Straight in at the deep end

[and123wills]

Hi,
Only had van couple of months and only been to pembroke and tenby for two weekends, I am looking forward to the coming summer and have just booked ferry for my first trip to Europe in a camper!! I am going for three weeks in august the only other thing I've booked is two days in eurodisney for my doughter and have read I can park and stay over night in eurodisney carpark for a small fee.

I was hoping for some advice/tips and guidance for essential things I need to start thinking about for example - do I need different adapters for the gas bottle if i run out of gas ? should i wild camp on my first trip or should i pre book camp sites etc. etc.

I would be confident to wild it in UK but not to sure about Europe?

Just need a bit of a pep talk I think:lol-053:

Kind regards Andrew

 

[Neckender]

Buy all the aires book from vicarious books, google what you need driving in France, and enjoy the experience.

John.

 

[and123wills]

Thanks for all your helpful advice, puts my mind at rest .

I have a fiat ducato autosleeper talisman and i can only fit a 7kg bottle in compartment, i think i could fit a fatter bottle in but not a taller one! not sure yet whether to get a refillable or just purchase french gas ! could you point me in direction for adaptor to fit the french bottle and refillable bottle or can I just purchase one out there ? also do I need a different hookup for electric ?

Thanks for your time Andrew :cheers:

 

[John H]

Hi Andrew

In addition to the advice given above, I'd suggest looking up the website CAMPINGCAR-INFOS for aires in France and beyond - it has far more locations in it than any book and is kept up to date on a more regular basis. If you want a book, I would recommend waiting till you get to France and buying the "Guide Official" which contains more locations and which I find far more accurate than the vicarious books version that so many people seem to use. Anyway, happy travels - I'm sure you won't regret becoming "one of us".

 

[barryd]

Firstly as mentioned wilding in France is legal. much easier and IMO much safer than the UK.

If you go careful I would imagine in August a 7litre bottle will last the three weeks. You shouldnt need heating unless your going up really high.

If you like wilding you will love the Aires network. CAMPINGCAR-INFOS has the best listings of them all. Unless you speak French you will need to use Google translate or bing translate to convert it to English. You can download all the Aires as POI for the sat nav from there. The book as mentioned is also a good idea.

Off the top of my head you will need beem deflectors for headlights, hi viz jackets in case you breakdown they must be warn, spare bulbs, warning triangle.

You just need to decide where else apart from Disney you want to go! There is loads of info on France in our blog Hank the Tank Motorhome website spent most of this summer there.

 

[adonisito]

Barry's right, that bottle should last 3 weeks with no problems. Make sure you have an extension to your EHU cable, some aires/sites can be 30 metres from van to plug in. Make sure you have a decent map, the Michelin spiral bound one in large format suits us, it shows more or less everything. Look for a road that borders a lake or river and bingo! You'll have a great time I'm sure.

 

[madria]

Hi Campingcar-infos shows all up to date aires, a michelin 4 to 1 map is a good thing to carry, any local tourist office usually has a local area map which shows where you can park/dump etc only down side is going in august but its good fun, enjoy it certainly better than over here in UK

 

[and123wills]

Hi Thanks for all your replies very helpful indeed and will be putting it to good use:cheers:

Just one query, Hi madria could you tell me why its not to good in august got me thinking whats wrong is there a best time to go ? I am tied really to school holidays at the moment.

 

[Neckender]

We've holidayed in France last 2 weeks Aug and the first 2 weeks in Sept had no problems whatsoever, France is just brilliant for motorhomes. End of September campsites start to shut down if you use them.

John.

 

[madria]

Hi Wills, Usually beginning of August aires can get very busy as its holiday time in France, you may find your preferred aires full especially the smaller ones in the more popular places so be prepared to move on, try and time your arrivals around mid morning and not late afternoon better chance of getting a decent spot and still time to move on if you don't like it or not suitable as your taking the kids, municipal sites are a good standby if you are stuck, if you give a rough guide to where you are going or post a thread for any recommendations as to where you'd like to go someone will be along to offer advise on where to stay, but go and enjoy - we do