We are off next week. Help on where to go please (1 Viewer)

[Lenny HB]

Is the site Bonterra Park? If so I think you are not going to like it much Lenny ......................... Isn't really like your style I suspect.

Camping Azahar, I've heard it's a bit scruffy so should be OK for us.
Feel at home tonight at Nonancourt 2' to next van on one side and 3' on the other side, perfect.

 

[Just smiffy]

Have a great trip Peter and Angela, I’ve got sunny Swindon to look forward to for a few days ....

 

[Busman]

Thanks Dave, the Aire at Issoire looks very good. Which Castellon de la Plana are you on? The one at the far end of Calpe by the harbour, or the one North of Alicante? /QUOTE]
Not to sure Peter, camper contact 61492
It's ok no services but you can at the other Aire

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[Pia]

Personally I would do Seville and Cordoba rather than the Alhambra, we enjoyed Granada better looking at the Alhambra from over the valley rather than the visit as once you have seen the Alcazar in Seville the Alhambra is a bit the same.

Martin

Martin is correct about Cordoba and Sevile but the Alhambra is quite different to both and much more extensive, and in my view, special, we would not have missed a single one of these places....they are all incredibly beautiful and well worth a visit.

 

[Pia]

My choice of aires on the way south via the western route might be:-
Cite Europe
La Mailleraye-sur Seine 49.48334º 0.77386º On banks of Seine next to charming small town. €6, pay at barrier with CC. Very quiet, apart from the rumble of ships as they pass. Free dump but water requires jetton for €3.
Montreuil-Bellay 47.13255º -0.15815º Free aire with dump, water is €2 from memory. Quiet with river one side and old town and huge chateau towering above. Nice walks along the river where we have watched otters hunting for their supper. Be careful about the route because the the town streets are very tight and steep. Watch my video for the best way in.
Blaye 45.12514º -0.66611º Overlooking the Gironde and the town. There is another popular aire round the corner at a wine chateau.
Biarritz. Aire de Camping-Car Gabrielle Dorziat (Camper Contact 51886) Pay at barrier with CC. Out of town beside woods with pleasant walks. Very quiet with free water and dump.
Torquemada. Close to motorway but quiet at night, beside old chapel and cemetery. Free aire with free water and dump. 42.03705º -4.31615º
Salamanca. Camping Regio site (www.campingregio.com) Large camp site with facilities on the edge of Salamanca behind a hotel. Restaurant, bread etc at the hotel. Bus service into the city centre from the site €1.40.

We tend to drive for the morning and stop in time for lunch then go and explore in the afternoon, therefore quite a few stops. You may want a more direct and faster route.
Many of those aires are on my blog and YouTube channel. links under this post.

Wow...thanks for this information @Clark we found in February that the water was turned off in many of the Aires...so always had a plan B....a campsite within driving distance (if we had a dior need) at this time of year good planning is essential if one is not to be caught short. Like you we drive in the mornings usualy 2 and a half to three hours then stop and go exploring....we don't rush, France is too nice to rush through!!

 

[peterc10]

My choice of aires on the way south via the western route might be:-
Cite Europe
La Mailleraye-sur Seine 49.48334º 0.77386º On banks of Seine next to charming small town. €6, pay at barrier with CC. Very quiet, apart from the rumble of ships as they pass. Free dump but water requires jetton for €3.
Montreuil-Bellay 47.13255º -0.15815º Free aire with dump, water is €2 from memory. Quiet with river one side and old town and huge chateau towering above. Nice walks along the river where we have watched otters hunting for their supper. Be careful about the route because the the town streets are very tight and steep. Watch my video for the best way in.
Blaye 45.12514º -0.66611º Overlooking the Gironde and the town. There is another popular aire round the corner at a wine chateau.
Biarritz. Aire de Camping-Car Gabrielle Dorziat (Camper Contact 51886) Pay at barrier with CC. Out of town beside woods with pleasant walks. Very quiet with free water and dump.
Torquemada. Close to motorway but quiet at night, beside old chapel and cemetery. Free aire with free water and dump. 42.03705º -4.31615º
Salamanca. Camping Regio site (www.campingregio.com) Large camp site with facilities on the edge of Salamanca behind a hotel. Restaurant, bread etc at the hotel. Bus service into the city centre from the site €1.40.
.

Thanks for all that info. The Aire at La Mailleraye and the Aire in the Chateau in Blaye which you mention are two of our favourite Aires and we try to visit them whenever we are in those areas. If you use the Chateau Aire in Blaye I would especially recommend the 4 course lunch at their restaurant. Great food and very good value considering that you get 3 different wines included. They also throw in a guided tour of the winery. And the wines are good too .......... hic

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[Lynne Roy]

We are on the ferry at the moment get into Dieppe at 3pm, sill not decided which route to take but via Somport tunnel favourite at the moment. Starting off at Benicassim meetings friend there as they are putting on some Rock'Roll dances on the site so we can get a bit of dancing in, does mean staying on a site.
Only got 6weeks so we are going to have get a move on to get some warm weather.

Did Alhambra 2 years ago got the tickets the night before at the campsite, not that impressed other places much nicer in Spain, although Granada is a nice city.

Have a good trip Lenny. We had to turn back on our way to Portugal as weather so bad, friends 200 miles further south than us have nothing but rain , Mojacar ok Costa Blanca ok and Benicassim, someone was on the Aire at La Linea yesterday, high winds and torrential rain x

 

[Popeye]

a bit too cold at this time of year to persuade Mrs peterc10 to take her thermal undies off

Tell her Popeye will be there and they'll be of in a Flash, sorry Angela I couldn't resist it.

Cadiz Peter you must see, I stopped there two years ago on a cruise ship and decided not to take the coach trip to Seville, insted we walked around Cadiz and fell in love with the place, we will be returning later this year.

My very best to you two for your trip and have you still got my sliding bike rack you promised me two years ago for a Fiver?

 

[peterc10]

Tell her Popeye will be there and they'll be of in a Flash, sorry Angela I couldn't resist it.

Cadiz Peter you must see, I stopped there two years ago on a cruise ship and decided not to take the coach trip to Seville, insted we walked around Cadiz and fell in love with the place, we will be returning later this year.

My very best to you two for your trip and have you still got my sliding bike rack you promised me two years ago for a Fiver?

Thanks Griff. We went to Cadiz last spring and thoroughly enjoyed it. Found my all time favourite tapas bar there as well.

I flogged that sliding bike rack last year at the price I offered it to you for ......... not a fiver. You snooze you lose ...........

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[Lenny HB]

Have a good trip Lenny. We had to turn back on our way to Portugal as weather so bad, friends 200 miles further south than us have nothing but rain , Mojacar ok Costa Blanca ok and Benicassim, someone was on the Aire at La Linea yesterday, high winds and torrential rain x

Hopefully Portugal will have dried & warmed up by the time we get there, that's if we make it past Spain.

 

[peterc10]

Hopefully Portugal will have dried & warmed up by the time we get there, that's if we make it past Spain.

Keep us posted on where you are Lenny, as we may catch up with you.

 

[Lenny HB]

Keep us posted on where you are Lenny, as we may catch up with you.

Would be nice to meet up, I've started a thread on our trip here

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[cruiser]

Oh dear we can not get away until later in the year. But Rose and I Wish you all the best. Just green with envy.

 

[peterc10]

Would be nice to meet up, I've started a thread on our trip here

I have already seen that thread. It will be good to meet up somewhere on the Spanish Med coast and put a face to the forum name. Do you have plans after you have finished your dancing as to where you are heading?

We will be a couple of days behind you and also will only be away for about 6 weeks. I suspect we will go via the A75 rather than down the west side of France, but that decision will be made when we look at weather reports on Thursday morning. I think I will be sporadically reporting our progress using this thread.

 

[Lenny HB]

Just heading west we have friends who live in Marbella we want to call in on and more near Gibraltar, then probably head towards Portugal. No real plans.

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[peterc10]

Well we got away OK yesterday and stayed at Cite Europe last night. A bit of shopping then an early night. Up early today and filled up with gas and diesel at Carrefour before we left. As others have said the diesel prices here are about the same as in the UK.

We decided to go via the A75 and Millau. Had a good journey with no hold ups in the usual places at Rouen or Nonancourt. The weather was typically British with sunshine and showers. We are now on a beautiful Aire by the side of the Loire at Sully sur Loire with a front line position overlooking the river.

This Aire is in the grounds of this pretty Château

All for the princely sum of nothing. The water is still off for winter but we will be able to dump the wastes tomorrow.

Had a walk around the little town in some late afternoon sunshine and bought some croissants for breakfast and cakes for later.

It's a hard life but somebody has got to do it.

 

[FIDGET]

Lovely aire , stopped there several times .
You are making me jealous !!!

 

[Busman]

Hello Peter, we are moving up to Valencia today for a few days meeting Phil & Mena for the festival before heading for the Aire at Murcia for Good Friday celebrations then ???
Safe travels and hopefully meet up on the road

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[peterc10]

Hello Peter, we are moving up to Valencia today for a few days meeting Phil & Mena for the festival before heading for the Aire at Murcia for Good Friday celebrations then ???
Safe travels and hopefully meet up on the road

When are you leaving the Valencia stop Dave? I have just checked and they do not have any spaces until Tuesday of next week.

Where in Murcia will you be also?

 

[peterc10]

Had an interesting trip today. Drove through sunshine, drizzle, torrential rain, hail and snow.

The worst was on the A75 in the Massif Central. Hail and snow made the road just about passable, but only because there was enough traffic on the road to keep a single lane clear.

No traffic on the North bound side so the conditions were worse and saw a couple of motorhomes stuck trying to get up a steep bit. Felt very sorry for them. A few miles later found out why there was no traffic on the other side. Multi vehicle pile up with the Pompiers there still trying to cut somebody out.

Couple of miles further on and it was dry and bright. By then I had had enough driving for the day so stopped in a little Aire at La Carnougue. Aire is good but still no water.
Turned out a nice late afternoon with the temperature reaching 10C. Just walked into town and it is a nice typical unspoilt French rural town with lots of local businesses.

We will be at the Med tomorrow. Probably going to see if we can get into the Aire at Gruisson port and if we can and the weather is nice we may stay a couple of nights. Then onto Espana.

 

[Mickey1]

We stayed cite Europe Saturday night and then went Reims , Lyon, great run but a little expensive, as the missus only has 3 weeks holiday I decided I wanted to get here (Spain)as quick as possible. Now in peniscola and enjoying.

Mickey

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[peterc10]

We stayed cite Europe Saturday night and then went Reims , Lyon, great run but a little expensive, as the missus only has 3 weeks holiday I decided I wanted to get here (Spain)as quick as possible. Now in peniscola and enjoying.

Mickey

What is the weather like there Mickey?

 

[Mickey1]

What is the weather like there Mickey?

Beautiful this morning, a little rain afternoon, now beautiful again, we’ve had great weather all week.

Mickey

 

[Madcaravanner]

We have booked the tunnel for Wednesday late afternoon and are off for 6 weeks or so to see if we can get warmer than we are here. First stop will be Cite Europe and then probably head South to Spain and/or Portugal. So where should we be aiming for?

Hope to bump into some of you on our travels.

We travel on Tuesday 27th
first stop Baie de La Somme
the Twin Lakes for a month you're welcome to pop in the bar is open

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[peterc10]

We travel on Tuesday 27th
first stop Baie de La Somme
the Twin Lakes for a month you're welcome to pop in the bar is open

Thanks but we are travelling south on the other side of Fance. Coming back in 5 or 6 weeks time we may pop in.

 

[Madcaravanner]

Thanks but we are travelling south on the other side of Fance. Coming back in 5 or 6 weeks time we may pop in.

DM us we may be there or travelling up through Brittany and Carnac specifically

 

[Clarky]

Probably going to see if we can get into the Aire at Gruisson port and if we can and the weather is nice we may stay a couple of nights

Bags of room at Gruissan, you'll not have any problem getting in there.
Water is always on so you can refill the tank.
The aire was free when we were there in December but I think you will be paying now.
A firm favourite of ours when the sun is shining but it can be very windy at times.

Richard.

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[peterc10]

Well we have arrived on the Med to be teated to warm sunshine. Now parked up at the Gruissan port Aire overlooking the lagoon.

Arrived in time to wander up into the port and have a nice meal in one of the restaurants there. Then wandered into the town for a look around. We will probably go back this evening for a drink and to buy some wine at the local cooperative Cave.

Really getting into holiday mood now after yesterday's snow.

 

[Clarky]

Oi!!!
That's my spot you've nicked.

Is the office open now so that you have to pay?

Richard.

 

[peterc10]

Oi!!!
That's my spot you've nicked.

You snooze you lose.

Is the office open now so that you have to pay?

Yep it is and yep I did. A whole 9 Euros to Madame. And the place is pretty full of motorhomes including several expensive Morelo, Concorde and N&B ones so it is not putting people off.

If it any consolation it is now pi**ing down and had been on and off for the last couple of hours.

We will see what tomorrow brings before deciding if we will stay for another night.

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