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[maison]

We arrived in France, via Eurotunnel yesterday. Following a horrendous journey to Canterbury P&R. due to the M4 being closed , for roadworks, between J24/13. We covered one and a half miles in 1hour 45 minutes.

The Tunnel was very straightforward. Show Covid travel pass, get passport stamped, and onto the train one hour earlier than booked. No “fridge check” at either end, just straight out onto the Autoroute and start the holiday.

Spent last night on a free Aire in Thiberville and head to a municipal site in La Flèche. Still fairly busy here. Last night two motorhomes arrived and the Aire to find it full and had to move on.

Great to be back in France and the sun is shining.

 

[Northernraider]

Im hoping for an equally smooth journey in a few weeks

 

[rod_vw]

We enjoyed the pleasures of the M4 closure on Saturday as well. Annoying thing was we only wanted to go from J15 to J14, it took us two hours!

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[maison]

The Municipal Site at La Fleche is a good one. Out of season. (ie now) it is very quiet, less than 20% full. Good size pitches, level and 10amp EHU. In high season there is a swimming pool, tennis courts and play area.

The town itself is attractive with a market on Wednesday morning. The photo is taken from a bridge during the five minute walk into town.

 

[maison]

After a two night stay at La Flèche where the Municipal site was very quiet

we have travelled to Nantes, staying at Nantes Camping which is considerably busier although looking magnificent with Autumn colours.

Tomorrow we will go into Nantes and explore using the tram that stops just outside the camp gates. The site is good, for a city site, but reception couldn’t tell me how many amps their pitch supply is. If the whole of Western France goes dark this evening it is because we have overloaded the supply.

 

[marchie]

After a two night stay at La Flèche where the Municipal site was very quiet

View attachment 547990

we have travelled to Nantes, staying at Nantes Camping which is considerably busier although looking magnificent with Autumn colours.

View attachment 547991



Tomorrow we will go into Nantes and explore using the tram that stops just outside the camp gates. The site is good, for a city site, but reception couldn’t tell me how many amps their pitch supply is. If the whole of Western France goes dark this evening it is because we have overloaded the supply.

Did you travel through La Chataigneraie between La Fleche and Nantes? If you did, you probably passed the end of our road at Cheffois!

Steve & Elaine

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[Coolcats]

After a two night stay at La Flèche where the Municipal site was very quiet

View attachment 547990

we have travelled to Nantes, staying at Nantes Camping which is considerably busier although looking magnificent with Autumn colours.

View attachment 547991



Tomorrow we will go into Nantes and explore using the tram that stops just outside the camp gates. The site is good, for a city site, but reception couldn’t tell me how many amps their pitch supply is. If the whole of Western France goes dark this evening it is because we have overloaded the supply.

Don't forget to pick up some Rigoletts when in Nantes

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[maison]

Don't forget to pick up some Rigoletts when in Nantes

<Broken link removed>

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MAPS.ME (MapsWithMe) are offline maps of the whole world. Map of the USA: New York, San Francisco, Washington. France Paris. Italy: Rome, Venice, Florence, Rimini. Spain: Barcelona, Madrid. Japan, Great Britain, Turkey, Russia, India. For Android and iOS devices.

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Now you have told us about them we will certainly try!

 

[Coolcats]

Now you have told us about them we will certainly try!

They are delicious and we ordered some as we couldn't get to them, well worth hunting the shop down

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[Emmit]

The Municipal Site at La Fleche is a good one. Out of season. (ie now) it is very quiet, less than 20% full. Good size pitches, level and 10amp EHU. In high season there is a swimming pool, tennis courts and play area.

The town itself is attractive with a market on Wednesday morning. The photo is taken from a bridge during the five minute walk into town.

View attachment 547416

Every, and I mean EVERY!!! Time we've tried to stay at La Fleche, we've found it occupied by a travelling fair.

 

[scousebird]

We were on the Camping Car Park aire at La Fleche last night, only 2 of us on there. The aire on the main road opposite the little Carrefour is no longer an aire, hasn't been for a couple of years, the tap and waste facilities have been removed.

 

[maison]

Pass Sanitaire.

Progress so far.....

2 x café bar. Not asked for
1 x café/bar. Asked for and visually checked, no problem
1 x restaurant. Asked for and scanned. Came up as “Invalid”. Proprietor accepted it as “foreign pass” although it was the correct French Pass Sanitaire.

We await further experiences.

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[scousebird]

Pass Sanitaire.

Progress so far.....

2 x café bar. Not asked for
1 x café/bar. Asked for and visually checked, no problem
1 x restaurant. Asked for and scanned. Came up as “Invalid”. Proprietor accepted it as “foreign pass” although it was the correct French Pass Sanitaire.

We await further experiences.

Ours has been checked almost everywhere, even when sitting outside.

 

[maison]

Ours has been checked almost everywhere, even when sitting outside.

Has it been scanned or just checked visually?

All our occasions above, were outside seating.

 

[scousebird]

Has it been scanned or just checked visually?

All our occasions above, were outside seating.

All scanned

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[maison]

All scanned

Thanks.

Seems strange. The guy who got the “Invalid” reading when he scanned ours asked if we were Swiss as he had had a lot of problems scanning their Pass Sanitaire.

 

[Grianan]

We only sit outside and have always been asked (bar/resto) for the pass. It seems to scan fine from TousAntiCovid. The young lady stamping passports at Folkestone was very impressed we had the app. Only scanned one of the two.

 

[maison]

We only sit outside and have always been asked (bar/resto) for the pass. It seems to scan fine from TousAntiCovid. The young lady stamping passports at Folkestone was very impressed we had the app. Only scanned one of the two.

Our Covid Vaccination Pass is on TousAntiCovid and has been accepted when viewed visually but “failed” when scanned. We will see what happens today when we visit a different restaurant for lunch.

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[maison]

Grianan
We used our TousAntiCovid pass today on three occasions where it was scanned and it was accepted each time. Surprisingly, one of them was the restaurant where it shied “Invalid” yesterday. I can only imagine that there was something wrong with the guy’s scanner yesterday.

Anyway, all working OK now.

 

[Chrisvh]

We had a problem with our TousAntiCovid pass. I deleted the certificates and uploaded the certificates again from the NHS COVID Pass site. Work fine now.

 

[Lenny HB]

We had trouble in Gruissan one restaurant I particularly wanted to go scanned our passes & our friends all came up invalid, did an update the same. Went to another restaurant no problem scanned OK.
I've downloaded the scanning app that even scanned our NHS ones OK. I think the problem is the people using the scanning app have not updated the app.

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[Grianan]

maison interestingly, at the bakery where we used it successfully yesterday, today it was invalide. The girl took our word though. It was ok later on at the fish place at the end of the chalets road. It does seem to depend on whether they have downloaded the updated app. I had got complacent and should have carried copies of our certificates.

 

[maison]

Further to my post re the mechanical elephant at Nantes which is well worth seeing.

We returned today to the Gallerie de Machines to see the rest in action. A word of warning to anyone who wishes to do the same.......if you are not fluent, and I mean almost native speaker fluent, make sure that you get the English audio translation App as you enter.

We speak French reasonably well but could not follow the commentary due to the speed of delivery. The French crowd lapped it up and there were clearly some good jokes in there judging by the audience reaction. Overall, even allowing for that we found the experience to be underwhelming. The Elephant, however, is a must and free to see. A ride on him/her will cost you €8.50.

 

[bexleyjohn]

Travelled via tunnel last Sunday, customs no problem, no fridge or food check!!!! Drove straight to Belgium (Bruges) no-one at campsite asked about Covid tests etc. Two days later drove into Germany (Trier), campsite looked at Covid Vaccination proof nothing more. Three days later drive into France (Strasbourg), again looked at Vaccination proof nothing else. Leaving to go back to Germany (Koblenz) tomorrow then on to Liege on Thursday before returning home next Sunday. Have checked and double checked everything but no-one seems interested in whether we have completed the requirements. Spent FAR TOO LONG checking through and following all the rules as no-one seems to care wherever we go. BUT to get back to the UK we have to take a test! It just doesn’t add up.

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[MisterB]

maison

Mechanical elephant at Nantes on the old shipyard, is fantastic. Did you take the land train around the city (starts outside the cathedral)? they will give you an english print out of the commentary if you ask.

A little bit further south at La Roche sur Yon, they have mechanical animals (hydraulically operated) in the town centre 'square' that you can operate yourself freely (no charge) - we even found space to park the motorhome on one of the surrounding streets.

there is also a 'water ski' lake not too far from you - there is even an attached (not free) aire. if you like outdoor activities it might just be ideal for you?

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The Vendee is a great area for motorhomes, with lots of free aires,but sadly we havent been there this year!

Have fun !!

 

[G-RMPS]

Another data point:

We travelled by ferry from Sardinia to Barcelona yesterday. We couldn’t complete the required form (server error!) and it was needed before embarcation. The ferry checkin office bailed us out.

On arrival in Barcelona the security staff wanted to see the Covid QR form, but just a glance, no scanning was done. However they did ask if we had come from the Ukraine. I wonder why

In Sardinia most places we visited didn’t ask for a vaccination form, one or two looked at the form, one or two scanned it. It’s always worth having it on you, or loaded into the French app.

 

[bexleyjohn]

Actually asked for evidence of double vaccination today - went for a snack in 5 Guys in Strasbourg!!!!

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[Coastal Cruiser.]

Came through the tunnel today, looked at the passports and waved us through!
Gutted as had all my stuff printed and clipped together

 

[maison]

maison

Mechanical elephant at Nantes on the old shipyard, is fantastic. Did you take the land train around the city (starts outside the cathedral)? they will give you an english print out of the commentary if you ask.

A little bit further south at La Roche sur Yon, they have mechanical animals (hydraulically operated) in the town centre 'square' that you can operate yourself freely (no charge) - we even found space to park the motorhome on one of the surrounding streets.

there is also a 'water ski' lake not too far from you - there is even an attached (not free) aire. if you like outdoor activities it might just be ideal for you?

<Broken link removed>


The Vendee is a great area for motorhomes, with lots of free aires,but sadly we havent been there this year!

Have fun !!

No we didn’t take the land train. We didn’t see it so it may not be operating out of season, but we did walk all the distance of the “green line” tourist route. We found Nantes to be an interesting city if you are prepared to “walk the walk”.

Today we moved on and had a difficult time finding sites open at this time of year. We are currently settled on a Municipal Site, “La Garenne”, at Port de Barque. 275 pitches and only 35 Pitches occupied it is next. To the beach and only a short walk to bars and shops. It closes at the end of this month where most sites on the Atlantic coast close at the end of September.

We previously drove onto the Ile de Re but the only site we could find open was crowded with tiny pitches all under trees so, in October, not too warm. It was a bit run down so we didn’t stay.

At 1800hrs this evening, on this site, the temperature here was a balmy 22° C. We hope to totally chill for a couple of days before planning(?) our next move.

It’s great to be free again.

 

[Gillygrim]

Reading this thread has made me really anxious to get away after over two years stuck at home. (Family reasons plus Covid). After finishing my GCEs in 1959 I was lucky enough to have two years at boarding school in Pont du Cens, a suburb of Nantes. I had the long term loan of a Velo Solex and whizzed all over the place on it. Such happy memories and my French is still fairly fluent, due to frequent trips across the Channel. Can't wait to get back !

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