Obtaining Water in France in Winter.

Northerner

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Last year we went to Spain in January using the Portsmouth/Santander ferry. It was the worst journey of our lives with sea so rough that the chairs in our cabin toppled over and we were violently sick for eighteen hours! Needless to say, we’re not sailing this route again when we go next January and are using Eurotunnel.

I’m OK for water once we get into Northern Spain as, last year, I found sites in Salamanca and Caceres, where we could top up. We stayed on the docks at Portsmouth the night before the sailing and wild camped for the first night in Spain, so we were getting pretty low by Salamanca.

I think that my biggest problem this year will be finding water during the long journey through France, so the question is:

Has anyone any tips as to where to find water? I’ve used aires in winter before, but it’s usually turned off. Does anyone know of any open sites on the likely routes from Calais to the Spanish border south of St. Juan de Luz? Are any motorway or supermarket motorhome service points likely to be available?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer advice.
 
It depends how fast you want to travel but there is a reliable all-year round water supply at the aire in Neulle-Pont-Pierre which is about 300 miles from Calais - and also supplies free electricity! South of that we have found few problems on any of the aires but north of it many do tend to be turned off in winter. Check out CAMPINGCAR-INFOS
 
obtaining water in France

We have got water from petrol stations & bought water to drink.
 
There's absolutely no shortage of drinking water sources in France toll road service areas usually have a potable water tap, and the RN road rest areas (aire de repose) with toilets will have a potable water supply. No need to go off the main road looking for an aire just for a water top up.
Garage water should always be treated with suspicion to reduce pressure they sometimes have break tanks and they don't always have lids birds etc are likely to crap in them. If you ask the attendant they sometimes tell you it's non potable
 
There's absolutely no shortage of drinking water sources in France. Toll road service areas usually have a potable water tap, and the RN road rest areas (aire de repose) with toilets will have a potable water supply. No need to go off the main road looking for an aire just for a water top up.
Garage water should always be treated with suspicion to reduce pressure they sometimes have break tanks, and they don't always have lids, birds etc are likely to crap in them. If you ask the attendant they sometimes tell you it's non potable.
 
Byronic said:
There's absolutely no shortage of drinking water sources in France toll road service areas usually have a potable water tap, and the RN road rest areas (aire de repose) with toilets will have a potable water supply. No need to go off the main road looking for an aire just for a water top up.
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Ah but some of us are both too mean to pay toll charges and so old that we are never in a hurry to get anywhere - we just slowly meander from free aire to free aire! :wave:
 
John H said:
Ah but some of us are both too mean to pay toll charges and so old that we are never in a hurry to get anywhere - we just slowly meander from free aire to free aire! :wave:
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Agreed, and that is also my modus operandi. Which is why I also mentioned the RN alternative. I don't know the OPs route preferences. I don't personally feel it to be mean avoiding the toll roads. Except in one or two instances I wouldn't travel on them if they were gratis.
Should also add that the same availibility of drinking water found in France, cannot be said of inland Spain you have to hunt around a fair bit more. I'm sure you would agree?
 
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Byronic said:
Should also add that the same availibility of drinking water found in France, cannot be said of inland Spain you have to hunt around a fair bit more. I'm sure you would agree?
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True but there is now a fair network of free aires in Spain, so it is not as hard as it used to be - again, the CAMPINGCAR-INFOS website shows the location of these aires.
 
Water in France.

Don't forget, if your travelling on the N roads through France every town/village normally has a graveyard and every graveyard has a tap.

If the tap has been turned off, just ask a neighbour they are usuall friendly.
 
John H said:
True but there is now a fair network of free aires in Spain, so it is not as hard as it used to be - again, the CAMPINGCAR-INFOS website shows the location of these aires.
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For years now I have "gone south" in the winter, out mid November back end of March so the weather in France and northern and mid Spain is usually not the best, I tend to travel slowly,take 2 to 3 weeks Calais to Estepona on the RNs and Autovias. Nothing like getting over the Sierra Nevadas though, suddenly the temperature is 15C higher than where you've just been. I don't blame some for getting there in 3 days!

I tend to look for overnight stops on the road. I have an updated list of all the suitable places I've stopped at over the years, things are always changing of course, H20 available one year and not the next. For me it's usually more hassle than it's worth looking for an aire at night and leaving the very next morning. OK if you stay a few days, but I prefer summer weather for site seeing!

When the first few Spanish aires came into being they were not always well sited I had a look. (don't know about the current crop) and in the winter in my opinion less secure than a spot carefully selected off the main road. My water capacity is 180 litres so I don't need to find water in inland Spain more than a couple of times in the week or 2 that I'm passing thru, so I've never had a prob.
 
Northerner said:
Last year we went to Spain in January using the Portsmouth/Santander ferry. It was the worst journey of our lives with sea so rough that the chairs in our cabin toppled over and we were violently sick for eighteen hours! Needless to say, we’re not sailing this route again when we go next January and are using Eurotunnel.

I’m OK for water once we get into Northern Spain as, last year, I found sites in Salamanca and Caceres, where we could top up. We stayed on the docks at Portsmouth the night before the sailing and wild camped for the first night in Spain, so we were getting pretty low by Salamanca.

I think that my biggest problem this year will be finding water during the long journey through France, so the question is:

Has anyone any tips as to where to find water? I’ve used aires in winter before, but it’s usually turned off. Does anyone know of any open sites on the likely routes from Calais to the Spanish border south of St. Juan de Luz? Are any motorway or supermarket motorhome service points likely to be available?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer advice.
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I agree with most of what has been said in reply to your question, I can recommend the Aire at Neuille Pont Piere, we have stopped here many times, the water and emptyping point has always been open, even in the snow, when we have been there, and the free electricity is a bonus. What I would like to add, is you can buy water very cheap in France and Spain, so if in doubt just pop in to the nearest Aldi, Lidl or any Supermarket. Some of the larger Super U' shops in France now have motorhome facilities in their car parks. Their food is reasonably priced and their fuel is some of the cheapest we have found.

Have a good trip
 
Byronic said:
I tend to travel slowly,take 2 to 3 weeks Calais to Estepona on the RNs and Autovias.
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Slow! Slow! You call that slow?? We tend to leave the UK around August Bank Holiday and arrive in Cabo de Gata in early November! Two months of gloriously slow wandering from aire to aire, never taking the same route twice and making new discoveries every time. After recharging the batteries we then set off fast back to England in March (fast = three weeks!). :raofl:
 
Yes slow, for the time of year, if you say leave in August it will most likely be good weather. If I left in August I would then prefer to take much longer, but I'm hardly likely to take 2 months in the winter in France let alone mid Spain in preference to the Costa Del Sol! Seeing as the main reason for going south is for the warm weather, I do have other family reasons for going.

I do go to Capo de Gato occasionally I think the police were turfing campers out last year. I was at S. J. de los Terros for a few days not so far away.

Anyway this is getting away from the OP wanting water advice as it were..... so I'll stop!!
 
hi. just go to any village water is easily got even in spain just ask. dont be greedy use one container here .empty it use it again. never had probs .
even better in winter you can melt the snow .
 
Alan, I reckon you'd give yellow snow a go.
 
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hi .only if i spilt my beer.
cant see a problem though never had one . find water is easy just knock on a house door show water container make a drinking action . you get water. every country in the world help you. except here possibly.
 
You don't need to spend a fortune to ensure clean drinking water. I mean, how much water can you actually drink in a day? I enjoy travelling and my wife lets me go off on my little adventures, which in the last five years have included Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia and China. When I first went to Nepal I was advised to buy a small bottle that holds about half a litre. Simply fill it with water and in fifteen minutes you can drink through the built-in straw. I think I paid about £30 for mine and it removes all the nasties.

As it happens, my 'van came with a superb water-filter system built in. It uses a 3M filter which is guaranteed to remove any nasties. Cartridges are over £60 but if you're not going anywhere strange there's a cheaper filter that removes most rubbish and makes the water taste nice.

Thanks by the way to everyone who's responded to my request for advice on water in winter in France. I'm an old hand at French camping (except in winter) and know all the tricks about cheap mineral water etc. but I was a bit bothered about all the aires having their water turned off in winter.

I have now been reassured that we shouldn't have too many problems as we journey through France to Spain. Excellent responses for which I'm most grateful.
 
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