New to motorhomes and Calais (1 Viewer)

[Originalsmoothie]

Hi there,

My name is Paul Smith. I am a fifty five year old motorhome newbie. We picked our Hymer B754 up in March and spent a month exploring Devon and Cornwall on our maiden voyage.

We live full time on a narrowboat on England's inland waterways. I've lived afloat for six years now. I love the lifestyle, but I don't particularly enjoy short, cold days and towpaths hidden under inches of liquid mud. Our plan is to cruise the waterways in the summer and continue to run the training days which pay the day to day bills. We will join the masses to head to southern Europe for the winter months.

Our second motorhome adventure begins this coming Friday. My fiance is American. She has just spent six months with me but, due to a delay with my divorce paperwork (it's taken six years so far), she had to leave before we could marry. Cynthia is now sunning herself in Avignon. She will catch a train to Calais Frethun. I will arrive in Calais at the Eurotunnel terminal and Friday. I will then try to find her. Is there an easy way for either of us to reach the other?

We are then going to stop briefly in Rotterdam to meet Cynthia's brother. I don't know how motorhome friendly Rotterdam is. Any suggestions where we can park for a night?

After that, we'll drive through Germany to Denmark where we will marry. I'm not familiar with the likely tolls or the system for paying them. Can one of you kind folk enlighten me?

I look forward to the wealth of information which I know will be heading my way shortly.

Paul

 

[CWH]

Hello and welcome to the Fun

Sorry I can't help with your questions, I've only MH'ed in the UK so far.

It's clear you know just how much friendly and generous information & advice you'll get on here (as well as a bit of leg-pulling banter).
You'll also have noticed that your name is in green - I'm guessing you haven't yet found the 'subscribe' button to join, it's only £15 per year, the best bit of pocket-money you'll ever spend!

Good luck with finding your fiancee, and very best wishes for your forthcoming marriage

 

[Lenny HB]

Hi there is a fairly large car park at the station and a pick up drop off area which is pretty much deserted except when trains arrive so it would be easy for you to poick her up from the station. Car park and pick up area are both on the west side.

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[wigster]

 

[Figaro]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your forthcoming wedding. Can't help with specific questions except to say for road tolls, just head for the pay booth with an picture of an operator in a peaked cap above. I have a tub of euro coins handy to pay.
You seem to have most other things pretty well sorted so you will figure the rest out and also get some good advice on here
Don't forget the NMC will be expecting photos from the wedding

 

[jumar]

WELCOME I feel I know you quite well already......good luck with your trip and other formalities you have ahead of you both. Head south to Spain in the winter, we did 18 years ago and here we are now.....its was 37C yesterday but in mid winter you can half that if you know where to go. Happy future life in motorhoming and cruising the waterways.

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[Puddleduck]

Oh ans in case you don't know NMC is "Nosey Mares Club". I think I should be a member

 

[sedge]

I do believe that neither you nor I need apply, @Puddleduck ! - having both been born into it ........

Welcome Paul - and hope you find each other !

 

[Originalsmoothie]

Thanks for the advice so far, and thank you very much for the friendly welcome.

I don't think we will be able to provide much in the way of photo's for the NMC. There are only going to be the two of us at the wedding, plus our basset hound Tasha who will be the ring bearer. We haven't worked out how to take any photo's yet, unless we strap a camera to Tasha. She's rather a low dog though so you would only get photo's of us from the knees downwards.

OK, so we pay the tolls at booths. I understand that we need to have a bucketful of euros at hand, but how big a bucketful? How much is the passage from the south to the north of Germany likely to cost us?

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[Ockerron]

Hello and welcome! Congratulations on your forthcoming nuptials! Now I may find someone come along and correct me but as far as I know you don't pay any tolls in Germany. We have family in mid and north Germany and travel there regularly, and took our MoHo to the south last summer and didn't pay any tolls anywhere. So far on our European travels we have only paid tolls in France, and only then when on a long trip where we wanted to be somewhere quickly. We generally just use the Route Nationale system (green roads marked RN or N on the map) which are free.
I also heartily recommend the investment of the £15 subscription, it has paid for itself over and over in the two years we have been members, both in discounts and in the costs of sites that have been recommended. Membership also allows you to go to meets etc where you can meet super amazing people like us!!!

 

[Originalsmoothie]

Thanks again for the information. I have now contributed to the cause. It's a very low cost subscription to help fund a site packed with information, so I'm all for it.

 

[buttons]

Hi and Welcome......

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[Granjan]

Hi and welcome, good luck with all your plans, no idea about places to stay in Rotterdam but we did visit on the train, just a short cheap journey from Delft where we stayed at Delfthouse campsite, we did a short bike ride to station and left our bikes in the massive bike storage area under the station, or maybe he could meet you in Delft. The campsite allow you to stay on pitch all day and leave in the evening. Very accomodating. Probably other places to park in Rotterdam too.

 

[Bill_OR]

Hi Paul and welcome!
I haven't been to Rotterdam but a useful site for exploring where to stay is http://www.searchforsites.co.uk/
Have fun!
Bill

 

[Hollyberry]

to Fun.
Congrats on your forthcoming wedding. I'm sure with a little ladder and a bit of trainng your dog would make a great photographer!
Two things I thought of--- do you have a say nav? Will make finding the station in Calais on your own easier.
You can usually set a sat nav to avoid tolls--- they can get very expensive. ( my route from Calais to Dordogne by car used to cost me about €45 in fuel and €60 in tolls)
A website called mappy will give you an idea of toll charges for any route. Remember a motorhome is Class 2 usually, so dearer than a car.

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[Madeinengland]

Hello
It all sounds so exciting! Congratulations on your forthcoming marriage.
Sorry I'm new to this also, so are unable to answer your questions.
PS. My OH is always on about living on a narrow boat. Me.... Don't fancy the mud much.

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[Bailey58]

to Fun. Hope you find your fiance but should the worst happen I'm told there are plenty of women over the channel.

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[Herrcuts]

No tolls in Germany! Free motorway all the way from Calais for Aires / campsites on the way and in Rotterdam download campercontact it is a Dutch app with something like 14000 sites in Europe (the Dutch don't like to pay too much) so there are plenty of Aires, parking spots as well. It is about £4 per annum to use!
Enjoy!!!!

 

[scousebird]

 

[Originalsmoothie]

Thank you very much for such a warm welcome and an abundance of good advice. We are now here at the most northerly point of Denmark. We've driven 1,270 mostly enjoyable miles to get here, and not had to pay a single toll, other than £5 for a Netherlands tunnel. Parking in the centre of Rotterdam was a breeze. Paying for the parking was a different kettle of fish, but finding somewhere for the Hymer was easy. I have to say that our experience motorhoming through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark has been far more pleasant than in England. There have been no shortage of places to wild camp, and no shortage of hospitality towards us. We will be spending as much time as possible on the continent in future.

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to marry yet, thanks to the English court system. I think that we're probably going to have to temporarily abandon our plans this Friday if we can't get an answer out of the court's ever frustrating "help" desk. Cynthia will fly back to the States to deal with her house sale, and I will drive back to Warwickshire as quickly as possible to return to work.

We'll both then have to fly back to Copenhagen in a couple of weeks to marry and then return to our respective countries so that Cynthia can apply for a spousal visa in order to join me in the UK. The marriage process has been a right royal pain in the backside, but our first adventure abroad in the Hymer has been a joy.

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[Anthea M]

Congratulations on your new van and first big trip sorry you couldn't get married ,but I'm sure it will all happen! Look forward to meeting you both on here and on any rally's you may attend! Keep us posted ( yes I'm a member of the NMC!! There are a few of us !! We are all very friendly!!)

 

[maison]

Glad to hear you are enjoying your trip.

One word of advice. Marry Cynthia as soon as you can.

I married a Cynthia and now, 47 years later, can say I have never regretted it.

Best wishes.