Solo in France (1 Viewer)

[Duffer]

I spend six or seven weeks up there each summer, so if you need any help then let me know. There's some superb sites and some that should be avoided at all costs. This new North Coast 500 has led to a big increase in site fees in places as choice is limited. It's also led to a lot more traffic and quite a few boy racers seeing how fast they can do it. I've been bumbling around up there for donkey's years so I remember the good old days

 

[suavecarve]

If you bought a refillable gas system, they arent that hard to fit.
Dependant upon which system you buy with which tanks it will be £4-500.
The resale value of the whole system 2nd hand is £390-490. They dont lose value (cant speak for the underslung) as who cares if the bottles are 2nd hand ? every calor gas one you get is !
So, after this trip, and when you come to the decision that France is for you, best to buy one and save 25 quid each fill up and you can remove it if you sell your van or ask them for 500 quid to leave it in there !

 

[Duffer]

If you bought a refillable gas system, they arent that hard to fit.
Dependant upon which system you buy with which tanks it will be £4-500.
The resale value of the whole system 2nd hand is £390-490. They dont lose value (cant speak for the underslung) as who cares if the bottles are 2nd hand ? every calor gas one you get is !
So, after this trip, and when you come to the decision that France is for you, best to buy one and save 25 quid each fill up and you can remove it if you sell your van or ask them for 500 quid to leave it in there !

That makes a lot of sense. I'll probably do that - one refillable and a Calor in case I cant get LPG.

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[Riverbankannie]

I spend six or seven weeks up there each summer, so if you need any help then let me know. There's some superb sites and some that should be avoided at all costs. This new North Coast 500 has led to a big increase in site fees in places as choice is limited. It's also led to a lot more traffic and quite a few boy racers seeing how fast they can do it. I've been bumbling around up there for donkey's years so I remember the good old days

I’ll be taking you up on that, I have booked a large house for family do near Aberfeldy, then we are going on to NC500 and anywhere else recommended. Have just today bought a guide book to NC500.

 

[Duffer]

I’ll be taking you up on that, I have booked a large house for family do near Aberfeldy, then we are going on to NC500 and anywhere else recommended. Have just today bought a guide book to NC500.

You'll love it - the scenery is fantastic. Do it slowly and veer off often. The wee beasties can be bad, especially if its damp and there's no breeze, but you just need to find a repellent that works for you. PM me when you are doing your planning.

 

[DL42846]

Very easy, download CamperContact and you can search for local Aires or campsites wherever you are, then buy Co-Pilot Caravan for mobile or tablet and you are sorted in both areas.

+1 for CamperContact, everything you need is there. I live in France and use it all the time. No need to worry about booking, just turn up. if its full move onto the next one. I would work on arriving at popular sites late afternoon the latest otherwise you might be disappointed. Its easier to find sites in France than the UK. Some of the aires are like small campsites. The Auvergne will be very busy during the holiday period. But as already been mentioned in March a lot of the campsites will still not be open.

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[mitzimad]

We do what many do which is Aires for 3 days and site on the 4th fill and dump shower etc
Very few Aires will have restricted access especially for the size of your van
One day driving in France and you will wonder why you was ever worried
Being alone will make toll machines difficult but just stop short and walk round do arm your self with a bag of one and two euro coins
Aires are all very different some are just a parking space in the town Sq some are laid out like campsites they are every where and away from the coasts not busy we've had more accessible problems with tight pitches on sites than we've ever had on aires
France is a popular destination because it's so easy probably the nearest place you can truly still live the gypsy life style and just wander

 

[peterc10]

The best bit of advice we were given when we started European touring was in the car park of Auchan in Calais on the first day of our first trip "out". Got talking to the guy in the moho parked next to me who was a veteran and he said "just make sure you have found somewhere to stop by 4pm, after that the good places start filling up".

Mind you, that does not stop the French from rolling in at 11pm and trying to squeeze in wherever they can! The worst example I saw was a large Concorde towing a large trailer with a large boat on turning up at the popular and very full Aire at the port in Gruissan at 1:30 in the morning and driving round and round trying to find somewhere to park.

 

[tinkerbell]

We've been with our 4yr old dog for last 4 years, unfortunately run over in uk before xmas, have started again with new Puppy who will also go out with us later on in year, they love it and soon adjust. A great first stop if using dover calais in an Aire called MONTRUIEL, its a small village car park and proper places for motorhome if you can get in them, (few shops as well), we never have, car park is fine. Great walks over the wall surrounding the village with the dogs. its only an hour or so away from port. We stay on way out and on way back. Ares are great either before or after a village you will find them. Enjoy.

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[Hilewaychile]

Re driving on the right, just take it really steadily. Coming away from the ferry or chunnel is the most anxious point. Even after a lifetime of driving on the right, including coast to coast USA, months at a time in NYC [freaky!] SF and LA, Europe in battlefield tour mini coaches, that first 20 minutes gets to me. Fortunately it's all one way thro' the port areas, then m/way, so one has a chance to settle into it. And, within a few miles you will be asking yourself, "Where is everybody? Where have they all gone?". France is big and the traffic is blissfully light. You will be shocked, on exit from your UK port, to be in a 75mph traffic jam pretty much all the way home.

As has been mentioned, turning out of places like filling stations and car parks can be tricky because of one's ingrained habit of which side of the road to head for. Pause and work out where you are going to aim for. I find it useful to keep up a running commentary, out loud, to myself in towns, at road junctions and other complicated situations.

French roundabouts out in the country are very small and tight. I don't know how the artics get round some of them. This means that vehicles already on the roundabout are on you very quickly, including the ones just joining it from the junction to your left. You have to get going smartly when there's traffic about.

Taking a minibus party of Americans into Paris once, I headed for the Arc de Triomphe. The road junction there, L'Etoile [The Star] for obvious reasons, is probably the maddest roundabout on earth. There are no road markings and nobody gives way to right or left. Everybody guns it, flat out. You just have to go for it. My clients were so frightened, literally screaming ... "Chris! The guy on the left!" "No! The guy on the right!" ... It was such fun I went round twice! L'Etoile is cobbles. In the wet it is truly frightening...

In a van you will be able to see over the tops of the cars, which is very helpful when thinking about overtaking the 40 yr-old Renault 4 meandering along at 23kph on the open road. If stuck behind a large vehicle and a queue builds up behind you, pull over for a minute or two, because the French making a bid to get past both you and the truck will be going bananas and will take insane risks. They do, anyway, as standard practice. You will also find they have a very bad habit of running dangerously close to your rear end. They all do it.

Remember that in a van, the lower of the speed limits posted applies to you - or at least that's what the cameras think. I have been flashed a number of times before I realised this. Once I got into the habit of passing the cameras at commercial vehicle speeds, I had no more flashes. Reassuringly, no tickets have ever turned up. Maybe, somewhere 'downstream' of the camera, the fact that it's a camper makes the difference.

Bon voyage!

 

[Duffer]

Re driving on the right, just take it really steadily. Coming away from the ferry or chunnel is the most anxious point. Even after a lifetime of driving on the right, including coast to coast USA, months at a time in NYC [freaky!] SF and LA, Europe in battlefield tour mini coaches, that first 20 minutes gets to me. Fortunately it's all one way thro' the port areas, then m/way, so one has a chance to settle into it. And, within a few miles you will be asking yourself, "Where is everybody? Where have they all gone?". France is big and the traffic is blissfully light. You will be shocked, on exit from your UK port, to be in a 75mph traffic jam pretty much all the way home.

As has been mentioned, turning out of places like filling stations and car parks can be tricky because of one's ingrained habit of which side of the road to head for. Pause and work out where you are going to aim for. I find it useful to keep up a running commentary, out loud, to myself in towns, at road junctions and other complicated situations.

French roundabouts out in the country are very small and tight. I don't know how the artics get round some of them. This means that vehicles already on the roundabout are on you very quickly, including the ones just joining it from the junction to your left. You have to get going smartly when there's traffic about.

Taking a minibus party of Americans into Paris once, I headed for the Arc de Triomphe. The road junction there, L'Etoile [The Star] for obvious reasons, is probably the maddest roundabout on earth. There are no road markings and nobody gives way to right or left. Everybody guns it, flat out. You just have to go for it. My clients were so frightened, literally screaming ... "Chris! The guy on the left!" "No! The guy on the right!" ... It was such fun I went round twice! L'Etoile is cobbles. In the wet it is truly frightening...

View attachment 207953

In a van you will be able to see over the tops of the cars, which is very helpful when thinking about overtaking the 40 yr-old Renault 4 meandering along at 23kph on the open road. If stuck behind a large vehicle and a queue builds up behind you, pull over for a minute or two, because the French making a bid to get past both you and the truck will be going bananas and will take insane risks. They do, anyway, as standard practice. You will also find they have a very bad habit of running dangerously close to your rear end. They all do it.

Remember that in a van, the lower of the speed limits posted applies to you - or at least that's what the cameras think. I have been flashed a number of times before I realised this. Once I got into the habit of passing the cameras at commercial vehicle speeds, I had no more flashes. Reassuringly, no tickets have ever turned up. Maybe, somewhere 'downstream' of the camera, the fact that it's a camper makes the difference.

Bon voyage!

Yes, L'Etoile is interesting, isn't it. I think I've counted 11 lanes of traffic trying to get round it, and it's always an enjoyable way to spend a half hour watching the traffic - especially at rush hour on a Friday

I've had the phantom flash problem in Scotland and lots of flashing 40 signals (the new HGV limit doesn't apply there) so they too obviously have technology that looks for the size of the vehicle. It's very disconcerting !

 

[ctc]

The French will always help (whether you need it or not) and are very forgiving of mistakes,

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[Duffer]

The French will always help (whether you need it or not) and are very forgiving of mistakes,

Yes, I like the French. I've been there dozens of times but this will be the first trip driving. I've always found that , especially away from major towns, they have plenty of time for us rosbifs.

 

[Southdowners]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned... you need to get your dogs vaccinated against rabies and passports obtained prior to your trip. If memory serves me right you have to wait 21 days from the rabies vaccination before you can travel. On return to the uk you have to go to a vet to have them wormed and the details entered on their passports. This has to be done no more than a week and not less than 24!hrs prior to travel.

 

[Duffer]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned... you need to get your dogs vaccinated against rabies and passports obtained prior to your trip. If memory serves me right you have to wait 21 days from the rabies vaccination before you can travel. On return to the uk you have to go to a vet to have them wormed and the details entered on their passports. This has to be done no more than a week and not less than 24!hrs prior to travel.

Absolutely, and I've arranged for protection against leishmania because once caught there's no cure. There's a good website put together by motorhomers that takes you to an interactive map of vets in Europe that do the passports and it also tells you charges and parking. It's really helpful. My vet also suggested taking my own wormers with me as some places rip you off.

This is the vet site:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...&ll=41.70572900000001,-2.3730470000000423&z=8

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[Southdowners]

. My vet also suggested taking my own wormers with me as some places rip you off.
8

That's interesting.

We have great difficulty in getting our dog to take tablets - vets have a problem giving them to him too. We give him Advocate here at home in the UK which is applied to the base of his neck. Do you know if we can take Advocate with us and give it to him at the vets and ask the vet to sign the passport to confirm he had been treated?

The last time he was given the wormer in France is was a massive tablet and we had a major struggle getting it in him - lots ended up in the vet's floor!

 

[Duffer]

That's interesting.

We have great difficulty in getting our dog to take tablets - vets have a problem giving them to him too. We give him Advocate here at home in the UK which is applied to the base of his neck. Do you know if we can take Advocate with us and give it to him at the vets and ask the vet to sign the passport to confirm he had been treated?

The last time he was given the wormer in France is was a massive tablet and we had a major struggle getting it in him - lots ended up in the vet's floor!

One of my dogs eats tablets like sweets, with the other I have to hold his jaws open and poke it down his throat. I then count my fingers and search for any that have gone missing. My vet says you can take and use your own meds, so I'm going to give it a try. I'm putting Scalibor collars on them for sandflies but may move to the annual injections if I start going regularly.

 

[Southdowners]

I think I'm going to do the same and take my own wormer to the vet in future

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[Shrimp]

Campsites open will be few and far between, as said earlier you'll find Aires all over and will be open, water maybe a bit difficult but a lot of Supermarché have bornes-you'll have to pay for water in a lot of cases!
You don't need to go into towns for Aires a lot are on outskirts of the villages.

 

[Duffer]

I've looked at the ACSI book and quite a lot open in mid March so I'll just have to hope they're where I want to go! It's Easter at the end of March so I think they'll want the trade. As it'll still be chilly I'd prefer a site and hook-up rather than sit on an aire using gas for the heating (I know some have elec, but if they haven't then I'd be scuppered.) Also, I want to stay for a few days at a couple of places and I think campsites are a better bet if you want to do that?

 

[peterc10]

I've looked at the ACSI book and quite a lot open in mid March so I'll just have to hope they're where I want to go! It's Easter at the end of March so I think they'll want the trade. As it'll still be chilly I'd prefer a site and hook-up rather than sit on an aire using gas for the heating (I know some have elec, but if they haven't then I'd be scuppered.) Also, I want to stay for a few days at a couple of places and I think campsites are a better bet if you want to do that?

You will not be able to use many EHUs on the continent that you can use for heating. They are usually restricted to a few amps. That is why most European vans are sold with gas only heating. It is only us Brits that demand dual fuel.

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[Duffer]

I figure that 6amp will give me enough to run on 1kw which will make the gas last longer - hopefully
(Mind you, anyrhing will be warmer than this Derbyshire winter. )

 

[xgx]

I've looked at the ACSI book and quite a lot open in mid March (...)

You can use the App filters to show those site open during your dates

 

[autorouter]

Taking a minibus party of Americans into Paris once, I headed for the Arc de Triomphe.

The British in general do not have a clue about the 'Give Way To The Right' rule, that applies on the continent absolutely everywhere. Calais to Croatia, Malaga to Moscow.

Unless there are clear road markings to the contrary, you Give Way To The Vehicle From The Right. The British kind of understand the sentence, but don't get the idea that it really really does apply.

In all the areas where there's lots of British tourists, they make sure all the junctions are signed and painted, so you don't have to rely on knowing the rule. Exceptions are out in the countryside, built-up areas off the main road, supermarket car parks, and that all-time classic, the Etoile (Arc de Triomphe roundabout).

If you know the rule, it all makes perfect sense, and it seems quite safe. If you don't, then it

is probably the maddest roundabout on earth. There are no road markings and nobody gives way to right or left. Everybody guns it, flat out. You just have to go for it. My clients were so frightened, literally screaming ... "Chris! The guy on the left!" "No! The guy on the right!" ... It was such fun I went round twice! L'Etoile is cobbles. In the wet it is truly frightening...

For example, most Brits will say that at a T junction, someone joining a straight road from a road at right angles will always have to give way to traffic from the straight road. Obvious. But not on the continent. Give way to the right, even at a T junction.

Of course on many main roads there is a 'Yellow Diamond' sign that means that the Give Way To The Right rule does not apply, and you have priority. The other road has a 'Give Way' sign that can also be seen on the major road.

If you see a Yellow Diamond sign with a black line through it, that's the time to worry. Give way To The Right now applies. Even for Brits.

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