Our first trip to Europe

luv2travel said:
Hi all,

We are setting off in 2 days on Thursday 24th for our very first trip to Europe in our MH. I'm a bit apprehensive as we have not driven there from the UK before, but hubby is :cool1: about it and he's the one driving. I'm sure we are going to get a few hiccups. Hopefully we will find a good route with no tolls and no snow. We are heading down to Spain and the algarve Portugal, not sure which to go to first, we will be doing Aires if possible, but again this is our first experience with our MH in Europe and we would appreciate any advice anyone can give us on routes, aires or anything else we need to know. We are crossing from Poole to Cherbourg on the 8.30 am ferry and arrive in Cherbourg 4 hours later or thereabouts. Would love to meet up with anyone too if possible.

We have been RVing for 30 years in Canada and the USA, so we are not new to travelling, just not used to it in the UK or Europe and Motorhomes here are definitely an eye opener, compared to an RV. :scared: I have done a lot of research and a lot of reading on here and members all seem very helpful.

Thanks in advance for your replies and help.

Best wishes,

Marilyn
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If you run into any problums when your over here and near Alicante and need help just send me a PM and i try to help. Safe trip :wave:
 
get yourself a good weather app and let that guide you ie we came down this year just over a week ago st malo bordeaux irun zaragoza tarragona etc but a freind following behind has had to turn towards the med at bordeaux because of heavy snow at zaragoza and is coming down through perpignan & barcelona an extra few miles but dry and clear, after ten days we have reached santa pola just below alicante and it’s the first real warm weather 17deg that we have found this year ,
the best app for parking spots is (park 4 night) all one word, the problem is there are so many of us pursuing this lifestyle now all reasonable sites are full and on the aires and free camping sites some of our less sensible brethren have worn out our wellcome with the locals ,
with the weather forecasts this year i would definetly advise covering the med coast rather than portugal though i love it there, there is a military fort with free parking about 5km above ametila del mar and the aire at simat de la valldingha is well worth visiting , we went Cullera again this year and the parking area is reduced and the van no’s increased so that it’s a ghetto, as i said above we’re now at santa pola free parking on the sea front but the vans have spread out and someone is going to get annoyed,
 
rugbyken said:
get yourself a good weather app and let that guide you ie we came down this year just over a week ago st malo bordeaux irun zaragoza tarragona etc but a freind following behind has had to turn towards the med at bordeaux because of heavy snow at zaragoza and is coming down through perpignan & barcelona an extra few miles but dry and clear, after ten days we have reached santa pola just below alicante and it’s the first real warm weather 17deg that we have found this year ,
the best app for parking spots is (park 4 night) all one word, the problem is there are so many of us pursuing this lifestyle now all reasonable sites are full and on the aires and free camping sites some of our less sensible brethren have worn out our wellcome with the locals ,
with the weather forecasts this year i would definetly advise covering the med coast rather than portugal though i love it there, there is a military fort with free parking about 5km above ametila del mar and the aire at simat de la valldingha is well worth visiting , we went Cullera again this year and the parking area is reduced and the van no’s increased so that it’s a ghetto, as i said above we’re now at santa pola free parking on the sea front but the vans have spread out and someone is going to get annoyed,
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Thank you rugbyken, all good advice. We were thinking that we may have to do the coast, not worried about the extra miles if we have to, better to be safe. I do have park 4 night so I am sure that will help. Thanks for letting me know about the aires etc., if we arrive somewhere and it is too busy, we will just carry on to the next one I guess. Well, it's 5.30 am here and we will be setting off for the Ferry :boat: in another 30 minutes, I will be back here and update and most likely be asking for some more help and advice. :)

Marilyn
 
Bon Voyage.
Safe travels.
Take it easy, it's a marathon, not a sprint.
The Motorhome tortoise always beats the hare.
 
Pauljenny said:
Bon Voyage.
Safe travels.
Take it easy, it's a marathon, not a sprint.
The Motorhome tortoise always beats the hare.
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Very true Pauljenny. We are at our first stop, an Aire in Jans, France. No-one here, but us. This Aire is behind the Town Hall it has paved parking, it's really quiet, has toilets and water is on, but we already filled up before we left home. Roads were great, Ferry crossing was calm. We have cooked dinner and now we are planning our route for tomorrow. We are heading towards San Sebastian, not sure how far we will get, but hey as you said, it is not a sprint and our days of driving for 15 hours are so over!

Will catch up again tomorrow evening. :)
 
Just saw this posted on another forum
On Wednesday, yesterday, heading south to Spain, and intending to use the Somport tunnel, both sat navs took us via the D934 / A136 which was a nightmare with snow and sheet ice!!
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witzend said:
Just saw this posted on another forum
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Thanks witzend, we are going down to San Sebastian and then towards Burgos or something like that. Stopping just South of Bordeaux tonight. Will be looking at our next leg of the journey tonight when we stop for the night in Morencz. Its raining where we are now.
 
luv2travel said:
Thanks witzend, we are going down to San Sebastian and then towards Burgos or something like that. Stopping just South of Bordeaux tonight. Will be looking at our next leg of the journey tonight when we stop for the night in Morencz. Its raining where we are now.
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Stopped in morencx last night as it was getting late , near railway . Quietish spot but town is a dump . Check out Pissos and others nearby .
If you have time head for St Emilion
 
alcam said:
Stopped in morencx last night as it was getting late , near railway . Quietish spot but town is a dump . Check out Pissos and others nearby .
If you have time head for St Emilion
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We are at Morencx right now, yes we are parked almost next to the railway lines, but they are fast trains and don't make a lot of noise really. Filled up with Diesel and bought some groceries here. We are not really looking to explore around any of the places we stop overnight as we just want to get down to Portugal. I will be checking weather in a minute and Hubby is going to get out his maps and stuff, so we can see what route to take tomorrow. :)
 
Hope you have a peaceful night, we didn't.
The trains were noisy and close.
We eventually moved and overnighted outside a church hall, a block back from the main road that we came in on.
That was lovely and quiet, no traffic until 8.am.
 
luv2travel said:
We are at Morencx right now
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Never used that stop but Anglet would do for tomorrow leaving the border for Sun with out many trucks, Then after Burgos and before Palencia there's Torquemada a nice free aire with services just off motorway
 
luv2travel said:
We are at Morencx right now, yes we are parked almost next to the railway lines, but they are fast trains and don't make a lot of noise really. Filled up with Diesel and bought some groceries here. We are not really looking to explore around any of the places we stop overnight as we just want to get down to Portugal. I will be checking weather in a minute and Hubby is going to get out his maps and stuff, so we can see what route to take tomorrow. :)
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Fair enough its a convenient stop but I do like to have a wee wander round . I just found it an incredibly depressing town .
Trains didn't bother me at all but I can sleep through anything .
Interested in where you stop on way down . I was heading , roughly , the same way but deviated a little .
Yes I am a deviant !
 
Pauljenny said:
Hope you have a peaceful night, we didn't.
The trains were noisy and close.
We eventually moved and overnighted outside a church hall, a block back from the main road that we came in on.
That was lovely and quiet, no traffic until 8.am.
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Yes Paul, it was very peaceful after 10pm until 3.45 this morning, which is when the first train came and woke us up. :) We didn't mind though because we were in bed at 10pm last night and slept like babies until that train woke us. We decided to get up, made coffee and sorted ourselves out and left at 5.30 this morning. We are now in a park 4 night place in Salamanca, not bad, there are 4 or 5 other MH's here too. The weather has been fabulous as soon as we crossed the mountains, although there was no snow whatsoever the route we came. It's sunny and warm now, that's just what we were looking for. Heading to Lagos in the Algarve tomorrow and from there is where we will start our vacation properly. :)
 
witzend said:
Never used that stop but Anglet would do for tomorrow leaving the border for Sun with out many trucks, Then after Burgos and before Palencia there's Torquemada a nice free aire with services just off motorway
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It's not too bad an aire, the trains stopped just about 10pm and started again at 3.45 this morning. We are now in Salamanca, our route was San Sebastian, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Burgos, Valladolid and Salamanca. No snow and good roads. No toll now on the AP1 either, so that was good. Heading to Lagos in the Algarve tomorrow. :)
 
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