flatpackchicken
LIFE MEMBER
- Jun 27, 2010
- 1,277
- 1,757
- Funster No
- 12,314
- MH
- A Class Frankia I8000
- Exp
- Since nov 2009
Well done, glad to enjoyed your trip hope you have many moreHello everyone, I've been reading this thread with interest and wondering why I did not look/find it earlier. I have just returned from my first solo adventure in France and it was amazing and SO much easier than I had anticipated. Prior to going I had wound myself up a bit about all kinds of things......planning routes to the nth degree, however, once I was there it all went out of the window, as the joy of motor homing is to have the freedom to go wherever you want, which is exactly what I did.
The biggest problem I had initially was that my brand new Garmin Camper Satnav did not work when I came out of the Eurotunnel. It would appear that it only had North Europe loaded and was bloody useless for France. Three days in, I met a couple going back to the UK who sold me their old but working Tom Tom, and from thereon in, all was fine. Amazon said the Garmin came pre-loaded with lifetime all of Europe maps which is misleading (well for me anyway).
I did a mixture of Aires/Campsites and wild camping and never felt overwhelmed or unsafe, although it was a big learning curve. For instance, I got caught out when an Aire is right next door to a municipal site, with both charging the same, yet the campsite has all the facilities you need. I noticed this in quite a few places. I also found that some Aires were very expensive, so I moved on somewhere else. Le Touquet now charges €15 for parking and an extra €2 for water or electricity!!!
The roads are a dream to drive on, and not at all busy (at this time of year) compared to the UK. On a couple of occasions I got stuck behind a big piece of farm machinery travelling at 20kph, and as I couldn't safely see past to overtake, I just had to relax and wait until it turned off.....which is no big deal really.
It was a fabulous 3 weeks covering nearly 2,000 miles and I can't wait to go back. It would be nice to share some of these experiences so I will keep watching this space to see what you guys are planning.
It's a beautiful sunny day here in Yorkshire which reminds me that the UK is also a fantastic place to explore.
Have a fab day everyone xx
Regards Garry Flatpackchicken