Aire de la Baie de Somme

[scousebird]

We stayed at the Aire on Thursday night, turned up late and it was almost full of all British MHs and a couple of caravans.

Went straight to bed but in the morning we walked over to the service building and there were signs from the police on the doors warning of the increased number of thefts from vehicles recently.

 

[Minxy]

We never ever stay on motorway aires for this reason, we've met too many people over the years who've been "done" on them, including a couple of UK families on this trip too. Just not worth the risk. We'd rather pull into a small village/town and find a suitable parking spot, even if it's on the side of a quiet road, than risk a MW aire.

 

[SMB]

We stayed at the Aire on Thursday night, turned up late and it was almost full of all British MHs and a couple of caravans.

Went straight to bed but in the morning we walked over to the service building and there were signs from the police on the doors warning of the increased number of thefts from vehicles recently.

Thanks for that, its a place a want to visit ar some stage so its handy to know..

 

[laurieash]

Stopped there a few times never had a problem, also never heard of any one first hand thats had any problems.

 

[SMB]

We never ever stay on motorway aires for this reason, we've met too many people over the years who've been "done" on them, including a couple of UK families on this trip too. Just not worth the risk. We'd rather pull into a small village/town and find a suitable parking spot, even if it's on the side of a quiet road, than risk a MW aire.

Same here, not worth the risk..

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[Minxy]

Stopped there a few times never had a problem, also never heard of any one first hand thats had any problems.

Unfortunately we must have talked to at least half a dozen people now who've been done on MW aires - them personally, not a 'friend of a friend etc', so it does happen unfortunately. We also met a couple just the other day who'd had someone damage the locks of their camper trying to get in, fortunately their dog woke them up, this was actually on a campsite!

 

[scousebird]

We've used this Aire for many years with the caravan & the MH with no problems but may give it a swerve in future

 

[funflair]

We stayed on the aire at Le Crotoy Friday and Saturday night, it was very busy with about 130 vans and more coming in and looking and then moving on.

Nice little town for a few days.

 

[Techno]

I'm happy enough parked anywhere in company. I have complete faith in the flashing LED's front and rear "Vanbitz Strikeback" putting grubby fingers off. Also when leaving the van my boiler controller will send me a text instantly if the alarm is activated.

 

[Minxy]

We stayed on the aire at Le Crotoy Friday and Saturday night, it was very busy with about 130 vans and more coming in and looking and then moving on.

Nice little town for a few days.

We gave Le Crotoy a miss and are currently parked up next to a duck pond not far from there, a bit inland, in a little village ... the only trouble is that we've been mobbed by the ducks several times and I'm sure they'll all be staring in the windows in the morning wanting some grub!

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[chaser]

Don't see what the attraction is with Le crotoy, nice town maybe but the aire is very basic , we called there last week but just filled up with water and left, the ground was all potholed and muddy , signs like a prison camp about being clamped, and the services left a lot to be desired , same tap for drinking or rinsing cassettes , dog turds around the filling point, not impressed.

 

[funflair]

Don't see what the attraction is with Le crotoy, nice town maybe but the aire is very basic , we called there last week but just filled up with water and left, the ground was all potholed and muddy , signs like a prison camp about being clamped, and the services left a lot to be desired , same tap for drinking or rinsing cassettes , dog turds around the filling point, not impressed.

Yes the aire is a bit pot holed and if it's wet its a bit muddy, dog turds! that's most of France isn't it. I think you need to take your own water to rinse the cassette as the drinking water is €2 in the slot for 10 minutes water, but as you say it's a nice town and plenty of walking and cycling.

 

[Steve101uk]

what I like about Le Crotoy is the ease of it, easy to get to, always get a spot, easy walk into town, lots of nice restaurants. We cycle on the many flat and safe cycle ways all around the area, often we go round to st Val on the bikes (you can also get the steam train). The aire is basic and not great when it rains. but its only 5 euro so I dont expect much, land to park on and somewhere to empty water etc is all we need. Its great for people/motorhome watching to as its always busy. We go there virtually every time we're in France often for two nights. Seen the police checking tickets a few times, they are very strict, they knock on your window and charge you.......... a 5 euro for a ticket.

 

[funflair]

what I like about Le Crotoy is the ease of it, easy to get to, always get a spot, easy walk into town, lots of nice restaurants. We cycle on the many flat and safe cycle ways all around the area, often we go round to st Val on the bikes (you can also get the steam train). The aire is basic and not great when it rains. but its only 5 euro so I dont expect much, land to park on and somewhere to empty water etc is all we need. Its great for people/motorhome watching to as its always busy. We go there virtually every time we're in France often for two nights. Seen the police checking tickets a few times, they are very strict, they knock on your window and charge you.......... a 5 euro for a ticket.

It's €6 now, and you would have had to be in early this weekend to get a spot, must have been 50 to 100 vans a day drive in looking for a spot and out again disappointed.

 

[Steve101uk]

It's €6 now, and you would have had to be in early this weekend to get a spot, must have been 50 to 100 vans a day drive in looking for a spot and out again disappointed.

6 euro, the robbing buggers...lol

I think its got more popular over the last two years, there is also the other aire by the beach which isn't that far out either, I suspect thats now 6 euro to.

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[sedge]

We only went to the beach one once, about 5 years ago - drove in looked around us and drove out again. Looked like a 'Travellers' site - half nekkid kids running round, dogs that all looked like they needed a feed, people sat on moho steps wearing grubby white vests avin a fag, beer bottle in hand ......

Haven't revisited since !

 

[chaser]

Yes the aire is a bit pot holed and if it's wet its a bit muddy, dog turds! that's most of France isn't it. I think you need to take your own water to rinse the cassette as the drinking water is €2 in the slot for 10 minutes water, but as you say it's a nice town and plenty of walking and cycling.

Dog turds, ok but around the water thing? One tap is taped up , for what reason I had no idea and , yes it was two euros for water , same tap whether you wanted to fill up or rinse your cassette .

 

[chaser]

It's €6 now, and you would have had to be in early this weekend to get a spot, must have been 50 to 100 vans a day drive in looking for a spot and out again disappointed.

Probably disappointed at the state of it not because they couldn't get on!

 

[funflair]

Dog turds, ok but around the water thing? One tap is taped up , for what reason I had no idea and , yes it was two euros for water , same tap whether you wanted to fill up or rinse your cassette .

It was clean enough when we were there (better that Cahors, which was Baaaad) but yes one tap was taped over as the knob just spun round and round. I took it that the one tap was for drinking water but everybody might not see it that way.

 

[chaser]

Mind you, we were coming North and had called at a supposed aire called Ault onival just a couple of aires lower down in the alltheaires book, well this one is non existent, just a bin store , no facilities at all, no signs , must have been closed down , I think, anyway most unimpressed with the area with what we found , I'm afraid, it was raining so probably made it all look worse perhaps better with a bit of sun, but as,has been said , very popular , so some must think different than us but we won't be going back.

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[scousebird]

We have been to Le Crotoy once so that we could do the train around the bay, only stayed 2 nights. It is convenient for the town but I don't think we'll rush back there.

 

[Steve101uk]

Maybe it about what we expect from an aire. but Le Crotoy is always very busy and is very popular.

 

[mikebeaches]

We generally don't stay overnight on motorway aires, but have always seen Aire de Baie de Somme as something different. The caravan parking area - which we always use with the MH - is really quite attractive, with picnic benches and pleasant views.

Extremely convenient and is on the peage section. It's regularly patrolled by the police and we've always felt safe there - up until seeing this post. I think we'll still use it. We don't leave the van unattended there - and I know that's no guarantee overnight... But we also have a few extra security steps we take at night.

Mike

 

[orridge]

We were also there over Easter but stayed at Camping Les Auberpines a couple of minutes away, the beach aire was extremely full towards the end of the weekend but there is also another aire around behind the steam train which was on hard-standing.

Re Aire Baie de Somme, there are plenty of other places just close to there, we used Wissant on Thursday which had a couple of UK MH's and Ferme L'Horoge next door to the Noyon brasserie which was hard-standing, services & EHU for 8 euros per night.

 

[Judge Mental]

Broke a cardinal rule of mine and we stayed there Thursday night on way down to Spain, because I was to tired to get south of Rouen as planned. Its not a bad stop but won't stay again,not worth the risk......

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[Hawkstone]

We stayed at an Aire near a sports centre last week. Couldn't find the entrance in the dark so myself and my daughter wandered around for a few minutes until we located said entrance. Two other vans quietly parked up. The next morning we were very shocked to see that the green space between us and the sports centre had a large amount of very expensive caravans and Range Rovers parked up. Whilst this caused no problems to us we were a bit peeved to see that they had commandeered the fresh water tap with their own hose and had it piping into their area!!!! Cheeky buggers. Didn't stay too long. There was a circus about somewhere so they may have been part of that entourage.

 

[scousebird]

Broke a cardinal rule of mine and we stayed there Thursday night on way down to Spain, because I was to tired to get south of Rouen as planned. Its not a bad stop but won't stay again,not worth the risk......

You must have been there when we were.

 

[Judge Mental]

You must have been there when we were.

there were about 5 vans in a line. we were in a dark grey panel van..had a chat with a couple in front of us...

 

[scousebird]

We came in late and there was no-one around.

 

[Brisey]

We spent the night at the Baie de Somme services some 6 or 7 years ago. We were parked up with several other motorhomes and caravans. We awoke in the morning to find that attempts to break into every vehicle had been made. Our cab door locks were damaged.
Since then we have avoided the place like the plague. I would not recommend anyone to stop there.

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