France booked excited but nervous

 
 
 
 
 
 
pointypatrol
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France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 12.01.2012  ·  #1
Hey Guys & Girls Im new on here and this is my first post so be gentle lol :D

Well I have just booked the ferries for my first trip to France in July for 3 weeks me the good lady and my 4 yr old daughter.

Plan is to head from Roscoff to Vendee stay there in a good site for 1 week ie swimming pools parks etc and with easy walking distance to the beach town and bars resturants etc.(Dont want to move the motorhome for our first week)

Week 2 head north towards Paris in order to go to euro disney for a few days.

Week 3 head some where after that that will keep us in the direction of our ferry home which is via Cherbourg to Rosslare.

All advise welcome on sites aries etc but most of all I have never taken my motorhome to France and need as much advice as possible on what I should take for a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Gary :up: :up: :up:


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 12.01.2012  ·  #2
Hi Gary, welcome. Can't help with France sorry, but loads of members on here very knowledgable.


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 12.01.2012  ·  #3
Gary

welcome, we going at Easter and again in July both out of Rosslare, we have 2 daughters, 5 &7,

will dig out some good sites we stayed at later, on your way back to Cherbourg we stayed at a great tidy little site near Mont St Michel, you could either take your van to it or cycle from the campsite along the river on a designated cycle path, take your bikes and maybe a trailer for the little one, it will be very useful.

make sure you have all the usual stuff required for France: hi-vis jackets for all occupants, 2 x warning triangles etc etc, and warn the missus to look out for gendarmes when exiting the toll booths if she has taken her seatbelt off to pay a toll, sometimes they just stand in the middle of the road waiting until you start moving away and pull you in!! and rape you of some euros.

any questions, ask away and i will be glad to help

also, check the prices for Euro Disney for booking into one of their hotels, sometimes it works out at the same price to stay in the hotel for 2 x nights as opposed to staying in the motorhome carpark and paying seperate entrance tickets, the hotel price includes tickets for 3 days if staying 2 nights. we have done both. if you stay in the hotel, just park to motorhome in the hotel carpark.


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 12.01.2012  ·  #4
Hi Gary

Welcome to the Craic. Loads of France advice on this site.

If you do the Vendee there are a lot of nice towns and villages along the coast line.

bretignolles sur mer was a favourite of ours when the kids went with us.
A good beach , a serious number of campsites , small enough to walk or cycle to anywhere within the town.

The drive from Vendee to Disney is a bit of a pain but getting easier every year.

On the phone now but will post some links next time the computer is on.


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.01.2012  ·  #5
Pointy

here is the site we stayed at, prior to heading for the boat at Cherbourg

although we stayed a couple of nights, fantastic tidy little site with a sperate fun farm with goats/rabbits etc for the little ones, plus a great play park and boucny castle. MH service point and if you prefer that sort of thing there are 5 or 6 Delux pitches which have their own WC/Shower facilities within a little wooden pod.

they also have carnival-like games near to the fun farm which were amusing.

2 hrs from Cherbourg


Camping Mont-Saint-Michel HALIOTIS, Pontorson


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.01.2012  ·  #6
Hi Gary,
First thing I'd say is not to be concerned. It'll all come naturally to you within a day or so.

After Disney you could consider heading on towards Rheims and Epernay. It's only a 100 KMs or so up the road. You have a beautiful motorhome friendly city and a number of champagne houses with most of them offering some wonderful tours of the facility. You could spend the whole tour in the area there is so much to do and see.

On your way back consider stopping off in Honfleur. This town has to be one of the most picturesque towns on the planet (just look for images of Homfleur on the web). It's got a large aire that must take over 100 motorhomes and power is available. There must be over 100 restaurants there and it's just 2 hours from Cherbourg.

One thing is guaranteed - you'll have great time.


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.01.2012  ·  #7
Hi Gary

Camping la-trevilliere in Bretignolles-sur-mer was always a nice site. We haven't been for a few years but is part of a family run group so should be the same.

There is a good beach on the south side of town called Le Dunes which has a sea water lake on the land side of the Dunes which means you still have a beach with water if the beach is too windy.
Don't take the motorhome to the carpark at the end of the road to the beach as there is a height restriction.

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Les Sables d'Olonne is the nearest large town. Plenty of shopping and sea front cafes

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If you are not wanting to stay in Disney we used to stay at Château Chambonnières in Le plessis-feu-aussoux. It is only about 30 minutes drive.

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If you are traveling back towards Cherboug another nice place is Bayeux. In 2010 we stayed on a campsite in Martragny whic is about 10 minutes drive away. If I remember correctly there are 3 sites in Martragny, one is a Chateau. We stayed in Manoir de L' Abbaye..


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.01.2012  ·  #8
Gary,

You may have already seen the links section, it has loads of French links, if you haven't it's here...

forum/index.php?mode=newpage&id=6


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.01.2012  ·  #9
mark, we stayed at that too, Chateau De Martragny, wide entrance lane if i remember, they pitched us in the garden in front of the chateau nr the swimming pool, we used it for 2 x nights.

i think they are part of the Castel Group? i may be wrong.

Gary, you can also check out the Castel Camping website, all their sites are based on Chateau,s , although they are expensive and some better than others.


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.01.2012  ·  #10
We stayed at the manor not the chateau. It was closed as it was October.


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.01.2012  ·  #11
honfleur and bayeux are 2 good suggestions although i would not use the aire its not very child friendly campsite further up the river is reasonably cheap and the munisiple site in bayeux is close to town and tapestry aldi and mc donalds (free wi-fi) is across the road plus its not too far to invasion beaches etc....


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.01.2012  ·  #12
agree about Honfleur Aire, great location, but last time we were there, we swung round and moved on, horses running about, looked like the travellers had moved in, dont get me wrong, they prob would never do you any harm, but not suitable for us at that time with 2 young girls.


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 15.01.2012  ·  #13
Thanks for all the replies guys looks like yous have given me lots to think about regards areas and sites.

Regards electric hook up I take it it is a different style hook up plug in Europe,also when travelling on the ferries what do yous do regards your fridge as I know on any of the local sailings you are not allowed to use your gas which isn't a problem when its only a 2 hr crossing but it certainly is a different story going to Roscoff.

Aires sound great in principle but are they safe, is there a book or phone app people are aware of or is there a satnav you recommend buying that they show on ?
I have a mio mitec satnav that is universal and can take any sd card format mapping so what mapping software do you recommend or would I be better buying a complete new system just don't want any discussions (arguments ) with my wife regards directions lol.

Road tolls are they everywhere you go on main roads and what is the average cost ?

Motorhome safety when its unattended is there any thing I should consider regards additional security ?

Gary :up: :up:


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 15.01.2012  ·  #14
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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 15.01.2012  ·  #15
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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 15.01.2012  ·  #16
Aires are safe . the only ones to avoid are the ones on the main routes .Thieves can get away quickly. the aires in around the towns are great and when the local traders try to sell their produce eg wine veg bread etc its top quality and cheap.We have travelled twice before and are going back this year in august .the campsites are very reasonably priced not like ours in Ireland(rip off) You can buy boooks on amazon of all the aires in france


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 15.01.2012  ·  #17
Gary, yes you need an eu adapter for hook up tho some will be same as Uk, go to any dealer/ accessory shop and they will have them, also take an extra 25m lead or extension lead as some campsite hookup points will be nowhere near ur van.

Don't confuse the Aire De Service on the motorways with Camping Car Aires , don't stay on the motorway Aires. If you don't feel safe then move on.you get bar stewards everywhere. Don't let this put you off. Just go, you will wonder what you were fussing about. Stick a small safe in the van for your passports, log book, etc and secure it to the van with screws or gripfill or both.
,
No different to the tools you will find here at home, capable of ruining your break


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 15.01.2012  ·  #18
If you have a satnav it is possible to download the locations of French campsites and Aires which are suitable.
If you add them to the poi folder they will show up when you are near them ( I think)

I have just add them to my new satnav and it wasn't difficult to do.

Have aook at the downloads page on this site. forum/index.php?mode=newpage&id=6


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.03.2012  ·  #19
try this website it has a shedload of infos not only france but pretty much of europe

its in french but with a little playing around and using translator you get a lot of info



http://www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm

http://www.i-campingcar.fr/accueil.htm

i-campingcar you can download a google earth location map and a PDF list for france (telechargement is french for download) just register and work it out

happy aires

frenchmick


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 13.03.2012  ·  #20
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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 28.03.2012  ·  #21
We stayed at Camping de l'Ile des 3 Rois which is about an hour north west of Paris, and three hours from Calais.

It's a fairly small camp site on a nice spot on the river Seine, overlooked by a chateau on a hill. We stayed with two teenage boys and a younger daughter and they enjoyed the swimming pool and facilities there. If memory serves it wasn't that expensive and we just turned up in the summer to get a space easily. The small town within walking distance is ok, too.

[edit] Oops, forgot to add website: http://www.camping-troisrois.com/ (seems to only be in French - but you can translate it with google normally).

Steve


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Future scope

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Posted: 15.06.2018  ·  #22
Have a look


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 15.06.2018  ·  #23
Quote by witzend

Have a look at future scope might be an alternative to disney its nr poitiers don,t forget your ctrl air sticker


Just in case you hadn't noticed the previous post was 6 years old.


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Re: France booked excited but nervous

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Posted: 19.06.2018  ·  #24
Wonder how he got on


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