess we could get on and off quite quickly. Is there a town nearby do you know?
There is an aire in St Valéry-sur-Somme, 7€/night, 1km up hill from the centre.
2 aires in Le Crotoy:
- at the end of the D4 near camping 'Les Dunes' 1km from the centre, 5€/night, 60pl, services: 2€
- behind the yachtharbour, 500m > centre, 5€/night, 60pl, services: 2€
As far as I remember there is no electric hook-up
(Don't miss the 'fruits de mer' ::thumb:)
 

Heyupluv

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I would go with Brisey or Jim............ Honfleur, or as Jim said le-Touquet for a closer aire...
if you are wanting a pretty little village and aire in one of the 7 valleys this aire takes 5...EMBRY on the road D108.....N50'29,619' E001'57.878' it is about the same distance and level but just a little inland to Le-Touquet...in all the aires France it is number 37 page 295 It is better than the photo they also have showers, that is if you do not want to travel a lot from Calais the first day......also you are only 10 to 15 km from the beutiful village of BEUSSENT THE VILLAGE OF THE FAMOUS CHOCOLATERIE...Mmmmmmm on the road D127

http://www.a-taste-of-france.com/beussent.html

http://www.choco-france.com/

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Mel

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May 22, 2008
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Two very good Aires on your route we have used CLERES, lovely village and Chateau and FORGES LES EAUX, great aire outside a Municipal camp site again a lovely town in walking distance, Supermarket etc, both Aires in the boook , Have fun Malc.:winky::winky::winky:
 

Judge Mental

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I would drive like the wind and get as far south as possible.

forget about Christmas and look forward to the New Year celebrations! ::bigsmile:

highs of 22 deg C in Alicante today .... currently 19 deg C
 

Chris Woods

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4 hours from calais

4 hours from Calais towards Saumur will get you almost exactly midway between Rouen and le Mans. We often drive that way and we ended up buying a small holiday house in Normandy - it takes us exactly 4 hours to get there from the tunnel!
If you go down the A28 to Rouen you will of course pass the excellent Somme 'services' which has camper van facilities and spaces but that's only an hour south of the tunnel.
If you continue through Rouen and head for Le Mans you can go on the new section of the A28 or the ordinary roads and at the 4 hour point you could turn off towards Vimoutiers, (close to Camembert) which now has a municipal aire opened last year (next door to the muniipal site which is closed in winter) and it's conveniently at the edge of the small town which has bars and shops, supermarket very close too. We have never used it as we always used the municipal site before buying our house. http://www.vimoutiers.fr/ but doesn'tmention the new aire.
About 10 miles further south, and just off the A28, is the town of Gace where vans are allowed in the main car park by the marie. Service point on the adjacent road. It's a small market town but has bars and shops inc supermarket. Again I have never camped there but we often use that car park for day parking when shopping while we are staying at our house and there are often vans around.
Whether anything at all will be open over Christmas day is however doubtful to my mind, Normandy closes on Sundays an holidays so I wouldn't choose to be there Christmas day. Also there is still a lot of snow in Normandie at the moment so take care.

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