Broglie to Gandspette - and home

IN WHICH GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" SAYS AU REVOIR TO FRANCE:

Broglie to Gandspette - 192 miles

At the Aire there was a notice board with English instructions detailing everything necessary including, how to pay, how much and that the gate would be locked at night with a contact number if you needed to leave. The pitches were hard standing with huge grass spaces in between.

On Aires you are not supposed to “camp”, ie get tables chairs, bar-b-ques etc out. However, on arrival, there was one other van there, a Dutch couple and they were well and truly camped out. So we did the same, it was too nice a night to be inside. We walked into the town, visited the bar and located the bread shop for next morning. Later, whilst cooking our evening meal outside, a man came round and collected the 5 Euros site fee.

Next day, after breakfast, we headed for a site at Chateau du Gandspette. This was booked through the Caravan Club and after 2 weeks in France it was a little bit of a culture shock. It was just like being back at home! We were placed in a nice area with two 'vans to a hedged off area but everyone was English. The site was only about 20 miles from Dunkirk so many people were doing the same as us, first or last stop.

The facilities were of a good standard, swimming pool, play areas, all you could need, and yes a van in the morning selling fresh bread at the gate.

At all of the sites we checked the polarity. All had been fine until the last one, the Caravan Club booked site was the only one with reverse polarity, but we had Mr Snail’s extra lead so all was well.

The next day, with sad hearts, we were off to the ferry port to return to England. But we returned home safe and with no harm come to us or our property, so all my planning had worked. We had been adventurous and not booked anything and even tried an Aire de Camping Car. All in all we felt pretty pleased with ourselves and cannot wait to go again, because as people who have been lots of times tell us “it is easy” - and it truely was!

Our totals were: 17 days away: 1655 miles; £129 on tolls; 269 litres of diesel = £215; Average 28 mpg

Above image: Aire de Brogolie

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The Ile de Ré

IN WHICH GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" EXPLORES L'ISLE DE RE BY CYCLE:

No wild camping is allowed on Ile de Re – probably the only place in France. A bye-law was passed in the early ‘90s to stop motorhomes wild camping. This is probably because the island is small with lots of campsites including at least 3 Aires de Camping Car that we saw. One of the Aires and the Municipal site are on the right after you have crossed the bridge and enter Rivedoux-Plage. But keep driving there are better sites to be had.

The cycle routes on Ile de Re are very well signposted and the surface wxcellent, mainly traffic free although sometimes on quiet roads. The island is very flat, so ideal for the rider who does not want to be too energetic (like Mr Snail!).

There were not very many English people there, although I think this may change with recent articles in the Caravan Club magazine and Daily Mail singing the praises of this island.

Having cycled around this end of the island we travelled 14 miles and moved further west to Cormoran campsite, Route de Radia, Ars en Re. As with all the other sites, the lady on reception spoke good English. The site had a swimming pool, bar and snack area (from which fresh bread was sold in the morning), a gym, unisex toilets and showers. The weather forecast pinned up in reception was for sun every day. We did have some rain one morning, but the man at the bar said wait until 11:00hrs and the sun will come out. Sure enough it did, Ile de Re seems to have its own micro climate. We had several more days of cycling exploring the rest of the island, there was just one little area we didn’t cover. Still that gives us a reason to return ……

Image above: St Martins de Re

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Ile de Ré to Broglie – starting the journey home

IN WHICH GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" STARTS THE JOURNEY BACK TO BLIGHTY:

Ile de Ré to Brogolie - 273 miles

Sadly the departure day from Ile de Ré came all too soon. The sun was shining bright and we did not want to leave. However, leave we must, and we did the usual supermarket and fuel stop at the start of our onward journey.

Our trusty Vicarious book listed an Aire de Camping car in Broglie, a village just off the motorway so we headed for this - our first night homeward bound.

An interesting situation arose as we entered one town. Mr Snail was driving slowly due to road works. Being unsure of the speed limit, he slowed to 30 mph. Unimpressed, the car driver behind overtook us in an impatient French way. Silly man. As he pulled in front of us there was a group of people on the pavement clad in dark blue clothing. (French Police are not as obliging as our’s and don’t wear high visibility jackets.) Our first French Police and yes! they had a speed camera and yes! Mr Impatient got pulled over! That taught him. So Mr Snail acting like his nickname saved us a fine. (Just for the record, he always rode his motorbike at the back of the group and the rest of us had to wait for him, hence the nickname Snail – so now you know).

The sat nav was programmed for the Aire at Broglie and we arrived in the village all right. At a T junction with a large church in front, Mr Snail followed the sat nav directions and went straight across. It looked too narrow for our 'van to me. A man dashed out of his house, waving his arms and shouting in unintelligible French. Clearly it was not suitable for us, and we weren’t the first motorhome to attempt it. An articulate French lady explained we had to turn around and take the 2nd left. We followed instructions, found the Aire and for our first ever Aire it was perfect……

Above image: Bridge to Ile de Ré

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Cheverney to Ile de Ré

IN WHICH GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" HEADS FOR THE ILE DE RE:

So, on the sixth morning, we departed Camping Les Saules and headed west for Ile de Ré in extreme wind and heavy rain. A journey of approx 200 miles

As we crossed the beautiful bridge over the Atlantic from La Rochelle we could see golden sand on both sides of the island and a welcome brightening of the sky.

Travelling down through France, the peages which had previously accepted our pre-loaded Travelex Cash Passport (a pre-paid MasterCard) stopped accepting it. Thank goodness, therefore that we’d had the foresight to also carry a Visa card, which was accepted. So it is a good idea to have a least 2 different credit cards with you just in case.

We had nothing booked on the Ile de Re. Mr Snail had picked the campsite - La Grainetiere, Route de Saint-Martin, F- 17630, La Flotte from our ASCI book (see earlier blog for details) as our first base. This made our pitch cheaper, so the saving we made using this card over the full pitch price covered our joining the scheme. It was chosen because it was near the town of La Flotte and had lots of level cycle paths nearby.

Another delightful lady manned Reception and her English was considerably better than my French. We wanted flexibility – maybe 4 or 5 nights. “No problem, just come and pay the day before you want to leave”. Most campsite receptions, like most of France, are shut for lunch between midday and 15:00 hrs. Arriving before noon was not a problem (unlike many campsites in the UK).

The site’s warm swimming pool was used by the Snails every day. The site had a café, bar, wi-fi in reception at a reasonable charge, and freshly baked bread and croissants.

The unisex toilet/shower facilities were extremely clean and warm because there was a door! Hurray. There were the usual sinks for pot and food prep and interestingly one specifically for washing fish and seafood. How unusual. However, the Ile de R é has an abundance of fresh seafood so this facility was well used, with queues on occasions!

The site had huge trees to provide shade, for which we were very glad; the pitches were not very clearly marked. But once a lady who was to become our neighbour showed us the little concrete domes in the ground we could see where we had to be.

NB: Bridge toll was 9 Euros for a motorhome, increasing to 16 Euros in June 09 for the summer season.

Image above: La Grainetiere Campsite, Ile de Ré

Copyright AvailalbePitch.com 2009

The Snails in France - Epernay to Chevernay

IN WHICH GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" DOES AN INTERNATIONAL RALLY AND VISITS SOME CHATEAUX:

Epernay to Chevenay: 192 miles

On arrival at Camping Les Saules, Route de Contres, Cheverney, we were greeted by a delightful young lady who spoke excellent English. We were booked onto the Camping and Caravan Club International Rally. We were pointed in the direction of the Stewards, Pat and Muttley (yes – really!) They made us feel very welcome and Muttley helped us choose a pleasant pitch on the edge of the camping area with an open field to one side and a lake behind. We were here for five nights, so plenty of time to relax.

The site had a swimming pool, games room with free wi-fi, a bar and snack area. Bread requirements could be ordered on a sheet left in the games room daily and bread was collected at reception the next morning. The toilet facilities were cleaned at least 3 times a day. The only problem was that the building wasn’t warm as there was no external door on the block. So showering was a tad chilly.

Despite being on a rally, we had full access to all the site facilities including electric hook up. The only problem was that the electric hook up wasn’t much cop as the fridge spent most of its time on gas. Mr Snail worried whether our gas would last - Calor Propane is not available in France. This made him uncharacteristically stingy with the temperature I was allowed to set the motorhome’s heating at and I had to put another layer on.

The site was great for easy cycling to nearby chateaux, using maps provided by reception. After a couple of lovely days, heavy rain arrived. To prevent cabin fever, we took the motorhome to Blois and parking was no problem. Following directions in the Vicarious Book, we arrived at the Blois Aire at the edge of the river and parked there. It was perfectly safe.

Next day, more rain. We drove to the chateau at Chambord and followed the motorhome/coach parking signs into a huge car park. To park a 3m high van in France is no problem. This was our last night, tomorrow we were heading for Ile de Re, on the Atlantic west coast ……………………….

Above image: Camping Les Saules.

Copyright AvailablePitch.com 2009

The Snails in France - Dunkirk to Epernay

IN WHICH GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" GETS STUCK BEHIND SOMETHING EVEN SLOWER:

Dunkirk to Epernay - 193 miles

Getting out of the dock area was easy - we just followed the signs for the motorway – remembering to drive on the RIGHT.

Mr Snail was at the helm; I was equipped with map, sat nav and an idea of where we were aiming for (always a good idea). The sat nav was handy because it tells you the number or name of the road you are travelling on. In France you do not get many route confirmation signs to confirm you are on the right road. We had decided that we would use the motorways and pay the tolls as we were on limited time and had places to be. The motorways were all of good surface, lacking in Police, road works, accidents, other traffic and hold ups of any kind. Worth the money as we were able to travel at 80mph ish.

Along the motorway network, the Aires de Service are brilliant for motorhomes. The Michelin map shows them as a green tree symbol, with a petrol sign used for full services as we know them in England. The aires all had good parking. The toilets were clean, although some were the strange stand up type for us ladies. There was usually a picnic table and with your own kettle and food on board you are sorted.

One precaution we took when stopping there was that one of us would get out and turn the gas on. The other from inside would lock the cab doors then go and open the habitation door. Doing that, we felt safe that no uninvited guests would come on board. We often saw security men at these stops as we are told criminals do cruise up and down the motorways. So do not spend the night there.

We arrived in Epernay “The Capital of Champagne” and easily found the municipal site. We did not have a booking, but were warmly welcomed and soon settled in. Madam at Reception spoke beautiful English and marked on a map how we could walk into the town.

The site had hook up and clean toilet and showers. The pitch was bordered by a hedge on 3 sides ensuring privacy. After setting up, off we walked to Epernay. Because this was a Significant Birthday tour, we needed some fizzy supplies and to gain an insight into how the fizz is made, (that is my excuse, it’s my birthday and I am sticking to it).

We had a pleasant 20 minutes walk into Epernay town along the river and easily found the Avenue de Champagne. On arrival at Moet & Chandon we discovered that they had a tour leaving in a few minutes, excellent. We had the tour around, and then had our first sample of champagne. Our holiday had begun! The first day had gone as planned and even the sun was shining – couldn’t have been better. I was starting to relax. (Could have been the champagne of course).

Next morning, as the non-English speaking man at Reception had gesticulated, a little van came “peep peep peepy” around the camp site to announce the sale of fresh bread and croissants. And NO-ONE does fresh bread and croissants like the French.

Our tank of English diesel got us to Epernay but a refill was we needed if we were to make it to Blois. En-route to the motorway, which was some miles away, we called into a town to fill up at the supermarket. All along the road side are signs for supermarkets telling you what direction to find them and how far or how long it will take to get there. Some petrol stations are marked on the Michelin map. This gives you confidence that you are not going to run out of fuel.

A few years ago, whilst motorcycling in France, there was no petrol to be found on a Sunday morning. The petrol stations were shut or the automatic ones would not accept English credit cards. The situation got desperate, so with that in mind we always filled the ‘van before pitching or on setting off. However, always have a full tank Saturday night. Don’t leave Sunday’s to chance. Even nowadays.

Calling at the petrol station turned out to be a good and bad thing. Good because in addition to diesel, we got food for the fridge, wine for the “cellar”. Bad because as we rejoined the road which eventually lead to the motorway, we found ourselves behind a “convoi exceptionnel” – an extremely large vehicle going very, very slowly. There was no way we could get passed. It was so wide that wide that on-coming traffic had to go into the ditches to allow it by. At every roundabout we willed it to go the opposite direction, but for 2 hours it was not to be. Eventually, it went right and we went left. Hurray. However, we lost time because of it, but as we’d pre-booked our next night’s stay, it wasn’t a problem.

The Snails are ready for the off! Derbyshire to Dover

IN WHICH GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" FINALLY DEPARTS FOR FRANCE AFTER MUCH FAFFING ABOUT:

Well that was all the planning done. Or was it?? There is always that nagging voice in my head that says “you have forgotten something!” and the worry is that it will be something important. Too late - we were packed and ready to go.

But at the last minute, Mr Snail threw a spanner into the works. Instead of coming home from work, having a few hours kip, then leaving home about midnight for a 5am Dover arrival, he decided that we’d leave immediately and sleep somewhere in the Dover area. BUT WHERE?

It was late to book anything, so I trawled the internet to get ideas where others had “wild camped”. I discovered that Canterbury Council have a Park and Ride car park where motorhomes can spend the night, however, if you arrive after 22:00 hrs, the height barrier is in place. So, no good for us.

But we set off anyway without a plan. Yup that’s right - no plan. Never been known for us Snail’s. Scary. I was whittling all the way down about where we would stop for the night.

After a pleasant meal at a Little Chef, I had an inspiration – I’d check the Supermarket Finder book for one with a 24 hour petrol station in the Dover area. I was sure I’d heard that Tesco allows motorhomers to spend the night in their car park as long as they purchased something. Well it was worth a try. Hopefully problem solved.

On arrival at Tesco near Dover, we filled up with diesel (hence becoming a customer) and spotted 2 foreign caravans in the car park with their steadies down. Interesting. As I paid I asked “Is it alright if we spend a few hours in your car park please?” The cashier confirmed it would be ok so we drove in and selected a spot, closely followed by another motorhome. After a chat with the driver he said “safety in numbers” and parked alongside. It was very noisy and not the best pitch we have ever had, but it fulfilled a need.

Getting to the docks was quick and easy. I had our booking documents ready, but they weren’t needed. We were identified by number plate recognition. Clever. All we had to show were our passports. We collected our VIP label for the Executive lounge and were first in the queue. We had upgraded with the Caravan Club to access the lounge on board ship for half price each.

We soon had company on the dock and were very quickly loaded. On board we parked exactly where the deckhand told us. The gas and fridge were switched off; the fridge would be cold enough for an hour and a half to keep the food chilled. We noted the details of the staircase that we ascended, as we wanted to easily return to our ‘van once on the French side, and went to find some breakfast.

The food was OK, the Executive Lounge was comfortable. Neither of us are good sailors and the slight swell made us uncomfortable. The lounge was cool and quiet, with free soft drinks and comfortable chairs, for me to sit and watch the other boats go by and Mr. Snail to snooze in.

Once docked and down to the ‘van, we had a quick check around tyres etc. All in order, just in case we were flagged down by anyone, then we would know that it was a trick which we wouldn’t fall for. We were now ready to hit France…………………

Preparing the motorhome for France

GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" CONTINUES HER STORY: With the planning done, we now needed to get the motorhome ready. Through a motorhome magazine we found a local motorhome-friendly garage (quite difficult these days) and although our 'van was not ready for a service either on time or miles, she went in and had one anyway just to be sure. One less thing to worry about.

We purchased 2 reflective jackets, as they are required by law in France to be readily available and worn if you are out of the 'van on the road with a broken down vehicle or at the scene of an accident. We obviously hoped not to need them, but by having them would avoid a fine. We kept them "ready for action" over the back of the driver and passenger seats. Luckily, we never had to use them.

Headlamp deflectors we bought and attached, despite not intending to drive during the hours of darkness. (Once in France, we did not see any other UK vehicles with these attached, but having them is one less thing for any mardy French policeman to have a go at). All the warning triangles we own were stashed in the van, hopefully not to come out again.

On a previous trip out I was once driving alone in the 'van and came to a low bridge. Oops. How high was I? Annoyingly, I had to stop and ring Mr. Snail to be sure, because it would have been slightly careless of me to have proceeded and taken the roof off. This resulted in Mr Snail preparing a card which was placed on the dashboard with the vans "vital statistics" - width, height and length etc. We read somewhere that in France this is a legal requirement so, we were ahead on that one.

We checked our E111 - now called European Health Insurance Cards - they were out of date but easily renewed online. Passport also checked for expiry date - all was fine. All the driving documents were photocopied, and the originals were hidden the van.

The one thing I must ashamedly admit to is not preparing the holiday money properly. I intended to take credit and debit cards but Mr Snail said they would cost too much in fees. I checked www.moneysavingexpert.com. which recommended a card, but I had not allowed enough time to obtain it. So we went for the second best. A Travelex Cash Passport which is basically a Mastercard pre loaded with Euros. This is used without charge as a credit card or to withdraw cash with a 2 Euro fee. It is available from Thomas Cook and Co-Op Bank. MoneySavingExpert.com also recommended a Nationwide account because this does not incur charges within the Euro zone. Again I was too late - the cards arrived but not the PIN. Agghh! We DID purchase some Euros, and I did inform our bank and credit card company that we would be using the cards in France, just in case the unusual useage caused the cards to be stopped. Mobile phones were activated onto roaming. We looked at the internet but decided it was too expensive to use abroad. We'd rely on finding wi-fi hotspots.

We purchased a French map upgrade for our satnav and a 2009 large scale Michelin map of France. We are map lovers and disparaging of satnav’s but we thought the two would compliment each other and help us.- how right we were!

A further worry on my list of hundreds, was about electric hook-up and reverse polarity. Mr Snail already had a device on board to plug into a socket to check if the polarity was reversed once hooked up, so he made us a short hook-up lead which was reversed in polarity and labelled as such. So that was another problem taken care of. The worries were decreasing.

Before we went to France, Mr Snail concentrated on using up our lightest gas bottle, then bought 2 brand new ones, checking the weight, because we'd heard of someone buying a new one that was actually empty. He toyed with the idea of buying a different regulator in case we ran out of gas and had to purchase some other stuff, but he is too tight and didn’t, on the basis that we were not away long enough, and would have sufficient to last. That is of course if it wasn’t cold!

So that was about it. Van was packed and off we went into the unknown, on our Big Adventure…………………………………………………………………………………

France in a Motorhome - the Planning Continues

THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF ARTICLES BY GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" ABOUT HER FIRST TIME IN FRANCE

THE PLANNING CONTINUES: A vital part of our planning was a visit to the Boat & Caravan Show at the NEC in February, where we purchased a book entitled All The French Aires (well - all the ones they know about that is) from Vicarious Books. Aires are a network of stopping places specifically designed for motorhomes or camping cars (aka motorhomes to us Brits) They are usually run by the local town council or ‘Mairie’. Aires for camping cars are all over France in towns, villages, supermarket car parks and we knew we were going to try at least one. (These Aires are different from the rest Aires on the motorways. Do not overnight on the motorway)

We visited the ASCI Stand and paid £10 for an ASCI camping card. This came with a book giving details of all the participating camp sites. With an ASCI card off season, your pitch is set price which is a reduction on the normal fee. Also at the show were Tourist Information stands from many areas of France. We acquired a guide for Charente-Maritime, the region where the Ile de Re is situated, to from a delightful French lady (Mr. Snail was instantly in love I think). A read of this made us realise just how many campsites there are on the Ile de Re and we decided it was not necessary to book anything in advance there.

Another purchase was the Camping and Caravanning Club site book equivalent to the Caravan Club one. A huge pile of books and ideas came home with us from the show, together with impatience that we had to wait a few months before it would all come to fruition and we would be there.

A must-read for us are all the motorhome magazines and for some time I have saved all the campsite reviews including articles on France in a folder. I learned that France has thousands of Municipal sites and basically most towns have one however I did not find a publication or website that features them all. One motorhomes magazine had a readers article on a site in Epernay. This looked exactly right for us: in the town, clean facilities and hook-up. Mr. Snail used http://www.mappy.co.uk/ for working out distances and decided that Dunkirk to Epernay was achievable for the first leg of our journey, still leaving enough time in the afternoon to explore the town and drink the local wine. That was our first night sorted.

Now, where to go from there? On perusing the Camping and Caravanning Club site book I found a site in the Loire region boasting access to 180 miles of cycle paths to use to visit the many Chateaux in the region. Co-incidentally, this was also the location for a club rally being held on our first weekend in France. Why not book on the rally? So we did. This saved us money on the site fees, because the price included all the facilities of the site and hook-up. As newbies abroad, attending a rally seemed a good way of finding people who’s brains we could pick for tips or advice. A comfort thing for a worrier such as I.

So, all the booking and site planning we felt necessary to do was now done. Next, we needed to prepare the motorhome for her Big Adventure ...............................

The Snails do France in a Motorhome

THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF ENTERTAINING ARTICLES BY GUEST BLOGGER "MRS SNAIL" ON HER "FIRST TIME" IN FRANCE IN A MOTORHOME

FRANCE IS EASY!! There! I have said it, because it was. We wanted to go to France but, I was worried about all the sleeping motorhomer’s who have been gassed and robbed. I was worried about all the motorhomer’s who had been stopped by bogus officials and robbed. I was worried about all the other nasty things that I had heard of happening to motorhomer’s. I was scared that any of these bad things might happen to us, in a foreign land far away from home. But I needn’t have been.

We have just returned from 2½ brilliant weeks in the most motorhome friendly country in Europe. As well all the worrying, I did a lot of Planning and Preparation which, as I often tell Mrs. AvailablePitch, Prevents Poor Performance. So I will share my planning with you and hopefully if your motorhome wheels have not as yet touched foreign soil, you will have the confidence to go. As go you must.

We knew we wanted to go the first two weeks in June as it was a significant birthday. We knew we wanted to go to Epernay (for some Champagne-tasting), and the Ile de Re off the west coast, via the Loire region. France is a big country with huge distances to cover, so firstly, you need to establish where you want to go. If you do not have to go during school holidays, avoid the period end of June to end of August, as this is when all of France goes on holiday and it will be busy in the popular areas.

We checked out the ferry costs and found that booking with the Caravan Club was best for us. We booked Dover/Dunkirk with Norfolk Line and upgraded for half price to the Executive Lounge. Early booking is recommended to get the best deals. Our sailing out was at 0600 hrs Thursday, returning mid-day on a Friday. With that booking we received the Clubs’ book of recommended sites, from which we booked one near to Dunkirk for the night before our return sailing. We also booked our Recovery Insurance with the Club, just in case. Camping Cheques are also available; you pay a set price in £’s which covers your site fees, inc 2 adults, and can use them at listed sites off-peak. Details are in a book supplied by the Club. We didn’t use these so I can’t comment on them.

So the plan was starting to come together………….