France for the first time

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off to france at the end of the month,after many times on the bike its the first time with the motorhome..hopefully it'll be a mix of aires and wild camping..do i need any special type of fitting for the water taps in the aires or are they the screw type like ours??
is wildcamping ok???...we should be heading for the alpes where i've seen hundreds of places where you could pull up in the motorhome.
any advice and comments would be appreciated
thanks
 
All sorts of tap fittings in France, safer with a watering can IMO, generally the taps have push on connections as your garden hose, take the screw on bit with you in various sizes to be sure, Wilding and Aires is easy in France so no problems there either, People tend to use the water [Potable ] taps to rinse their toilet cassettes out so be aware when you get your drinking water.
 
We did our first trip through France & into Spain in January. You are right it can be fun using the aires, & we can recommend it as we found some excellent stops in some lovely places, don't worry about the water, just take a watering can with you, you will find it very handy, but do look for water potable as this is drinking water. One thing to be Wary of if you are driving a Fiat is the Fiat dealerships, we had problems with a wheel bearing & thinking we would get good service went to a main dealer, they fleeced us!!!! We were charged 850 euro's for parts plus labour, also on going to the garage to get the wheel bearing replaced our alternator failed, they charged us 33 euro's for charging our battery & then 500 euro's plus labour for the alternator. All this in the first week of our trip, not good. Apart from that an excellent trip & we can't wait to do it again. France has some beautiful country, it's not as cheap as it used to be. Hope you have a good trip.
 
We've just returned from 3 fantastic weeks in France, some places only paid 1.20 euro's for deisel (£1 per litre), we came across 2 types of fitting screw type and push on type, take some disinfectant wipes to clean the tap spout before you connect up as has been said some use the same tap for their toilet cassette. We also carry a watering can.

John.
 
Yes as above. Wipes and a watering can. We have an ordinary hose and connection as well but on a busy aire an empty supermarket 5litre bottle and a watering can meant I could carry about as much water as we needed back to the van. I could nip in between vans manoeuvring onto the filling/emptying spot so did not have to wait long and did not loose my place on the Aire.

Richard
 
Tbear said:
Yes as above. Wipes and a watering can. We have an ordinary hose and connection as well but on a busy aire an empty supermarket 5litre bottle and a watering can meant I could carry about as much water as we needed back to the van. I could nip in between vans manoeuvring onto the filling/emptying spot so did not have to wait long and did not loose my place on the Aire.

Richard
Click to expand...

We also use a 5litre bottle and funnel, then use the bottle to carry extra water for drinking.
 
Hi,

The answer is to take a variety of adaptors and a Jerry Can (or watering Can).

I also have a short 2 meter hose pipe to fill the Jerry can from a sink.

Not thought about a funnel, might pick one up from the Pound shop.

We are crossing the channel on the 30th for 3 weeks.

Cheers
Matthew
 
I carry a lengh of hose with the standard-ish screw fitting at one end & the old rubber pushfit from a shower on the other. ( The bit you used to push over the tap.

Either end will just go into the water filler hole on the van & rubber bit usually goes over the tap fitting if my screw bit is the wrong size.

I have no intention of rephrasing that last sentence.

Dezi :pc:
 
thats it then.....new watering can and a few different fittings for the hose.
thanks everone.
dean
 
If you are stuck for a funnel, you can always chop the bottom off a plastic bottle & use that.
 
Similar to Dezi - I have a hose with a screw-type fitting and another shorter one with a push-fit fitting and we have never had any trouble with any water supply in France or anywhere else on the mainland. Have a good trip. :wave:
 
I once needed some bolts for a repair on my bike and went into a mr bricolage and they couldnt have been more helpfull,,loaned me spanners and even gave me a helping hand!
 
We've been to France for the last 5 years, can't speak a word of their language other than grand beer, try to use fraise book and found the French people very helpfull.
Just love the place.

John.
 
Take and use anti bacterial wipes !
We never use a tap without wiping it first and running it for a min.
If it has a piece of pipe on that you can't take off Don't Use !!!
 
Using disinfectant wipes on taps will not do much good to kill any germs unless you leave it for a minute or so to act. The main benefit is the cleaning action. However do not worry. A good clean and rinsing the end of the tap by running the water and cupping your hands under the spout will be just as good. Your digestive system will kill off a few germs. To be ill you have to swallow a lot of them.
 
Ether said:
Using disinfectant wipes on taps will not do much good to kill any germs unless you leave it for a minute or so to act. The main benefit is the cleaning action. However do not worry. A good clean and rinsing the end of the tap by running the water and cupping your hands under the spout will be just as good. Your digestive system will kill off a few germs. To be ill you have to swallow a lot of them.
Click to expand...

The minimum infective does of some bacteria can be quite low with as little as 50 individual organisms causing and infection and for cryptosporidium only 5-10 cysts.

The best advice is wipe with alcohol wipe even try to get into the spout and then run the water for a min to clear. Alcohol can kill bacteria in seconds but depends on how heavily the tap is soiled.
 
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