Having just returned from an excellent six weeks trip touring around France I thought it may be helpful to anyone thinking of braving a trip. The paperwork and testing is changing all the time so check the latest regulations before to commit.
At Eurotunnel the paperwork required for entering France was non-existent. This is surprising given the huge differences in infection rates between the two countries.
Paperwork on UK side was confusing and changeable as mentioned above this seems odd.
It became obvious that booking with the Caravan Club was a mistake as Eurotunnel doesn’t recognise any CC bookings so you cannot enter all your details on the Eurotunnel website that allows you to speed up the arrival process. This not only caused a 20 minute delay at either end but resulted in missing our train and having to wait another hour for the next one. Ferry crossings are Caravan Club freindly.
We thought the French may have been a little “hostile” following BREXIT but we found no sign of it. The French were very friendly and charming without exception.
It would be difficult to get around and enjoy France without the French “Pass Sanitaire” their equivalent to our NHS Covid Passport. This is needed if you want to go into any restaurant, bar or venue. Everyone used them on their phones or if no phone then a paper certificate. There were no exceptions and everyone we saw/met complied. The French recognise the NHS Covid certificate and the barcode used by the NHS can be used to create the Pass Sanitaire. We used this all the time. The passport was updated every day with covid numbers and highlighted areas of higher infection rates – something our lot should be looking at.
It is against the law to enter any shop without a face mask (fines of €137) there appeared to be no exceptions and again everyone complied. This made us feel more safer than when in the UK.
Understandably with all the covid restrictions etc. the Vicarious Books publication “All the Aires” was way out of date regarding prices and to a lesser extent facilities. Unsurprisingly Aires, particularly near tourist areas had increased in price whereas campsites had only increased marginally. The publication is in urgent need of updating as there are many new Aires and others have “disappeared”
It had been 5 years since we last took a camper van to France and in that time there has been significant changes. It seems that many local authorities have handed over the running of Aires to Commercial companies. These “commercially operated Aires” that used to be either free or have limited services are now charging between 10 and 18 Euros. That said most of these “commercial Aires” seem to have EHU included in the price. They are barrier operated with fences or hedges with many including the price of the services. (but not all)
There appeared to be fewer “wild camping spots” than we remember and even more surprising the French Camping car owners didn’t seem to mind especially as the Aires now included EHU.
During our 6 weeks in France we only once did we see more than one other Brit on any site. Certainly the Brits are keeping away. Oddly enough we rarely saw any caravans of any nationality and certainly didn’t pass any Brits on the road.
It was true to say that since our last visit in 2019 food prices have risen but not significantly, so with fuel a new pence per litre cheaper than UK.
We don’t have a pet so cannot comment on how easy or difficult it is to take pets into the EU and as there were so few Brits we had nothing to compare with.
At Eurotunnel the paperwork required for entering France was non-existent. This is surprising given the huge differences in infection rates between the two countries.
Paperwork on UK side was confusing and changeable as mentioned above this seems odd.
It became obvious that booking with the Caravan Club was a mistake as Eurotunnel doesn’t recognise any CC bookings so you cannot enter all your details on the Eurotunnel website that allows you to speed up the arrival process. This not only caused a 20 minute delay at either end but resulted in missing our train and having to wait another hour for the next one. Ferry crossings are Caravan Club freindly.
We thought the French may have been a little “hostile” following BREXIT but we found no sign of it. The French were very friendly and charming without exception.
It would be difficult to get around and enjoy France without the French “Pass Sanitaire” their equivalent to our NHS Covid Passport. This is needed if you want to go into any restaurant, bar or venue. Everyone used them on their phones or if no phone then a paper certificate. There were no exceptions and everyone we saw/met complied. The French recognise the NHS Covid certificate and the barcode used by the NHS can be used to create the Pass Sanitaire. We used this all the time. The passport was updated every day with covid numbers and highlighted areas of higher infection rates – something our lot should be looking at.
It is against the law to enter any shop without a face mask (fines of €137) there appeared to be no exceptions and again everyone complied. This made us feel more safer than when in the UK.
Understandably with all the covid restrictions etc. the Vicarious Books publication “All the Aires” was way out of date regarding prices and to a lesser extent facilities. Unsurprisingly Aires, particularly near tourist areas had increased in price whereas campsites had only increased marginally. The publication is in urgent need of updating as there are many new Aires and others have “disappeared”
It had been 5 years since we last took a camper van to France and in that time there has been significant changes. It seems that many local authorities have handed over the running of Aires to Commercial companies. These “commercially operated Aires” that used to be either free or have limited services are now charging between 10 and 18 Euros. That said most of these “commercial Aires” seem to have EHU included in the price. They are barrier operated with fences or hedges with many including the price of the services. (but not all)
There appeared to be fewer “wild camping spots” than we remember and even more surprising the French Camping car owners didn’t seem to mind especially as the Aires now included EHU.
During our 6 weeks in France we only once did we see more than one other Brit on any site. Certainly the Brits are keeping away. Oddly enough we rarely saw any caravans of any nationality and certainly didn’t pass any Brits on the road.
It was true to say that since our last visit in 2019 food prices have risen but not significantly, so with fuel a new pence per litre cheaper than UK.
We don’t have a pet so cannot comment on how easy or difficult it is to take pets into the EU and as there were so few Brits we had nothing to compare with.
it was surprising to see no sign of green and red channels, nor were we asked what we were bringing back.
) … overwhelmingly people, whether French or German, were friendly and glad to see visitors.
.
