Overnight on the A26 between Bethune and Saint-Quentin

[slowdriver]

We regularly travel south down the A26 from Calais to around Troyes. Normally this is after a 2.5hr drive from Oxford to Folkestone, then Tunnel, then onto Troyes. It's an early 6:00 am departure from Oxford, morning round the M25 and arrival in Troyes around 16:00-17:00 (local). That's about 8/9 hrs total travelling time including the tunnel, stops etc.
This time, later this month, we intend to try a cheaper (-£80) late night crossing Eurotunnel, (with the benefit of a hopefully quieter/quicker trip round the M25) arriving in Calais around 11:00 local time and then drive about an hour or 90 minutes down the A26 and heave to at one of the service stations on the A26 and grab a few hours sleep before a slower drive down the N roads to Troyes (saving around €25 on tolls),arriving in time for lunch.

Has anyone tried this? and overnighted at any of these: km 54 - Aire de service de Rely, km 89 - Aire de Souchez, km 121 - Aire de Baralle?

These are all service stations with fuel, toilets and all the usual. I appreciate that they are likely to be noisier and better lit than an a simple Aire. However the current thinking is that southbound these are likely to be reasonably secure especially once you are 90 km or so away from the coast. Has anyone any experience of this?

 

[dunnah01]

Generally not recommended to overnight at any motorway Aires. Plenty of stories about break ins throughout Europe

 

[jarcadia]

Over the years we have stayed at all those aires on this route. I don’t think we have ever been the only ones over-nighting, have woken up in the morning with vans from Belgium, France, Holland, very rarely UK. We always park close to the restaurant under the lights & take sensible precautions.

 

[Rollingwheels]

A little further down but very nice is Laon and only a couple of miles off the motorway