beginner going to the Dordogne

[Keith101]

Hi Folks ,Just purchased our first Motorhome and are booked to go to france this August . Can anybody give me advise on parking a motorhome in these villages in the Dordogne? I,am a bit concerned and could do with some reassurance that all will be well .Keith

 

[vindiboy]

Hi, I suggest you get the Vicarious book, All the Aires France, for starters, there are several Aires books available in France and very good they are too, but they are of course written in French as the Vic one is in English you may want to start with that for ease of understanding until you get used to France and French. As you plan to be in France in August, the French Holiday period you will find the Aires are busy and may have difficulty getting on one unless you park up early, probably around 3 pm, generally travel and overnighting in France is very easy so go for it and enjoy.
http://s394.photobucket.com/albums/pp23/malarth/NEW ALBUM AIRES 2009/?action=view&current=AIRES1.jpg

 

[n brown]

if you find a village or area you really want to stay a day or 2 and the aires are busy or they don't have one,find the local mairie,just write it and show people if you're francolinguistically challenged,this is the office of the mayor,and they are very helpful to anyone who may spend money in his area.remember,in france you're not a nuisance,you're a resource

 

[vindiboy]

Just a word of warning about the Dordogne, we were on the Municipal Campsite at Bergerac once in our Caravan days and during the early hours of the morning we were woken by the Guardian and told we had to move our van PDQ as the River was flooding and had risen about 30 feet in a few hours, it was good fun though, all helped each other move to higher ground , this was in June . so beware if you park up close to any river they can change quickly, you can generally park in town squares in France too with no bother, we did this once to find that when we woke up next morning we were surrounded by the local Market that had formed up in the early hours and we were stuck, we couldn't get out, no problem we just enjoyed the Market and made tea for some of the traders, they enjoyed our English tea, the French are great people and easy to get along with especially if you try to speak French.

 

[mikeakabigman]

Apart from August being very busy, and you will find some aires full, France is a terrific place to take your motor home. There is so much space that it is usually easy to find somewhere to park. Use common sense and you should have no problem.
We are there are the moment and into week four of a ten week tour. We've just spent a week in the Tarn gorges, and found wild camping easy, but only spent one night at each stopping place.
Currently we are in the Cevenne area near Anduze, and have allowed ourselves a night on a campsite, its almost empty, so feels like we are still wilding except for the swimming pool and the laundry(the main reason for our staying on a site) Temps reach 30c today so washing all done and dried, on to our next destination tomorrow, not sure where we'll end up but thats half the fun generally headed in the Carcassone direction.

A lunch stop in the Tarn gorge

 

[Makzine]

France is so camper van friendly look out for france passion for places to stay or the France aires book. We will be in the Limousine all August apart from excusions to the atlantic coast for the latter part.

Enjoy you time and have fun:wave:

 

[Deleted member 21686]

The Dordogne is amazing visit Sarlat if you can it's great in the summer with street entertainment into the night.