virgins tour of france

flashingblade

Guest
hi all. i'm off to france in three weeks. leaving these shores on approx 15 aug from dover to calais for just over a week. was thinking of a night crossing (very off-peak so cheap !). i presume we can just roll up and get on the next available ferry. no real plans but thought about turning right and heading down the coast for a while. i intend not to use sites unless i really have to. i could do with advice on just about everything. we are both french speakers (pigeon) and have european recovery. i've been to france before but not in a motorhome. cheap red wine here i come !!!
 
Seeing where you come from (Lancs) it might pay you to do what we do. We catch an evening ferry over, then stay the night on the visitors carpark on Calais Dock. There are always loads of campers, caravans cars etc, and the police patrol regularly, so you are quite safe. It is well lit....sometimes a bit 'busy' with vehicles coming and going all night, but we just know in our mind what it is, and always get a good night's sleep. Then we are fresh to travel on the next morning.
Coming back we do the opposite, we catch an early morning ferry, and stay on the dock carpark the night before, so fresh to make the homeward journey after landing at Dover.
CalaisDock29509.jpg


CalaisDockovernight.jpg
 
For the one week I'd use the Poole - Cherbourg ferries. Straight into Brittany/Normandy which has a lot going for it - great scenery, full of history, really nice people, great aires......etc etc. Oh and the food of course.
 
Hello virgin, Norfolkline were the cheapest with me, £84 return for a 7metre breadvan and me at 2am. They land at Dunkirk which to put it nicely is a wasteland. Landing in the middle of the night I did a slight u turn and parked in the area outside the ticket office. Full of caravans and motorhomes waiting to go home, so no worrys about parking on your own somewhere dodgy. If you can read french buy the french aires book, more in it than the british one, about 10 euros. You,ll love it.......Bob
 
Essential reading is >>
All the Aires in France, In English by Vicarious books :)
Plus
get yourself a Garmin Nuvi 250 @ £79 {Amazon.co.uk] approx with all of Europe already installed.
Use the Co-ordinates and not the post codes to find Aires as French post codes can cover up to 10 sq Kms :( DAMHIK :eek::eek::eek:

We had a great month over there in June :)
Going back for Sept and Oct if I can persuade the memsahib...:D
 
flashingblade said:
hi all. i'm off to france in three weeks. leaving these shores on approx 15 aug from dover to calais for just over a week. was thinking of a night crossing (very off-peak so cheap !). i presume we can just roll up and get on the next available ferry. no real plans but thought about turning right and heading down the coast for a while. i intend not to use sites unless i really have to. i could do with advice on just about everything. we are both french speakers (pigeon) and have european recovery. i've been to france before but not in a motorhome. cheap red wine here i come !!!
Click to expand...

Hi Goeff, at this time of year I would certainly book, even for an overnight crossing unless you are prepared to sit around at Dover for hours to get one at the right price.

p.s. we were only saying last week that we had'nt heard from you in a while, where you been?
 
missing persons

hi rick. ive been off radar for a while. been through a few changes in life. no, not gender !! i'm just getting back upto speed and will be online more from now on. shame i missed the last meeting at hayfield, i was on a hot date with my now better half. sure we will hook up soon.
 
you know our reg as its my username my dad is t4ugh also we sailing 5pm dover dunqurue (norforkline)and staying in calais for night but not on the aire we stay on the car park on the port its free and use the aire for your water then we moveing on down to spain on monday if you want to meet you know our reg number see you there fella
 
france

Hi

Congratulations.....

I will put the aire book in the roof box for you to borrow. Just return it when we next meet. Now where did I put that spare key and lock - I will find it)

Jon
 
cheers

hi jon. that is brilliant. will save me a few quids. just tell me your fav tipple. i have a navman with europe maps but when it lets me down, i like to fall back on low-tec.
hey rick....i've just booked p&o at £75 return !!!!! cheers
 
If you've got an aires book you can see there are loads of places to stay, wouldn't advise staying around the Calais area as it can sometimes be a bit dodgy especially when coming home. Although we have never had a problem met one couple who had been terrified by asylum seekers trying to get in their van. Once you are away from Calais there usually aren't any problems. Some nice free places to stay not too far from there Cap Gris Nez, Boulounge, Le Torquet, Berk sur Mer. You will soon meet up with other motorhomer who will tell you of good places to stay. If you do see a sign saying motorhome interdict then don't as they will give you an on the spot fine (these are few & far between though) other than that you can stay almost anywhere.
Have a good trip
 
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