First Time in France (1 Viewer)

[Kitch]

Hello Everyone,

We are fairly new to this motorhoming life,

So got the new motorhome, got the train booked, got the pet passport, that's the easy bits.
We are off to France mid September for 10 days.

I have never driven on the right hand side of the road before, the plan was to get the train in the evening, and park on the Cite Europe, as a lot of people on here seem to do, then up very early to travel somewhere, can anyone suggest a nice aire a couple of hours drive from Calais that isn't going to take me through any busy towns or city's, just until I get use to driving on the right and using roundabouts etc.

Thanks ​

 

[Boringfrog]

Lots of towns and villages with Aires down the West coast. Stay on the A16 until past Boulogne then get on D940.

 

[chaser]

yeah id sugest staying on the motorway for a bit , gets you use to being on the wrong side but at least everything is going the same way

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[laneside]

It really is easy but my advice would be; as soon as you turn the key to start the engine think and think where you are going. If you get the first 100 yards right then the rest falls into place. Remember the roads over here are soooo much quieter than over the channel and roundabouts are sooo much easier when they go down to one lane upon approach. If you pull up for fuel on a quiet road remember before you turn the key where you are going for the first 100 yards. Hey if you want to try the aires over here then a nice stop, just an hour from the ports is Embrey, it is in the aires book but make sure you have sufficient provisions with you.

 

[peterc10]

I agree with others about sticking to the motorway for a while, though it will cost you some tolls, but you can use a credit or debit card to pay.

Nice Aire at Neufchatel en Bray, but not a lot to see. Or if you want to go a bit further try the Aire at Maileraye sur Seine. On the banks of the River Seine and you can watch the big boats go up and down. And a nice little town to walk into.

 

[DBK]

One trick is never to pull up to park on the left hand side of the road. If there are no cars about to remind you when you pull away you might stay on the left. Also, be very wary in narrow roads. If you suddenly come across a vehicle coming the other way your instinct will be to pull to the left.
But you will soon get the hang of it. Beware of roundabouts, they go the wrong way round them. I mean it's the right way for them but it is confusing to begin with.
And lastly be very careful in small towns and villages of the dreaded priorité à droite rule which even catches the French out. The only reliable way you can tell is if you see a minor road coming in from the right, say a side street in a village, look to see if there is a dotted line across the side street where it joins the "main" road. If there isn't then traffic on the side street has right of way and will come shooting out in front of you. It makes no difference if you are on the wider, straighter road. They have right of way. There is supposed to be a triangle with a cross on it on the road which doesn't have right of way but in my experience these are not always easy to spot.
And don't get up early on your first morning. You are on holiday, have a lie in and you should wait until the rush hour has finished.

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[Easyliving]

As for driving on the right, its often been said that within half an hour of leaving the train / ship you will wonder what you were worried about- its really easy, just need to take care.

Good idea stopping at Cite Europe. Its literally the other side of the fence from Eurotunnel terminal. You have to drive a few miles to get to the motorhome parking area but Cite Europe is well signposted from the motorway.

Everyone has their favourite Aires but the one at La Maiileraye sur Seine is justifiably popular, all shops etc within walking distance.

Have a great trip.

Paul

 

[WynandJean]

Have to agree about La Mailleray Sur Seine. - lovely.

Wyn

 

[Wendo55]

Don't worry about driving on the right, it's easy. It's harder when you come home to remember to drive on the left!

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[Kitch]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, its a little daunting after driving for 36 years on the left, and then suddenly on to the right, but hopefully with the help of the sat nav and all your tips we should be fine, we are really looking forward to it now, and I am sure it will be a lot easier the next time.

Thanks again

 

[Xabia]

Take the motorway towards Abbeville and after an hour or so you will see a sign for the services ar Baie de Somme. Rather an unusual,place as they built a separate aire type parking area away from the actual services. There is a lake with fish and ducks and very large field to exercise the dog, all free

I stay there 4 times a year and have always found it a pleasant stop.

 

[MikeD]

On the motorbike I always stuck a arrow on the dash to show me what side of the road I wanted.

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[Ridgeway]

For the first year when we moved here my wife put a post it note with an arrow on the speedo just as a reminder each time she looked down, it worked well. The time you may forget is when you stop for fuel, coffee, loo etc and jump back in and drive off, especially so if you driving around a carpark, service area where orientation isn't always 100% clear.

 

[FIDGET]

What day are you traveling , as Sundays a good day for driving , no lorries etc but !!! Most supermarkets , shops and fuel stations are closed .
We are going over on the 9th pm and will be at cite europe that night

 

[grumps147]

Lots of great advice above.

The further you get from Calais, the less you see of British vehicles and you will wonder why everything seems so much more relaxed.

You probably won’t be, and so you shouldn’t, you do need to concentrate.

Right turns at 90 degrees are ok, it’s when you are on a road with the right turn angled so you cannot see to your left out of your near side passenger door window it gets difficult, your passenger will have to be your eyes. You don’t get many of them, but just be aware.

Obey the speed limits, check the recent changes nationally in France, and you will be ok. If you think Police here set up radar traps in sneaky places they are amateurs compared to the French. We came out of a 30kph village limit (growing in number when we were last there), and into a 70 kph for about 500 yards, before it became their equivalent of derestricted/national limit. The gendarmes ( no high vis jackets or vehicles) were round the bend in the deristricted area pointing their radar gun into the 70 area. Several French in the queue, including the one who overtook us just after we entered the 70 from the village.

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[TerryL]

All of the above.
Watch your left turns, crossing oncoming traffic. I've found that the easiest to get wrong, especially turning into a multi-lane road.
The French drive what I call "positively", that is they decide what they are going to do then do it, but they almost invariably make their intentions known. Others call it aggressive, but it's that only if you treat it as such. You'll quickly get used to it.
The best advice I can give is to TAKE YOUR TIME and refuse to be rushed.

But most importantly enjoy - and don't try to do too much on your first trip.

 

[Kitch]

Hi, thanks again everybody for all the good advice, my wife drives but wont drive the motorhome, but its an extra pair of eyes, we are planning to go over around 9ish on Monday evening 17th Sept, the satnav tells me if I go over the limit so hopefully it will do in France, I will up date it before I go.

Cheers Everyone

 

[DBK]

Hi, thanks again everybody for all the good advice, my wife drives but wont drive the motorhome, but its an extra pair of eyes, we are planning to go over around 9ish on Monday evening 17th Sept, the satnav tells me if I go over the limit so hopefully it will do in France, I will up date it before I go.

Cheers Everyone

Best wishes, we are crossing over on the 3rd at Roscoff in Brittany but we are heading east from there. The mention of the satnav reminds me, change it to kms and it will display your speed in the local unit.

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[klaatu]

The mention of the satnav reminds me, change the units to kms and it will display your speed in the local unit.

And set the voice to French, so that you gets lots of "Au rond-point, prenez la deuxième sortie". I find it very relaxing and helps you settle quickly into travelling on French roads

 

[Pekepal]

Nice Aire at Neufchatel en Bray, but not a lot to see. Or if you want to go a bit further try the Aire at Maileraye sur Seine. On the banks of the River Seine and you can watch the big boats go up and down. And a nice little town to walk into.

Love this site. Aire attached to the site which is also very reasonable and is obviously the pride and joy of the owners. An added bonus is the restaurant which is simple but oh so welcome after a journey. Make sure and get there early afternoon as it is very popular and there are often long queues as there are supermarkets and fuel within walking distance.

 

[Kitch]

I think I need a list

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[TerryL]

Just a suggestion - don't rely on your satnav to warn you about exceeding the speed limit. With recent changes, it's likely not yet got round to the speed limit changes in the updates.

 

[Shrimp]

If you want a stop near the tunnel there’s
Gravelines-you have to pay and a few have had trouble with thieves.
There’s Grande Fort Phillipe-not very inspiring but useful, just outside a reasonably priced campsite.
I agree that staring off is daunting but it is easy, I don’t drive the MoHo but I do drive the car and I find it ok. You don’t get the masses of traffic and although the French are a bit unpredictable on the road they do drive at a slower pace to UK.
Just watch out for the yellow signs-a plain yellow diamond shape means you have right of way on a road with roads joining from the right, if it has a black diagonal line thru the yellow you must give way to joiners from the right, & watch for them because a lot of them think they can just pull out regardless!

 

[Riverbankannie]

Y

As for driving on the right, its often been said that within half an hour of leaving the train / ship you will wonder what you were worried about- its really easy, just need to take care.

Good idea stopping at Cite Europe. Its literally the other side of the fence from Eurotunnel terminal. You have to drive a few miles to get to the motorhome parking area but Cite Europe is well signposted from the motorway.

Everyone has their favourite Aires but the one at La Maiileraye sur Seine is justifiably popular, all shops etc within walking distance.

Have a great trip.

Paul

ou don’t need to go onto the motorway to get to the Cite Europe Aire. After leaving train, follow the pack until there is a turning to the right signposted Cite Europe. Then take third exit (turning left) at the next two roundabouts. Then I think there is a MH sign, follow that and the Aire will be on the left hand side of the road.

The entrance to Carrefour supermarket will then be opposite and you can wander around and start to enjoy being away.
This is what it looks like as you approach, you will turn left across the oncoming traffic.
Gps. 50.93289, 1.81106

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[Pugsy]

Hi, Just a thought.as i don't think it has been mentioned

I have just applied for my crit'air for France before my trip end Oct.
I don't know if you know about it or require one ,but a link below if it's of any help.
Small price to pay ,as against the fine if you stray into a restricted zone.

https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/en/

Cheers Cris.

 

[Kitch]

Hi, Just a thought.as i don't think it has been mentioned

I have just applied for my crit'air for France before my trip end Oct.
I don't know if you know about it or require one ,but a link below if it's of any help.
Small price to pay ,as against the fine if you stray into a restricted zone.

https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/en/

Cheers Cris.

Hi Cris,
I did look in to this earlier today, but from what I could see its for 4 major cities, I will be avoiding all cities on this first trip I hope, maybe next time.

Cheers

 

[Clarky]

If you've not seen it here is a link to my video of Tunnel to Cite Europe aire in realtime:-

I can also highly recommend La Mailleraye-sur-Seine aire, perhaps our favourite out of all the lovely French aires we have used and a great introduction to the aires system. It is about 3 1/2 hours from Cite Europe if you take the non toll route.
Video here to find your way in:-

Enjoy your trip and after half an hour of driving you will wonder why you worried about it.

Richard.

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[Kitch]

If you've not seen it here is a link to my video of Tunnel to Cite Europe aire in realtime:-

I can also highly recommend La Mailleraye-sur-Seine aire, perhaps our favourite out of all the lovely French aires we have used and a great introduction to the aires system. It is about 3 1/2 hours from Cite Europe if you take the non toll route.
Video here to find your way in:-

Enjoy your trip and after half an hour of driving you will wonder why you worried about it.

Richard.

Thanks Richard,
I did actually watch both videos a couple of times over the weekend, both very helpful .

Thanks
Kitch

 

[bill kircher]

Hi Kitch
We hired a French motorhome this year (first time ever in a moho) everything was ok, just one thing I would like to point out, the roads are great and have been improved over the years but we found that almost every village we came to the roads got quite narrow.
As for Aire we downloaded an app called caramaps, you can look along your route, Just click on one and it tells you what services are there, pictures of the site and also the postcode for your satnav.

 

[MichelleRyall]

I don’t drive our Moho abroad so map read along with the sat nav. I have found that sat navs are absolutely fantastic at finding very specific addresses and short distances but they have a tendency to do weird things on long routes. We use fastest route but avoid tolls. Sometimes it seems to take us through very small roads and often through a town, not on the bypass or the bigger roads. We have started to use our map a lot more and use the road numbers. For example we did Calais to Les Deux Alpes via Grenoble. The sat nav tried to turn us right, over the river and though some pokey villages when the green road sign clearly pointed straight on !!! You can obviously go into the map and look at each section before you drive but it is such a pain on a long journey and the screen is quite small, so. A good, large view map of Europe is very handy.
Following on from others, I also love Cite d’Europe as a stopover. Handy for a fridge fill up. Enjoy, France is lovely.