Just got back (1 Viewer)

[ricwig69]

...at the weekend from two weeks in France and we had an excellent time! We were (mostly) lucky with the weather, and we had learned a bit of the language (thanks to Michel Thomas) so we found the people very friendly and helpful.

We did a proper 'tour de France', mind; south through Champagne and Bergundy, spending a week in and around the Languedoc region, and back up the west coast. We stayed at a different campsite every night, used toll roads for all our long journeys (we made the mistake of trying the national roads the second day - six hours later, after countless roundabouts, traffic lights, villages, and slow moving vehicles we decided the peage cost was well worth it), had a meal in a restaurant each day and still managed to spend less than half our budget.

Almost all the sites we stayed on had a pool and cost less than €20 a night. The diesel seemed to be upwards of €1.50/litre in the motorway service stations and about 10 cents a litre cheaper in the towns. The toll costs worked out around €10/100 km.

If anyone is thinking of taking the plunge I would well recommend it. Even though we got to all the places we wanted to visit, two weeks is just not long enough. We would both go back anytime, but as we live in Newcastle the worst part was the drive between Dover and home; so we may need a few months to blunt the memory of how long that was!

NB. The pic is of Avignon from the big wheel.

 

[andyman]

We recently had 10 days arround the waest coast and really enjoyed it. Roll on next spring.

 

[freakylady]

if its not too cheeky can i ask how much you budgeted for the whole trip?

hubby and i are thinking of doing something siimlar soon

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[ricwig69]

Not cheeky at all, freakylady!

We had budgeted around £1500/€1800 (NOT including the diesel costs) for the ten days in France (Monday 9th-Friday 20th), the thinking being:

Campsites - €250 (actual cost less than €200)
Toll roads - €300 (actual cost just over €200)
Spending money - €100+/day (actual spend about €50/day)

I estimated the cost of diesel would be somewhere around £600, depending on where the mood took us - it came to £568 covering 2,629 miles (about 25 mpg).

I hope you do get the chance to go for it. We had saved and prepared for the trip for the last few months and it turned out to be as good as we had dared hope!

 

[freakylady]

Thanks for that - just helps to have an idea of costs ( as this would be our first time in France in our motorhome

did you stay at CCC club sites?

it's all very exciting

 

[ricwig69]

I agree, freakylady (and sorry for the delay in replying). We had a vague idea of costs, as it was the first time in France for us in our motorhome, too; but I would have found it useful to have them broken down a bit.

As for whether we stayed in any C&CC sites, I don't really know... We are not members of either club and never booked a site, only turned up on the day. Sometimes, in Orange for instance, we just parked up, went to the town's tourist information and asked about campsites in the area. We were never disappointed.

Mind, it was not the height of season, and I did notice that on many tariffs the price went up at the end of June/beginning of July. That said, around most of the places we visited there were a number of fair sized sites, so I would be surprised if you had too much trouble getting a pitch.

I'm looking forward to it for you!:thumb:

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[freakylady]

Thanks for that the funny thing is that my hubby is more like you and just wants to turn up and park and I prefer things a bit more planned but it will be an adventure.

We're hoping to go for the winter months so will keep you posted :thumb:

 

[TravellingCliffs]

Winter months

Because of family stuff we don't leave UK until after Christmas. We tried Pride of Bilbao twice in 2005 & 2006. First one was a nightmare with the worst storms ever for the whole journey. 2006 not as bad but still not very comfortable. Options are very limited as Brittany Ferries hibernate after November and Condor only take vehicles up to 6.5 metres meaning St Malo Roscoff etc are not possible. So in 2007 we went through the tunnel, booted straight down the middle, Millau bridge (spectacular), Narbonne and on to Benicassim for the fiesta in early January. Last year much the same and this year we are heading through the tunnel keeping to the west for a change. Tours, Salles, Burgos, Caceres, Huelva and then to the Algarve for a month or so, Olhao or Quarteira seem favourite. The weather will determine the speed of our southern journey. Have fun.

 

[freakylady]

sounds great.

thanks for sharing that info - its really useful to know how other people do things helps me think outside the box and all that

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