Planning techniques (1 Viewer)

[wp1234]

So we are off to Normandy end of June beginning of July for a 14 day holiday and boy am I looking forward to it.
Since it’s our first continental tour in our motor home it’s all new to me. The question is how do you go about planning the trip from start to finish? Is it just a matter of working out what you want to visit on route e.g Bayeux Tapestry,D Day museums in Arromanches, Longue Sur Mer etc and then work out the nearest aire to that point or do you just take pot luck that you can find an aire that suits close by , is there a particular time of the day that you need to aim for when arriving at an aire and do you have to leave at a certain time ? so many questions .....Any hints from seasoned Normandy travellers gratefully accepted
Thanks all

 

[Reallyretired]

Planning, whats that?

I think planning more than the basics, i.e. when are you going, and vaguely the direction, goes against the spirit of motorhoming. You need to be free to take a completely different turn according to the weather etc.

 

[pendy]

At Arromanches the Aire is situated at the car park at the top of the hill, I think the charge was 5 euros, but by lunchtime it looked rammed (mostly italians) we were there around the same dates as you are planning to go 2009. Bear in mind that a lot of people visiit the area and try and be early if possible, a fantastic place, made me very proud to be british, take a moment to remember all the brave young men who made the ultimate sacrifice.

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[wp1234]

Bear in mind that a lot of people visiit the area and try and be early if possibleQUOTE]

Thanks for this .So from this I take it the secrte is to arrive well before lunchtime at the aires .If the aire is rammed how far would the next one be ?

 

[TimG]

We have found with aires that if you arrive by about three pm you should be ok.The French often leave it really late to arrive.

Plan where you want to go and then look for an aire nearby. It helps to have a plan A,B and C as some aires may not suit you.I wo9uld reccomend the one at St Vaast le Hogue. Its a short walk to the very nice little town and you can get a boat out to the islands.

 

[froghopper]

plan or not

i cant agree more than with the advice given,, motorhoming means never going back,, you havnt left a caravan on a site, nor clothes in a hotel,, the reason so many of us go to france is they like m/homes, it realy is point and go, if an aire is full, dont worry, there is another one near, clive gottabed who writes for the m m m magazine said about 10 years ago in the mag, i use side roads, i look for a church steeple, next to that is a square, i stop there, i have tried it for years, always works, go to a supermarket, ask may i sleep on car park, they say yes, you shop, ask at local police stn, they always no a bit of ground nearby to park on,, a french driver told us once,, the french havea rule,,, if it does not say you cant,,, you can,,,thats why they park anywhere. about 4 pm we always call into a village, walk around , find the little cafe you fancy and ask, we would like to eat here later, but need to sleep nearby,, no problem, you eat her, you sleep there,, it realy is magic,, as you are on the coast, and thinking your m/home is average, size, look on map or sat nav, for little dead end roads that go to the shore line,,so many places along that coast, i bet we have used 50 on the cherbourg peninsular,, never a problem,,, and never on our own,, go for it, realy enjoy,, it will not take you long to forget what campsites are,,, travel well, :thumb::thumb: we also go onto sites and ask can we empty our toilet, and buy some water,, most say yes,, a few ask 2/3 euros , ask in french and smile , :shout:

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[The Wallace]

At Arromanches the Aire is situated at the car park at the top of the hill

We went to the wrong one then!!
There is a 12 unit Aire in the town with easy walking distance to a lot of shops, eateries and the beach.

 

[hilldweller]

.Any hints from seasoned Normandy travellers gratefully accepted
Thanks all

Carry the right books.
There is a French Aires one ( which we don't have ).

The CC books ( there are 2 but once covers France ) - excellent.

The ACSI pair -- the discount book ( maybe no discounts in July ) and the DVD which has thousands of sites in a very usable database.

You'll never need to panic and you can always stop somewhere else if you spot a place you fancy.

 

[zaskar]

All of which are excellent:thumb:
As far as the Arromanche museum goes, be warned! The amount of info in there is staggering! I was in there so long that SHMBO was resorting to huuuuge sighs behind me! It really is a fantastic museum but make sure you give yourself plenty of time to take it all in. The working models of the Mulberry harbour alone blew my mind with thier detail.

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[hilldweller]

[QUOTE/]
Apologies but I go cross eyed reading your posts, can I make a simple suggestion to make it easier for me and others coz you do write stuff worth reading -- use the RETURN key a bit. The BIG key. Two presses to space it like I have.
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i cant agree more than with the advice given,, motorhoming means never going back,, you havnt left a caravan on a site, nor clothes in a hotel,, the reason so many of us go to france is they like m/homes, it realy is point and go, if an aire is full, dont worry, there is another one near,

clive gottabed who writes for the m m m magazine said about 10 years ago in the mag, i use side roads, i look for a church steeple, next to that is a square, i stop there, i have tried it for years, always works, go to a supermarket, ask may i sleep on car park, they say yes, you shop, ask at local police stn, they always no a bit of ground nearby to park on,,

a french driver told us once,, the french havea rule,,, if it does not say you cant,,, you can,,,thats why they park anywhere. about 4 pm we always call into a village, walk around , find the little cafe you fancy and ask, we would like to eat here later, but need to sleep nearby,, no problem, you eat her, you sleep there,, it realy is magic,,

as you are on the coast, and thinking your m/home is average, size, look on map or sat nav, for little dead end roads that go to the shore line,,so many places along that coast, i bet we have used 50 on the cherbourg peninsular,, never a problem,,, and never on our own,, go for it, realy enjoy,, it will not take you long to forget what campsites are,,, travel well, :thumb::thumb: we also go onto sites and ask can we empty our toilet, and buy some water,, most say yes,, a few ask 2/3 euros , ask in french and smile , :shout:
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No offence I hope.

>> "ask in french and smile" A bit of a problem for many of us, but have a go, if they can't speak any English at least a bit of gibberish in French shows we are making the effort.