France 2025

[yodeli]

us men don't even ask for directions

Yes I know... You , men , are far too concentrated on the road... your brain can't manage questions or queries at the same time!!!!!.... Sorry you looked for it!

 

[Gromett]

Then I won't be purple will I ?.... No colour= no colour??? ... Or am I gone stupid all of a sudden?
I thought there was a mode that could change the purple into a readable colour when the reader has chosen a dark mode. Don't ask me the magic way to do that... it's actually what I wonder

AH!! I misunderstood you and I think you misunderstood me.

When you select a colour it is hard stuck on that colour no matter what.

If you leave the default colour then it will be black when the background is black and white when the background is black for example.

If you are setting it to purple everytime you are making it so that it will be purple for everyone.

 

[MitchandJenny]

Yodelli.
Go to type a reply to this thread. At the top of our reply there will be a bar with B I and a smiley face. After that there are three dots. Tap them. You will then see an artists pallete. Tap that and you can change the colour of your font

testing
Mitch

 

[Stephen180]

Yes I know... You , men , are far too concentrated on the road... your brain can't manage questions or queries at the same time!!!!!.... Sorry you looked for it!

It's called switching off when the passenger talks too much

 

[Stephen180]

Route so far minus a few switchbacks and a satnav that ignores the shortest route in favour of being able to drive a bus somewhere (however still tried to send me down a 3.5t limit and a one way road along the way).

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[Stephen180]

As I wanted to look at the submarine bases at both Lorient and Saint-Nazaire (twinned with Sunderland) I stayed at a free aire at Saint Marc Sur Mer. Close to the beach (but no view) and a 15 minute walk to a beach bar which was heaving. The French seem to finish work and head for the beach like the Australians do. A pint of La Goudale was 10 euros ( 8 pounds 54p for a pint, my dad would be spinning in his grave - he got upset when it went over a pound!).

 

[DBK]

If you are returning over roughly the same ground I can recommend Falaise, which is south of Caen. William the Conquer was brought up here and the castle is well worth a visit. But apart from that the stand out feature is the campsite, one of the best small sites I've come across. You can go in a conventional pitch or in their aire area. It was also involved in the Allied advance after D Day and there are a few information boards about that too.

 

[BrochMike]

Hi Stephen180

Was following with interest.
Hope you are OK?
Or was that last Goudale to much to bear?

 

[Figaro]

If you are returning over roughly the same ground I can recommend Falaise, which is south of Caen. William the Conquer was brought up here and the castle is well worth a visit. But apart from that the stand out feature is the campsite, one of the best small sites I've come across. You can go in a conventional pitch or in their aire area. It was also involved in the Allied advance after D Day and there are a few information boards about that too.

Just by way of an update, there is now a new CCP on virgin ground just across the river from the municipal campsite.
They are also in the process of revitalising the river and I think the CCP is part of that project. There are two new pedestrian bridges across the river, not yet open but will be soon
The historic laundry has also had a revamp. Lots of history in the town and definitely worth a visit

 

[Figaro]

Some photos of the revitalised river area and CCP aire
The electrical connection look like a temporary heath robinson affair (the cream box on the wall behind the elsan) and it failed yesterday, but a call to the office and a technician appeared an hour later to reconnect it

Yes, there are tyre tracks to the left of the barrier to avoid checking in. I dare say a large boulder will fix that when they cotton on

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[Stephen180]

After recovering from paying 10 euros for a pint, I realised I was going to hit Puy du Foy a little early and so looked for somewhere to go for a couple of days. As the heat was starting to get to me - us Northerners are not used to temperatures almost in three figures - I headed for the coastal town of Noirmoutier hoping for some sort of coastal breeze. I got that wrong and the heat was still relentless. Noirmoutier was quite pleasant though and stayed at Camping des Roussieres. EHU, showers and a bar / pizza restaurant for 19.56 euros per night. The walk into town was about 20 minutes where there was a market and a few bars / cafes. It's at this point my 5G signal kindly disappeared and so it will take me a few posts to catch up. Bizarre concrete artwork going on in St Nazaire.

And the Michelin man on a fun day out.

 

[MichaelT]

Amazing how much infrastructure the Nazis built in the war years in the 40's and we can't even build a railway line between London and Birmingham 80 years later in less than twenty years.....something wrong somewhere

Yeah a lot less forced labour about now

 

[Stephen180]

I tried to find somewhere near Nantes but was struggling, hence my bolt for the coast. Here are some pics from Noirmoutier.

 

[BrochMike]

I tried to find somewhere near Nantes but was struggling

Things will start to get busy from now on.

We're on our way back from Brittany and made a dash for the coast. Surprised to be turned away by quite a few sites which were 'complet', even mid-week.

Still plenty space to be found on Aires but rarely do they come with shade (or a pool!), a real benefit when temperatures are hitting 37/38°C in the shade...

 

[Stephen180]

What can I say about Puy du Foy that someone else on here hasn't already written? It is a magical place and probably the best ever theme park that doesn't feature a roller coaster. Stayed two nights on the Aire which had EHU and showers 17.40 euros a night and a 10 minute walk to the shows. If you want to see everything you need two full days, beer was 8 or 9 euros a "pint" with a 2 euro deposit on the Puy du Fou plastic cup, remember to take it back or that pint will have cost you 11 euros! The sandwiches on offer were quite tasty with a sort of pretzel / brioche type bread which I had never seen before, yum! Beer was a bit nondescript though!

I did take a lot more photos and video however I don't want to give away any secrets or surprises. The shows are very well staged - the falconry-bird display was particularly good as was La Cinescenie (last pic).

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[Stephen180]

After Puy du Foy I went for a drive in the general direction of Niort but after the Sat Nav failed to get me anywhere near where I wanted to go I did some shopping instead and ended up on a free Aire at Chef Boutonne (S6463S) which was a lovely peaceful free aire which there was only two other (French) MH's on site. Plenty of space but I did have to christen the ramps to get vaguely level. Still no 5G signal so moved on next day through Angouleme to Sarlat. Another free aire (car park) at Rue Paul Verlaine (S43481S) which appeared safe, there was another three French MH's on site and it was a 10 minute walk into town. Sarlat is beautiful with lots of restaurants so I did what all Brits do in France and went to the Indian lol! To be fair I hadn't had an Indian for over a month and I needed something spicy, (it wasn't). Chez Minija was the restaurant, if you go there tell them to liven it up a bit or order something hotter than you normally would.
On the way I passed La Roche Foucault which looked like a very nice second home for someone!

 

[Stephen180]

I was doing a fair bit of driving in search of a 5G signal by now and headed from Sarlat to Rocamadour before hitting Saint Sylvestre-sur-lot and another free aire. (S4180S). Signal still bad however it was free with a bar, supermarket, washing machine / dryer nearby. Found a bakery that did an orange juice, coffee and a pan-au-chocolate for 3 euros - bargain. The lady who served me was from Kent originally but moved there 20 years ago. I don't know how she knew I was English as my French was close to soopurb . Not a lot going on in Saint Sylvestre-sur-lot but I was able to cross the bridge and take a photo of the river and utter the immortal words "that's your lot!"
Pictures of Rocamadour and Saint Sylvestre-sur-lot.

 

[Basa]

Have you got your Crit Air certification?

 

[DBK]

Some photos of the revitalised river area and CCP aire
The electrical connection look like a temporary heath robinson affair (the cream box on the wall behind the elsan) and it failed yesterday, but a call to the office and a technician appeared an hour later to reconnect it

View attachment 1079152View attachment 1079151
View attachment 1079150
Yes, there are tyre tracks to the left of the barrier to avoid checking in. I dare say a large boulder will fix that when they cotton on

View attachment 1079149

View attachment 1079153

Thanks for that, I didn't know about that new aire. It looks good.

 

[Stephen180]

Saint-Nazaire to Saint Sylvestre-sur-lot.
SWMBO was flying into Bergerac airport in a couple of days so I parked myself in what I thought would be a bit more luxurious surroundings, Camping Yelloh Village Pomport Beach. The wifi was rubbish and the phone signal 3G with intermittent bursts of 4G, I was feeling spoiled! It had two pools, a bar restaurant, showers, water, EHU etc what more could you want? The burgers and pizzas were nice (no haute de cuisine here), there was a lake and nearby wineries. 25.32 euros per night, and it was mostly empty till Saturday where occupancy probably doubled (still not many though).

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[Stephen180]

Have you got your Crit Air certification?

I have and I think it has only come in use once!

 

[DBK]

I was doing a fair bit of driving in search of a 5G signal by now and headed from Sarlat to Rocamadour before hitting Saint Sylvestre-sur-lot and another free aire. (S4180S). Signal still bad however it was free with a bar, supermarket, washing machine / dryer nearby. Found a bakery that did an orange juice, coffee and a pan-au-chocolate for 3 euros - bargain. The lady who served me was from Kent originally but moved there 20 years ago. I don't know how she knew I was English as my French was close to soopurb . Not a lot going on in Saint Sylvestre-sur-lot but I was able to cross the bridge and take a photo of the river and utter the immortal words "that's your lot!"
Pictures of Rocamadour and Saint Sylvestre-sur-lot.
View attachment 1080015View attachment 1080014

I'm a bit late catching up on this thread, thanks for posting.

But I'm a confused by your need for a 5G signal. My phone can do 5G but the MH wifi is only 4G and it works fine. I upload photos and videos using it. They would be quicker with 5G but 4G does the job.

 

[Stephen180]

I'm a bit late catching up on this thread, thanks for posting.

But I'm a confused by your need for a 5G signal. My phone can do 5G but the MH wifi is only 4G and it works fine. I upload photos and videos using it. They would be quicker with 5G but 4G does the job.

It seemed like everywhere I stopped for the night the best I could manage was 3G. I am a very patient man (ask the wife ) but even I draw the line at trying to do anything worthwhile on 3G. I have 5G now so rapidly trying to post catchups. I agree 4G is manageable but I struggled to find that.

 

[Stephen180]

After three days of chilling at Pomport Beach, we drove into Bordeaux for the day. I liked Bordeaux but was very fortunate to find a parking space on the Allees de Chartres, one of the few places to park in town so I am told. After a wander around town (or as the wife calls it "the shops" we headed up to La Rochelle. The not so free aire Port Neuf which is a good 30 minute walk into town and 14.40 euros with EHU.
Bordeaux -

 

[Stephen180]

From a night on the aire at La Rochelle Port Neuf we headed over on to the island "Ile de Re". I had booked three nights at the Camping Municipal St Martin de Re just in case and this proved to be most expensive of the trip at 35.44 euros per night - but everything expensive on Ile de Re isn't it? Two cokes in a local bar in Le Bois-Plage-en-Re was 10 euros. The site was clean and tidy, probably a bit tight for the larger vans as they seem to have trees stuck in the most awkward of places, and my pet peeve again of tent dwellers parking their car on the corners so you struggle to get anything over 7m around it. Hey but they are not inconvenienced are they and that's all that matters. La Rochelle -

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[Stephen180]

St Martin de Re municipal campsite is a short walk into town and we had dinner at the Cafe de la Paix. She had the oysters (delicious) and the Moule frites however the chips were overdone. I had the burger with the overdone chips which I have to say was not nice at all. We took advantage of the free shuttle to visit various other places on the island (well you have to get back some of the 16 euro toll to get across the bridge don't you?). The free shuttle went to La Bois-en-plage and La Flotte and the very kind bus driver even dropped us off at Lidl. We also went up to the lighthouse and had crepes at one of the many cafes there.

 

[Stephen180]

The French Air Traffic Controllers went on strike and so Ryanair preemptively cancelled all the flights including the one from Limoges back to Bristol that the other half was due to take as she had work the next day (ooops). This curtailed my drive to Limoges via Oradour-sur-Glane as she managed to get a flight with Easyjet the next day from La Rochelle. We stayed the night at the aire at Le Bois-Plage-en-Re. It is right on the beach with a cafe/restaurant next door. She had the moules frites (again) and I had the burger and chips (again) however this time they were very agreeable. The aire was quiet, mostly French on there but less than half full and cost 19 euros including EHU. Easyjet were late but managed to avoid E261 payout by 19 minutes! Anyways after staying in La Rochelle a little longer than expected I needed to drive North to get back to somewhere closer to Calais for the ferry home. I thought I would try Le Mans but by the time I got there it was full so headed further up to Ballon-Saint-Mars. A nice quiet free aire with only one other French couple on it (and their cat). Once people had stopped depositing their bottles into the bottle bank opposite at 9pm it was peaceful. A quick start in the morning and headed for Amiens / Albert. The Tour de France has started so I am going to try and catch / avoid on the way back to Calais. (Dunkirk finish would be good if I can get parked up first). After almost four glorious sunshine filled weeks it's finally started raining. (Must be getting closer to the UK).

 

[Reallyretired]

We always use the tunnel for dog reasons. They charge £20 to amend a booking for your return but a flexi ticket is usually a lot more expensive.

 

[Shrimp]

Stephen1 sorry but don’t think you will manage that route in four weeks and get sightseeing in as well.
That route will take a lot of driving every day and not a lot of down time, save some of it for another time I think Normandy and Brittany will be about right for 4 weeks!

 

[Stephen180]

After a final rainy, windy night in Gravelines I drove the short trip to Calais and the ferry to Dover on the Isle of Innishmore. Passed on the breakfast this time as I had stuffed my face one last time on French pastries (pan au chocolat), the coffee was 3.95 GBP. Long drive home but made it in time for tea (or as the wife calls it "dinner"). Tale of the tape for 29 nights away -
Miles covered - just over 3000 miles
Diesel cost - 650 pound or thereabouts
Average mpg - 28mpg
Cost per night on average - 13.88 pounds (campsites and aires)
Road tolls - 1.44 (1.70 euros) - bleeding route barree!
Bridge tolls - 13.69 (16 euros) - Ile de Re
Lessons learned for next time - less driving, pick four or five places and get to them quickly even if it means paying tolls, then more time to relax. I do enjoy driving and I regularly covered over 40k a year for work, so this was definitely a "touring" holiday. I wanted to visit small towns and villages on D roads rather than motorways and avoid tolls. The next time will toll heavy with less mileage, so hopefully less diesel cost to make up for it. Thanks for listening.

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